Since I have nothing better to do, I decided to come up with a quiz to see how much you might know about the Blackhawks. Most of these answers, I knew beforehand but had to do some fact-checking just to make sure. I came up with this just now: eight Blackhawks questions for you fans and "fans" to answer. Feel free to provide answers in the comments, on the Facebook page or on Twitter.
And no Googling.
1. How many Stanley Cups have the Blackhawks won since becoming an NHL franchise?
a) 2
b) 4
c) 5
d) 8
e) all of them
2. Before 2010, when was the last time the Blackhawks won the Cup?
a) they never did
b) 1992
c) 1961
d) 1932
e) trick question, hockey was invented in 2010
3. Who is the all-time leader in goals in Blackhawks history?
a) Jeremy Roenick
b) Bobby Hull
c) Stan Mikita
d) Patrick Kane
e) seriously, who are a, b, & c; it has to be d, right?
4. Who is the captain on the Blackhawks?
a) Jonathan Toews
b) Patrick Kane
c) Joel Quenneville
d) Dustin Byff.....Buff-something
e) Captain Planet
5. Who was the owner who kept the Blackhawks home games off of television up until his death in 2007?
a) Jerry Reinsdorf
b) Bill Wirtz
c) Rocky Wirtz
d) Frederic McLaughlin
e) Their games have always been on TV, duh
6. What event in American history was taking place when Chicago hockey received national attention for their loud rendition of the National Anthem while hosting an All-Star Game?
a) World War II
b) Vietnam
c) Gulf War
d) 9/11
e) The release of Chelsea Dagger
7. What team was the last team to beat the Blackhawks in a Stanley Cup?
a) Philadelphia Flyers
b) Pittsburgh Penguins
c) Montreal Canadiens
d) Toronto Maple Leafs
e) They've never lost a Cup
8. Which of these teams is not among the Original Six teams?
a) Montreal Canadiens
b) Detroit Red Wings
c) Boston Bruins
d) Minnesota Wild
e) Chicago Blackhawks
Grading scale:
7-8 - Three stars (First-line fan that knows their stuff)
5-6 - Two stars (Second-line fan - good Blackhawks knowledge)
3-4 - One star (Third-line fan - sharpen up those skates)
0-2 - No stars (Full-fledged wagoner)
(Note: if you answered e) for any of these questions, you fail automatically. You get zero points, and may God have mercy on your soul)
Showing posts with label bandwagon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bandwagon. Show all posts
5/23/2013
Out of (hockey)towners: Hockey Thoughts from Non-Hawks Fans in the Chicago Area
You might remember a blog series that I did before the 2012 NFL season began about people who live in/around Chicago and are fans of out-of-market teams. Seeing as though hockey is in season here (at least for a few more days), I decided to reach out to some of my hockey friends who have favorite teams outside of the Blackhawks.
Some of these gents - two of the Tims - were featured in the football blogs in August (one a Vikings fan, another of America's Team), so they have quite the background in rooting for non-Chicago entities.
With these friends of mine (four of them answered my questions), I was looking to see the roots of their hockey interest, what steered them to the teams they rooted for, and why not the Hawks?
I also gauged their thoughts on the large increase of Blackhawks fans who have (for the most part) been filling the United Center since Rocky Wirtz took over the team in 2007. They had varying thoughts on the bandwagon fans, ranging from acceptance to complete disgust.
Enjoy!
Bubba - Wings Man
The first one to answer (we'll call him Bubba) is a Red Wings fan, which seems to be the most common out-of-market team for Chicago people to root for. Needless to say, he's a happy camper as they sealed their third straight win to go up 3-1 in their best of 7 against the rival Hawks. When he answered this, they were down 1-0, so his answers may be different now than before, especially his predictions, which I'll mention below.
Bubba's roots as a Wings fan date back to his days of playing Sega Genesis, when the Red Wings had the best team in the game. "You couldn't beat them with (Steve) Yzerman, (Sergei) Federov, (Dino) Ciccarelli, and (Chris) Osgood," he said.
In a rivalry like Detroit/Chicago, you might find this nugget from Bubba surprising: not only does he not mind
the bandwagon of fans that have come cheer on the Blackhawks recently - he also cheers for the
Hawks...when they're not playing the Wings. He was rooting them on in the 2010 Stanley Cup - how many
Wings fans can you say did this? However, to be a true Hawks fan, Bubba has a few criteria.
"Give me stats and show me they know the game," he said. "If they know old players and key moments in history, I'd label them a true fan."
Entering the playoffs, Bubba said he would have considered this postseason a success if the Red Wings advanced past the first round of the playoffs.
"Since we did, I'm happy with whatever happens from now on," he said.
Having held onto his answers since Saturday, he might want to revise his Cup prediction (the Hawks losing to the Penguins in 6), but I'm sure he doesn't mind possibly being wrong about that.
So we know why he liked the Wings - why not the Hawks?
"Just not a Hawks fan," Bubba said. "I was born a winner and the Blackhawks were shitty for so long."
More Wings Please - The Tim C. Story
Another Wings fan in my group of friends, Tim C. fell in love with Motown's hockey team for a much different reason than Bubba. Instead of video games, Tim was introduced to hockey by Wings fans.
"After learning the history and traditions, I was hooked," he said.
Tim is a little more rough around the edges (to put it nicely) when it comes to his distaste of the Blackhawks and their fan base. As a kid, the Hawks were irrelevant to him, largely due to their lack of television presence.
"The Chicago Wolves had a better attendance rate," he said. "It's hard to root for a team that gets no local coverage."
When the Hawks won the Cup in 2010, Tim turned his TV and went to bed - so no celebrating with his Hawks friends like Bubba did.
His thoughts on the bandwagon fans are a lot different than Bubba's as well, and Tim certainly didn't mince words.
"Everyone is technically a bandwagon fan. They're no different," Tim said. "Now if you want me to answer what it would take for me to remove them of the label of low IQ'd morons, then my answer would be 'Shut up and listen. Learn something before you open your mouth because you spew verbal diarrhea.'"
Regarding his Wings, he has been very surprised to see the Wings playing so well, especially with their youth movement.
"For them to help grab the 7th seed, knock off the 2 seed, and give the 1 seed a run for their money," Tim said, "I'd say that's surprising and very impressive."
Like Bubba, Tim answered this before the Wings took a convincing series lead, so his series pick (Penguins over Hawks) may be different now.
"That's the match I'll root for if the Wings lose because it will be a classic," he said.
Another Tim, Another Out of Market Team A'Bruin
Yet another Tim in my group of friends can't root for the Hawks. This particular Tim roots for a team a little east of Detroit.
Tim W. became hooked on the Boston Bruins in a similar way that Tim C. did - with historical players on the team as he started following hockey. These greats included Ray Bourque, Cam Neely & Andy Moog, making his liking of the team come "pretty naturally."
He knew that his hometown team had some great players like Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios, but Tim couldn't bring himself to root for the Blackhawks.
"The Hawks and their poor management/ownership really steered me away from them," he said. "Not showing home games on TV really was a turn off and didn't make them seem fan friendly or accommodating to their fans."
Since his Bruins aren't really rivals in the truest sense of the word, Tim didn't find himself rooting against the Hawks like an average Red Wings fans would. Consider his Cup reaction in 2010 a cross between the Wings fans mentioned above.
"I was happy for the fans that I knew were true fans and tried to ignore the ones that just started following them," he said.
For those fans that fall in the latter category (the bandwagon fans), Tim believes there is hope for them to become real fans. In addition to touching up on the team's history, he believes showing loyalty will weed out the bandwagon fans from the ones who actually became fans in the past five years.
"If they are new to the game, they can prove their worth by sticking with the team through tough times, " he said. "Because it's easy to like the hot team when you first start following the sport."
Entering the Bruins second-round series versus the Rangers, Tim didn't think his team would advance. Now that his team has a 3-1 lead (lost Thursday in Game 4), he believes advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals is a given "barring collapse", but doesn't see them advancing past the Penguins in the next round.
"I don't think they are consistent enough offensively to beat the Penguins though, but they will give them a good fight," said Tim, who now has the Penguins over the Sharks (after revising it from a Blues over Rangers prediction before the playoffs started).
Penguin Pride
The last fan profile is on Don, who became a Penguins fan with help from his cousins and brother, with a little help from Mario Lemieux being a staple of the team when Don was a kid. Like the hockey fans above, his lack of exposure to the Blackhawks made his interest draw to a different squad.
"When I got into hockey, it was hard to watch a Hawks game with them not being televised," Don said.
His Penguins won the Cup in 2009, so seeing the best championship trophy in sports go to the hometown team the next year should have been tough on Don - but it wasn't.
"I was out with friends who were Hawks fans at a bar and took it as an opportunity to celebrate," he said, "seeing as though the Pens won the year before and I didn't do much for that."
Don finds the bandwagon Blackhawks fans to be annoying and more focused on social interaction with their friends while the game is on instead of intently following the action of the games. He does believe these bandwagon fans can become real fans if they try to educate themselves on the game.
"Real fans follow their team every day. They know all the players, when the games are, who they're playing against," Don said. "They know who's hurt or who's a scratch. They aren't there just for social interaction."
Making it a clean sweep among the out-of-market fans, Don is sticking with his prediction and bet from a few months ago that the Penguins will win the Stanley Cup. As a witness to his prediction, I can say that he had the Penguins over the Red Wings before the playoffs started.
"I think they have a real good shot at the Cup," he said. "But I thought that two months ago too when I bet it!"
Some of these gents - two of the Tims - were featured in the football blogs in August (one a Vikings fan, another of America's Team), so they have quite the background in rooting for non-Chicago entities.
With these friends of mine (four of them answered my questions), I was looking to see the roots of their hockey interest, what steered them to the teams they rooted for, and why not the Hawks?
I also gauged their thoughts on the large increase of Blackhawks fans who have (for the most part) been filling the United Center since Rocky Wirtz took over the team in 2007. They had varying thoughts on the bandwagon fans, ranging from acceptance to complete disgust.
Enjoy!
Bubba - Wings Man
The first one to answer (we'll call him Bubba) is a Red Wings fan, which seems to be the most common out-of-market team for Chicago people to root for. Needless to say, he's a happy camper as they sealed their third straight win to go up 3-1 in their best of 7 against the rival Hawks. When he answered this, they were down 1-0, so his answers may be different now than before, especially his predictions, which I'll mention below.
Bubba's roots as a Wings fan date back to his days of playing Sega Genesis, when the Red Wings had the best team in the game. "You couldn't beat them with (Steve) Yzerman, (Sergei) Federov, (Dino) Ciccarelli, and (Chris) Osgood," he said.
In a rivalry like Detroit/Chicago, you might find this nugget from Bubba surprising: not only does he not mind
the bandwagon of fans that have come cheer on the Blackhawks recently - he also cheers for the
Hawks...when they're not playing the Wings. He was rooting them on in the 2010 Stanley Cup - how many
Wings fans can you say did this? However, to be a true Hawks fan, Bubba has a few criteria.
"Give me stats and show me they know the game," he said. "If they know old players and key moments in history, I'd label them a true fan."
Entering the playoffs, Bubba said he would have considered this postseason a success if the Red Wings advanced past the first round of the playoffs.
"Since we did, I'm happy with whatever happens from now on," he said.
Having held onto his answers since Saturday, he might want to revise his Cup prediction (the Hawks losing to the Penguins in 6), but I'm sure he doesn't mind possibly being wrong about that.
So we know why he liked the Wings - why not the Hawks?
"Just not a Hawks fan," Bubba said. "I was born a winner and the Blackhawks were shitty for so long."
More Wings Please - The Tim C. Story
Another Wings fan in my group of friends, Tim C. fell in love with Motown's hockey team for a much different reason than Bubba. Instead of video games, Tim was introduced to hockey by Wings fans.
"After learning the history and traditions, I was hooked," he said.
Tim is a little more rough around the edges (to put it nicely) when it comes to his distaste of the Blackhawks and their fan base. As a kid, the Hawks were irrelevant to him, largely due to their lack of television presence.
"The Chicago Wolves had a better attendance rate," he said. "It's hard to root for a team that gets no local coverage."
When the Hawks won the Cup in 2010, Tim turned his TV and went to bed - so no celebrating with his Hawks friends like Bubba did.
His thoughts on the bandwagon fans are a lot different than Bubba's as well, and Tim certainly didn't mince words.
"Everyone is technically a bandwagon fan. They're no different," Tim said. "Now if you want me to answer what it would take for me to remove them of the label of low IQ'd morons, then my answer would be 'Shut up and listen. Learn something before you open your mouth because you spew verbal diarrhea.'"
Regarding his Wings, he has been very surprised to see the Wings playing so well, especially with their youth movement.
"For them to help grab the 7th seed, knock off the 2 seed, and give the 1 seed a run for their money," Tim said, "I'd say that's surprising and very impressive."
Like Bubba, Tim answered this before the Wings took a convincing series lead, so his series pick (Penguins over Hawks) may be different now.
"That's the match I'll root for if the Wings lose because it will be a classic," he said.
Another Tim, Another Out of Market Team A'Bruin
Yet another Tim in my group of friends can't root for the Hawks. This particular Tim roots for a team a little east of Detroit.
Tim W. became hooked on the Boston Bruins in a similar way that Tim C. did - with historical players on the team as he started following hockey. These greats included Ray Bourque, Cam Neely & Andy Moog, making his liking of the team come "pretty naturally."
He knew that his hometown team had some great players like Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios, but Tim couldn't bring himself to root for the Blackhawks.
"The Hawks and their poor management/ownership really steered me away from them," he said. "Not showing home games on TV really was a turn off and didn't make them seem fan friendly or accommodating to their fans."
Since his Bruins aren't really rivals in the truest sense of the word, Tim didn't find himself rooting against the Hawks like an average Red Wings fans would. Consider his Cup reaction in 2010 a cross between the Wings fans mentioned above.
"I was happy for the fans that I knew were true fans and tried to ignore the ones that just started following them," he said.
For those fans that fall in the latter category (the bandwagon fans), Tim believes there is hope for them to become real fans. In addition to touching up on the team's history, he believes showing loyalty will weed out the bandwagon fans from the ones who actually became fans in the past five years.
"If they are new to the game, they can prove their worth by sticking with the team through tough times, " he said. "Because it's easy to like the hot team when you first start following the sport."
Entering the Bruins second-round series versus the Rangers, Tim didn't think his team would advance. Now that his team has a 3-1 lead (lost Thursday in Game 4), he believes advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals is a given "barring collapse", but doesn't see them advancing past the Penguins in the next round.
"I don't think they are consistent enough offensively to beat the Penguins though, but they will give them a good fight," said Tim, who now has the Penguins over the Sharks (after revising it from a Blues over Rangers prediction before the playoffs started).
Penguin Pride
The last fan profile is on Don, who became a Penguins fan with help from his cousins and brother, with a little help from Mario Lemieux being a staple of the team when Don was a kid. Like the hockey fans above, his lack of exposure to the Blackhawks made his interest draw to a different squad.
"When I got into hockey, it was hard to watch a Hawks game with them not being televised," Don said.
His Penguins won the Cup in 2009, so seeing the best championship trophy in sports go to the hometown team the next year should have been tough on Don - but it wasn't.
"I was out with friends who were Hawks fans at a bar and took it as an opportunity to celebrate," he said, "seeing as though the Pens won the year before and I didn't do much for that."
Don finds the bandwagon Blackhawks fans to be annoying and more focused on social interaction with their friends while the game is on instead of intently following the action of the games. He does believe these bandwagon fans can become real fans if they try to educate themselves on the game.
"Real fans follow their team every day. They know all the players, when the games are, who they're playing against," Don said. "They know who's hurt or who's a scratch. They aren't there just for social interaction."
Making it a clean sweep among the out-of-market fans, Don is sticking with his prediction and bet from a few months ago that the Penguins will win the Stanley Cup. As a witness to his prediction, I can say that he had the Penguins over the Red Wings before the playoffs started.
"I think they have a real good shot at the Cup," he said. "But I thought that two months ago too when I bet it!"
5/17/2013
Fan Switch - When Is It OK to Switch Your Favorite Sports Team?
My friend Tim often shares with me his frustration with any and all things relating to the Dallas Cowboys. Whether it be something Jerry Jones said or did, there seems to be no shortage of things for him and any other Dallas Cowboys fan to legitimately complain about.
I don't want to turn this blog into a Quentin Tarantino flick with the colorful quotes that Tim shares with me about draft picks, dumb signings and baffling quotes - the most baffling of which has to be when he said he would fire himself as general manager if he weren't also the owner.
The more Tim complains, the more I tell him - bail on your team, like yesterday. I won't normally advocate being able to change your favorite teams mid-life, but I've come up with a few exceptions to the rule.
Note - this applies to any sports-loving adult. Kids can go back and forth and often love a couple of teams throughout the course of their childhood for reasons as silly as them being an expansion team or having a left-handed quarterback (so I liked the Jaguars when they first joined the league because of Mark Brunell).
Here are my only acceptable reasons for being able to switch allegiances to teams. I used some ideas that I found from a Google search on the topic, but the words and thoughts (as always) are my own:
1. Relocation of a team into your city/out of your city/team folds: This is one of the most acceptable forms of changing your rooting interest in a sport. For example, no one should expect any Seattle Supersonics fan to continue their allegiance to the Oklahoma City franchise when the Sonics had their team stolen away from them. If someone decides to completely disown being a sports fan in that scenario, I wouldn't blame them.
By the same token, if your city finally gets that coveted franchise in your city, it's quite all right to start rooting for that team. Houston Texans fans may have once been Houston Oilers fans and may have converted to the Cowboys for a brief period of time when the Oilers moved to Nashville. But once they have a new team, all bets are off on what team you could/should root for.
2. You're lucky enough to know an athlete, and you root for his/her team in lieu of your original rooting interest: No one can blame you if you have a brother who was just drafted by the Washington Redskins and suddenly become a fan of the franchise when the previous part of your life, you were cursing Washington as a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. Bloodlines can acceptably change your fandom. And if this player switches teams, it's quite all right to move along with the team.
3. Your ownership/management group are a bunch of dipshits who you can tell have no competency in running a franchise and often make moves that are done against common sense and/or making your team competitive. See: Jones, Jerry and Wirtz, Bill, among many other owners who have seemed to lack a clue in running a franchise.
When I see Jerry Jones, I see a man who was lucky to win 3 titles in 4 years thanks to the team that was made mostly by Jimmy Johnson. The worst thing that could have happened to America's Team was to win a title without Johnson in 1995, making Jerry Jones think it was all about him. Now, his ego gets in the way of any chance that the Cowboys have in seriously competing for a Super Bowl anytime soon. Have you seen the quarterbacks that have been on his rosters? Outside of Tony Romo, who was brought in by Sean Payton & Bill Parcells when they were with the Cowboys, the Cowboys haven't had anyone lining up under center with an IQ higher than Forrest Gump's. Quincy Carter, Drew Henson, Chad Hutchinson - all bums drafted in the Jerry Jones era. No wonder why he would have fired himself as general manager, yet continues to hold onto this role due to his incompetency and Texas-sized ego.
The subject of Bill Wirtz is sure to warm the hearts of Chicago Blackhawks fans. Wirtz, who built his wealth thanks to liquor distribution and housing, was way behind the times, never embracing modern technology (he didn't allow Hawks home games on TV for fear that people wouldn't go to the games - never mind that just about every other successful team had no problem selling out their arenas when their games were on TV). For being known as a smart businessman, I am baffled at how he could not see the value of showing his team on TV. Also, his nickname "Dollar Bill" stems from his days as a very frugal owner. Most of the Hawks' best free agents signed elsewhere in the 90s, and so began the quick decline of a once proud Original Six franchise.
(And an aside: many hockey fans of teams outside of Chicago will often critique Blackhawks fans for jumping on the bandwagon in the past 3-4 years. While the Hawks have picked up their fair share of bandwagon fans - as any team does in any sport when they field a competitive team, the fans, even the most loyal of ones, were in no condition to support their hometown team when Dollar Bill was the owner. When the old man died and his sons took over, they immediately corrected the mistakes that their father did while owner of the team, including lifting the home-game TV blackout for all home games. It was moves like this, not as much the winning I'd argue, that brought back the fans who used to go to games back in the day but refused to support a franchise who refused to support the fan. I have no problem with the Blackhawks fans who have become fans in this time frame. And as is the case with any bandwagon, you may pick up some new life-long fans from it who end up sticking with the team during future down years.)
In both of these cases, I would not blame a Dallas Cowboys fan, nor would I have blamed a Blackhawks fan, for switching teams. If your management/ownership group show a lack of interest in remaining a competitive sports franchise by constantly spitting in the faces of its fan base with its baffling and incompetent moves, if they abandon you to the point where they don't even really care about you as fans anymore, then who's to say you HAVE to be loyal right back? Do you stay in relationships longer than you should because you don't want to be looked at as being unloyal? That's a dumb reason to stay in a relationship, just as it would be to stay a hardcore fan of a team when that team's owners/management eats a bunch of White Castles and shits all over your hopes on a yearly basis.
4. No more rules apply: I would say that moving to a new city would allow you to root for a new team, but I think this would only be acceptable if you moved from a city/town that had no franchise in a particular sport to one that did. Otherwise, you stick with whatever team you were rooting for before you moved (which is likely your hometown team as long as you're not a weirdo like me who roots for an out-of-market team in football - 49ers).
Here are some major no-no's for changing mid-stream:
I don't want to turn this blog into a Quentin Tarantino flick with the colorful quotes that Tim shares with me about draft picks, dumb signings and baffling quotes - the most baffling of which has to be when he said he would fire himself as general manager if he weren't also the owner.
The more Tim complains, the more I tell him - bail on your team, like yesterday. I won't normally advocate being able to change your favorite teams mid-life, but I've come up with a few exceptions to the rule.
 |
| When is it OK to switch your sports fan interest? |
Note - this applies to any sports-loving adult. Kids can go back and forth and often love a couple of teams throughout the course of their childhood for reasons as silly as them being an expansion team or having a left-handed quarterback (so I liked the Jaguars when they first joined the league because of Mark Brunell).
Here are my only acceptable reasons for being able to switch allegiances to teams. I used some ideas that I found from a Google search on the topic, but the words and thoughts (as always) are my own:
1. Relocation of a team into your city/out of your city/team folds: This is one of the most acceptable forms of changing your rooting interest in a sport. For example, no one should expect any Seattle Supersonics fan to continue their allegiance to the Oklahoma City franchise when the Sonics had their team stolen away from them. If someone decides to completely disown being a sports fan in that scenario, I wouldn't blame them.
By the same token, if your city finally gets that coveted franchise in your city, it's quite all right to start rooting for that team. Houston Texans fans may have once been Houston Oilers fans and may have converted to the Cowboys for a brief period of time when the Oilers moved to Nashville. But once they have a new team, all bets are off on what team you could/should root for.
2. You're lucky enough to know an athlete, and you root for his/her team in lieu of your original rooting interest: No one can blame you if you have a brother who was just drafted by the Washington Redskins and suddenly become a fan of the franchise when the previous part of your life, you were cursing Washington as a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. Bloodlines can acceptably change your fandom. And if this player switches teams, it's quite all right to move along with the team.
3. Your ownership/management group are a bunch of dipshits who you can tell have no competency in running a franchise and often make moves that are done against common sense and/or making your team competitive. See: Jones, Jerry and Wirtz, Bill, among many other owners who have seemed to lack a clue in running a franchise.
 |
| "I just wanted to announce that I will continue to sabotage a great franchise, so suck it Trebek!" |
The subject of Bill Wirtz is sure to warm the hearts of Chicago Blackhawks fans. Wirtz, who built his wealth thanks to liquor distribution and housing, was way behind the times, never embracing modern technology (he didn't allow Hawks home games on TV for fear that people wouldn't go to the games - never mind that just about every other successful team had no problem selling out their arenas when their games were on TV). For being known as a smart businessman, I am baffled at how he could not see the value of showing his team on TV. Also, his nickname "Dollar Bill" stems from his days as a very frugal owner. Most of the Hawks' best free agents signed elsewhere in the 90s, and so began the quick decline of a once proud Original Six franchise.
 |
| Bill Wirtz: Great Businessman, Shitty Hockey Owner |
In both of these cases, I would not blame a Dallas Cowboys fan, nor would I have blamed a Blackhawks fan, for switching teams. If your management/ownership group show a lack of interest in remaining a competitive sports franchise by constantly spitting in the faces of its fan base with its baffling and incompetent moves, if they abandon you to the point where they don't even really care about you as fans anymore, then who's to say you HAVE to be loyal right back? Do you stay in relationships longer than you should because you don't want to be looked at as being unloyal? That's a dumb reason to stay in a relationship, just as it would be to stay a hardcore fan of a team when that team's owners/management eats a bunch of White Castles and shits all over your hopes on a yearly basis.
4. No more rules apply: I would say that moving to a new city would allow you to root for a new team, but I think this would only be acceptable if you moved from a city/town that had no franchise in a particular sport to one that did. Otherwise, you stick with whatever team you were rooting for before you moved (which is likely your hometown team as long as you're not a weirdo like me who roots for an out-of-market team in football - 49ers).
Here are some major no-no's for changing mid-stream:
- No bandwagon jumping. Even if the ownership clause applies here, you can't just ride the hot hand and root for what's in, at least not when you're an adult. Like I said before, kids are flaky sports fans. Let them weed out who they really want to root for. Once they make their decision (and none of the above exceptions of changing teams apply), they will be forced to pick a team and stick with them. This is only if you are currently rooting for a team. If you've never been interested in a sport before, I have no problem with you jumping on the wagon, especially of a local team, so as long as you don't jump onto another wagon soon after if your newfound team falls and fails.
Temporary fandom, if only for one night, (when a friend of yours might be rooting for the Niners to win the Super Bowl for example) is acceptable. Once that game or run of games is over, it's back to rooting strictly for your team. - No actively rooting for multiple teams and playing favorites with whatever one happens to be doing better at the time. I understand if there might be a franchise who you admire from afar and wish your team could model itself after, but you cannot do the multiple fandom thing and flip-flop between who you root for the most. Not allowed.
So to the Tims out there who are rooting for a team whose ownership has turned its back on loyal fans across the country, I say, "find a new team." Why should you continue to give your team love and support when the guys running the team don't return the favor? If I am going to remain emotionally invested in a team, it's going to be with a franchise whose owners and management will do whatever they can to make themselves a competitive franchise for years to come.
3/07/2013
My Struggle to Get Interested in the Blackhawks and Hockey in General
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| Streak or not, the only way this season can end in true success for the Blackhawks is a reappearance of this Cup in city limits, at least in my eyes. |
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| Will this be on Chicago Theater in June 2013? |
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| A parade this time around could net about double the attendance. |
Hockey is a sport I wish I could get into, but I just can't. Maybe it's because the product translates poor to TV (at least to me). Maybe it's the lower scoring - although I'd disagree with that because I love me a 2-1 baseball game more than anyone I know.
I know I hate their way of distributing points in overtime/shootouts. The idea that a team can earn a point even when they lose the game seems absurd to me - a loss of any sort in any situation should not be rewarded, even if it comes in extra time. Think about it this way - would you want other sports to give losing teams credit for forcing overtime or extra innings and have weird baseball records like 78-72-12? Personally, I think the system before was just fine - maybe add about 5 minutes to overtimes and if it ends in a draw, so be it. To decide a winner on such an arbitrary process (the shootout) seems stupidly silly. Like my friend Jay said, it'd be like basketball ending in a free-throw contest (Dwight Howard vs. Blake Griffin could go on for days).
Perhaps me writing this much about hockey is actually a reflection of my inner-fan coming out - after all, why would I write this much about the problems I have with hockey if I didn't care. I don't think I'll ever be an active fan, which is a shame. Most of my close friends are big into the sport, and during these non-NFL months, it would bring me into the sports conversation for an extended period of time. At least long enough to pass the time until NFL comes around.
So to bury the lede - yes, I have noticed that the Blackhawks are on a historically sick run. Part of that has resulted in foolish decisions on my end, as I've bet against them a few times in this streak when a really high betting line presented itself. I think the streak is good for the NHL - hell, any positive coverage, even if portrayed by an ignorant hockey entity like ESPN, should be viewed as a good thing. With how bad a second lockout in ten years could have been for the sport, the NHL needs as much of this as they can. The longer this streak goes, the better it will be for them. This is somewhat comparable to what Cal Ripken's streak did for the MLB. Coming off of a strike in 1994, baseball needed a great story to attach itself to. And what a better story for them to come along than one that involves a sacred number (2,130) in a sport that attaches itself to sacred numbers.
As long as the Blackhawks continue to add to this streak, the NHL needs to do everything it can to promote it. Hockey has very little opportunities in the national spotlight and needs to capitalize on this so that they can turn casual fans like me (but not necessarily me - people who haven't experienced the sport) into lifelong fans. The long-time Blackhawks fans can bitch all they want about the bandwagon fans coming along for the ride, but I don't see the wagon getting any smaller anytime soon. With the old Wirtz in there, there was little reason for people to actually care about the Hawks - I give many props to those who toughed out those years as fans and stuck with them through the thinnest of thins.
As far as the bandwagon subject goes...To those long-time fans who complain about the bandwagoners, I say - Be open and accepting to their presence. Teach them about some of the nuances of the game (like explaining offsides, icing, etc.). As long as they are willing to become genuine fans of the Blackhawks and hockey in general, give them the respect you would want when you are learning about or finding interest in something for the first time. Besides, these fans aren't going anywhere.
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| As crazy as it seems, this crowd WILL be larger if there's a parade in 2013. |
4/24/2011
I'm With The Band (wagon): How Do You Know Who is Who?
The past couple of hockey playoff seasons, I've observed the sudden rise in the Blackhawks. And while most people in my position (not a hockey fan and not really part of the wagon or true Hawks fan) wouldn't give a crap, I've always wondered if there's an easy way to spot out a bandwagoner from a true fan.
Are there certain signs that I should be looking for from the bandwagoners that wouldn't be seen in a true fan? Would quizzing people on the team's past (like anything from beyond the past 4-5 years) prove anything in their status? Are there certain jerseys that bandwagoners have that are considered too trendy for a "true" Hawks fan to get? I'm actually legitimately asking these questions, because I have no clue as an outsider to observes a plethora of Hawks love on social media - and while I know some of them are true fans, I also know there are some who are following the Hawks (much like some folks following the Bulls) because it's the cool thing to do.
I'm sure you (whoever reads this as a Hawks fan) know who, among your group of friends and "friends" on facebook, is a true fan. My question to you is: how do you distinguish between a true fan and a bandwagon?
If any of you have answers to this, I'd welcome some comments on the subject.
Big sports day in Chicago Tuesday. Buckle up where ever you watch the games.
-B
Are there certain signs that I should be looking for from the bandwagoners that wouldn't be seen in a true fan? Would quizzing people on the team's past (like anything from beyond the past 4-5 years) prove anything in their status? Are there certain jerseys that bandwagoners have that are considered too trendy for a "true" Hawks fan to get? I'm actually legitimately asking these questions, because I have no clue as an outsider to observes a plethora of Hawks love on social media - and while I know some of them are true fans, I also know there are some who are following the Hawks (much like some folks following the Bulls) because it's the cool thing to do.
I'm sure you (whoever reads this as a Hawks fan) know who, among your group of friends and "friends" on facebook, is a true fan. My question to you is: how do you distinguish between a true fan and a bandwagon?
If any of you have answers to this, I'd welcome some comments on the subject.
Big sports day in Chicago Tuesday. Buckle up where ever you watch the games.
-B
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