May 19th Update

I wanted to do an update on the most recent happenings associated with the posts on my blog. I'll go through each of the most recent posts one at a time here so read the ones that interest you and feel free to respond/comment as you see fit.

Well, I simply must start with the Blackhawks. Does anyone else feel like the Hawks have the Red Wings right where they want them? Even though the Hawks are down 2-0, I feel like they are really "right there" and could easily take the next 4 games to win the series in 6. After being a non-factor in Game 1, Towes obviously came to play tonight scoring both of the Hawks goals. Khabibulin stepped up pretty well tonight saving 35 shots. Unfortunately, he was only 1-for-2 in OT and the Hawks fell 3-2. My daughter was hoping the Hawks would duplicate her soccer team's performance over the weekend. They were down 2-1 late in the game but were able to tie it in regulation and were able to pull it out in OT. The Hawks got it half right. Now they come home to a rockin' UC and will take back the momentum from the Wings. This whole thing kind of reminds me of the 1980 Olympics with the Wings playing the role of the "unbeatable" Russians while the upstart Hawks are the USA.

Now on to the Cubs...what the heck was THAT tonight against a reeling Cardinals team? Weren't the Cards coming off a home sweep at the hands of the 1st place Brewers while the Cubs were coming off a 4-1 homestand? That's not what it looked like to me. Did they really get completely dominated by Joel Pineiro? 3 hits? Really? 3 lousy hits! Where was the patience at the plate this team has exhibited most of the year? Pineiro pitched his first complete game of the season while throwing only 92 pitches. He came in with an unremarkable 4.17 ERA but after 9 innings of shutout ball, dropped it to 3.48. On a good note, they only left 1 guy on base. Of course, it is easier to let only 1 guy on base when 3 guys reach base with no walks to go with their 3 measley hits. Bradley hit into a DP to eliminate one of the runners and then Soriano was picked off to eliminate another; hence "only" one runner LOB. Wow!

How can you explain such a lousy effort against your #1 division rival? I just don't get it. You can't blame Lou for the lineup this time either. Other than Aramis being out with his injury, the rest of the lineup would have to be considered their best lineup. You really need to take advantage of those rare days when Phat Albert doesn't do anything too. Pujols was 1-4 and left 3 runners on base tonight. Too bad.

Cubs fans vs. Sox fans update. CSN is advertising this week as rivalry week with the Cubs in St. Louis and the Sox home facing the Twins. Cubs vs. Cards drew 41,374 while the Sox vs. Twins drew all of 26,696 on a GORGEOUS Tuesday evening. Where's all the Sox fans? Too busy watching the Cubs lose on WGN tonight? Hey Sox fans, double-bonus as I'm sure you didn't even notice - the Sox won tonight! By the way, just to put that pretty pathetic attendance figure at The Cell last night in perspective...the Cubs drew 23,441 to Miller Park with 24-hour notice on a rescheduled game that was supposed to be played in Houston but was moved to Milwaukee due to the hurricane in Houston. The game date was September 14th so don't tell me how last night was a school night because the game at Miller Park was a school night too.

Lee vs. Hoffpauir update. Maybe watching Hoffpauir play well in his absence clicked something in D-Lee's head. Lee has gone 6-11 in his last 3 games since coming back to the starting line-up and has even drove in 3 runs in those 3 games. Of course, the Cubs are 1-2 in those games. Hmmm. I was hoping Hoffpauir would take a little more advantage of his opportunity than he actually did, but he still did pretty well while being thrown into the starting line-up like he was. I'd still like to see him play more consistently but if just the threat of his being there and ably fill in is enough to help D-Lee produce, that works too.

I hope you are all enjoying my posts. Please be sure to comment as much as you can so I know you're "listening". Thanks!

Bandwagon Jumpers

So what about all these bandwagon jumpers for the Hawks and the Bulls? Obviously both teams have increased in popularity over the last 12 months. The Bulls were supposed to compete for the Eastern Conference championship last season but had a supremely disappointing season leading to the firing of the coach that helped bring them back into relevance with three straight playoff appearances. Some serious luck came their way when they surprisingly won the coveted NBA Draft Lottery and made the RIGHT choice bringing Derrick Rose into the mix. Derrick helped lead the Bulls to an 8-game turnaround getting them back in the playoffs as the #7 seed.

The Bulls' epic playoff series with the defending champ Boston Celtics will go down in history as the best first-round (if not THE best) playoff series ever. All the experts say that just having that playoff experience will help the young Bulls develop as a perennial contender for years to come. They were a couple of shots or a couple of referee calls away from upsetting the #2 Celtics and moving on to face the very beatable Orlando Magic. But the extra media attention and being in the limelight for an extra month brought along what most call bandwagon jumpers. "True" or "die hard" fans tend to despise these people as they only come along when the team has success, but aren't there when the team really needs them to get over the hump. To me, the more people at the games means more noise at the UC which only helps out the home team and that's what I want. Eventually (I hope) the Bulls will start to get some actual calls especially at home...that's what all the experts are saying about Derrick Rose. Can you imagine what this kid would have done with 5-6 more FTs per game? I'm looking forward to that time.

The Hawks saw an absolutely INCREDIBLE transformation this year. It "helped" that they haven't been relevant since 2002's playoff appearance. They made HUGE strides last year thanks to their two AMAZING rookies (Kane and Towes), but floundered a bit down the stretch and missed the "cut" for the playoffs. They did NOT falter this season though, did they? The transformation started when Dale Tallon moved from the radio booth to the front office as GM in 2005. He then picked up Towes (#3 overall) and Kane (#1 overall) in the first round in 2006 and 2007 and the Hawks were on their way. With the death of their long-time and ultra-cheap, stubborn, and arrogant owner "Dollar" Bill Wirtz and the ownership change to son Rocky Wirtz along with the hiring of ex-Cubs President John McDonough, the franchise transmformation was complete. But wait, who doesn't love Savoir Faire? When the Hawks decided to fire him only 4 games into the season this year, I was scratching my head. Well, what do I know? Joel Quenneville was the final piece so he actually completed the transformation.

Getting the home games back on TV helped build a more consistent following. This was THE BIG decision behind getting this team the support they needed to get them over the hump. You can literally watch every single Hawks game on TV and nearly all in HD (that helps too - NHL in HD is the BEST). How did this not make sense to Dollar Bill?

The home attendance and revenue numbers for this season have been ASTRONOMICAL. What a perfect storm to redevelop a fan base. With that totally nuts Game 6 at the UC, the Hawks exceeded 1 million fans and that does NOT count the Winter Classic at the Frozen Confines. The Hawks set an NHL club record by attracting an average of 21,783 to their 40 home dates at United Center (not including the 40,818 who filled Wrigley Field for the Winter Classic) this season. Chicago is averaging 22,578 fans per game through their first five home contests of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. How can that be with all the fans they should have lost with everyone staying home to watch the home games? Ya...nice logic there Dollar Bill.

So where did all these people come from? This goes back to my original point. Are all these people coming out of the woodwork only here because the team has been so successful? Or were they always there keeping an eye on the team to see when the franchise cared as much as they did? Speaking for myself, I'm going with the latter. I've always followed the Hawks but not as closely as I have these last two years. It REALLY helps me since I don't have season tickets and only get to a couple games a year to have the games on TV. Having THE BEST announcers on the planet doing the games, REALLY helps too. Eddie O and Pat Foley are simply amazing. Eddie O's analysis of Kane's 3rd and pretty much game and series clinching goal on Mon night was so insightful. Amazing! And that's why people like to watch. I can't find any current revenue numbers for this season, but last year's merchandise revenues were up 175% so this year should be right in that same area. Season ticket sales increased 300% from last year to this year too.

So I say WELCOME BACK fans...WELCOME BACK!