Hey, looks like this Winter Classic thing is finally official

July 16th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

So, it was on. Then it was (maybe) off. Then I think it was on again, but no one really knew for sure. I think Sean Lennon wrote a song about this once. (BTW: that song is a good song.) But yeah: the Sun-Times — the same publication that reported it was on originally — is saying it’s back on like Donkey Kong. (American Pie reference. SO HIP.)

The details:

The worst-kept secret in Chicago sports is official as the Blackhawks are set to host the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 1 at Wrigley Field.

The Hawks will make an announcement around noon today.

Hawks president John McDonough, who formerly held that position with the Cubs, and Rocky Wirtz continue to return the Blackhawks into prominence. The Hawks’ first-ever fan convention is this weekend.

It will be interesting to see if the Blackhawks do indeed become relevant again after this. The buzz started a bit last season and McDonough seems to be lining his ducks in a row nicely with both the fan convention and this coup. The man knows what he’s doing.

Now to score a ticket for this …

Hockey …. hockey … hockey … hockey

June 4th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Confession: I don’t watch hockey. I know, right? Shocking. That said, I feel like there is a large contingent of people who don’t watch hockey who actively dislike hockey, as if the notion of this sport they don’t watch, played in arenas they don’t attend, is somehow reason to get worked up. Hockey sucks! Ugh! I don’t watch it, but it still sucks! Theoretically! (I find most of these people also hate soccer. So I empathize.)

Anyway. It’s that not I don’t like hockey, it’s just that my time is thinly spread enough as it is, and adding another three-hour-a-night sports obsession is not in the cards. Not to mention, after years of apathy, the sport feels awkward to me. Hockey is foreign enough to me that at a friend’s hockey game in high school, all of my friends — who were attending both to root on our friend and to ironically advance the notion that there was nothing better to do in our hometown in high school than go to a hockey game — started simply chanting “hockey.” Just … “hockey … hockey … hockey.” Etc. To this day, I find it hilarious: how often do you see people, even dumbass high school kids, chanting the very name of the sport they’re observing? It was either a celebration of the fun we were having, or a slap at the sport. I remain convinced it was the former.

Tonight, after just watching the fifth or sixth period of hockey I’ve watched all year, I kinda felt like that again. You probably couldn’t force me to watch a non-live regular-season hockey game any time in the near future, but anyone who saw any of this year’s Stanley Cup would struggle to deny the sport’s entertainment potential. Hockey is back. It just needs is for people like me to realize it.

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Red Wings won. I haven’t watched the sport since the mid-90’s, and it’s like I haven’t missed anything!)