Here Come the Hawks!

Chicago is, for the first time in a long time, going crazy for the Blackhawks. Yesterday's victory over the Sharks put the Hawks in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in almost 20 years.

As a Chicago sports fan, you're taught to be cautious and frantic when a team does well in the playoffs, much less makes it to the finals. You have to root extra hard because there is the overwhelming feeling that if they don't win it now, they might never win it in your lifetime. And, as any Chicago sports fan knows, that is a completely legitimate concern. The Cubs haven't been to the World Series since 1945 or won it since 1908. When the White Sox won the World Series in 2005, it was their first title since 1917 and first trip to the World Series since 1959. The Bears made it to the Super Bowl after the 2006 season, but haven't won it since January 26, 1986 (which was their first trip to a championship game since winning the 1963 NFL Championship). When the Bulls won their first title in 1991, it was their first trip to the NBA finals in what was then 25 years of existence. Since their last title in 1998, they've made it out of the first round of the playoffs exactly once.

And then there's the Hawks. Good God. If you looked up "hockey futility" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Chief Black Hawk with his hands over his face as Rocket Richard, Mario Lemieux, and Chris Chelios in a Red Wings jersey raise Stanley Cups behind him. There hasn't been much to cheer about in a long time. For those of you not paying attention, the Hawks have not won the Stanley Cup since 1961 – the longest drought in the NHL – and they haven't been to the finals since 1992, when they lost to Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins (and that was their first trip to the finals since 1973, where they lost to the Canadiens in the finals for the second time in three years). The Hawks have the fewest Stanley Cups out of any of the Original Six NHL teams, and each of the other five have won Cups since the Hawks' last Cup (and all but the Rangers have won multiple Cups since then). For most of the last decade, the Hawks were horrible, led by ownership who created (seemingly on purpose) an indifference for professional hockey in Chicago. To make matters worse, the Hawks' longtime archrival, the Red Wings, have been the most successful team in the NHL over the last 15 years.

And then, in late 2007, things started looking up. It's amazing how the death of one man can result in so much joy for a city. When longtime Hawks owner Bill Wirtz died September 26, 2007, fortunes turned for the Hawks. Wirtz was notoriously cheap (earning the nickname "Dollar Bill"), once proclaiming something along the lines that he would rather save money than pay for free agents that might help the Hawks win a Cup. He also blacked out ALL Hawks home games, regardless of whether they sold out. He raised ticket prices in the 2000s despite the fact that the Hawks were terrible. And he traded away or refused to re-sign many of the most beloved Hawks stars of the '90s and '00s. Under Wirtz's reign, ESPN named the Blackhawks the worst franchise in professional sports, and Wirtz was himself named the third greediest owner in sports. Hawks fans booed loudly (and rightfully) during a pregame tribute to Wirtz before the 2007 home opener (less than two weeks after he died).

I always found it odd that an owner of a professional sports team would actively try to alienate his team's potential fan base and would outwardly admit that he would rather save money than win a Stanley Cup. Thankfully for Hawks fans, he died.

His son Rocky took over, and nearly immediately got Hawks home games on TV. He signed key free agents, actively sought to mend the deep wounds with the fan base, and generally acted in the exact opposite manner as his father had.

Before last season, the Hawks had made the playoffs once since 1997, and hadn't made it out of the first round since 1996. You could tell things were changing at the New Years Day 2009 game at Wrigley with the Red Wings. It was the first time in a long time I could remember a buzz about hockey in Chicago, and it was the hottest ticket in town. People were actually tuning in to watch a hockey game instead of bowl games.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm a big hockey fan, or that I've followed the Blackhawks religiously (or much at all) over the past decade. I haven't, and I don't make any apologies for once again being excited about hockey. A lot of people in Chicago took Bill Wirtz's offer, and turned their backs on the Hawks. But dammit, the last month has been fun, and the Hawks are bringing Chicagoans back. For a city that has suffered some of the longest championship droughts in professional sports, I'm not sure there would be any victory more redeeming than a Hawks Stanley Cup.

So, pardon us if we go a little nuts over the Hawks this year. We don't know when we'll have the chance again.