Bears Fans: The Blackhawks Have Room On The Bandwagon

There’s a special brand of sports being played in Chicago in recent years.

It’s not at Wrigley Field, where they’re renovating everything but the lineup. It’s not at US Cellular/Comiskey Jr., where White Sox fans (like myself) just waved goodbye to the last piece of a World Series Champion from just nine years ago (and doesn’t that WS win feel longer ago than nine years now?).

It’s not happening on the soccer pitch where the Chicago Fire are in 9th place out of 10 teams in the East.

The Bulls are just getting warmed up, with Derrick Rose listed day-to-day in our heads, even when he’s healthy. The Bulls are strong, yes, but glory continues to evade the heirs of Jordan and Pippen when the games matter most in the postseason.

You know where I’m going with this.

There are few pains right now beyond what is felt by Bears fans. We’re far enough removed from the Cubs most recent Wait ‘Till Next Year to say that Bears fans are the standard of agony in Chicago sports at the moment.

Bears fans are all over the internet this week with their reactions to the weekend’s drubbing by the Packers. And wouldn’t you know that it would just have to be the Packers? Jerseys are being burned or buried. Fans are complaining the defense can’t stop a butterfly. Some are even calling for Jimmy Clausen to start.

Jimmy. Clausen.

There’s a level of angst escaping from the Windy City that we haven’t seen since that double album by the Smashing Pumpkins back in the 90s.

There’s an answer.

Come to hockey, Bears fans.

The Chicago Blackhawks have room for you on the bandwagon. It’s a big bandwagon. The Hawks are the overwhelming favorite to do something spectacular: Win three Stanley Cup in six seasons.

Do we Blackhawks fans have drama? You bet. The team can come across flatter than a drive across the Dakotas. Every once in a while they lose a game to someone they have no business losing to. But hockey has everything: Fights, exciting action, big dudes who have no business being as graceful as they are, and colorful characters. The Blackhawks have some of the best players in the NHL. Their bench is so deep that some of the talent on the farm team in Rockford could start tomorrow against pretty much anybody and have a strong presence on the ice.

Chicago also boasts the two top-selling jerseys at NHL.com, according to the site. Captain Jonathon Toews and Patrick Kane are two and one, respectively. Well ahead of names like Ovechkin and Crosby. And, you know… Jay Cutler. (Shout out to Carl Stutsman for this one)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiKNUKLoPA8

Even better…the Hawks are playing from the middle of the pack right now, ready to charge back into the upper echelon of teams in the Western Conference, and facing a monster of a road trip. The annual Circus Trip begins next week and runs through some tough hockey cities through December 5th.

It’s always fun watching the Chicago Blackhawks when the odds are against them. When was the last time you could say that about the Bears?

Don’t mourn the recent setbacks in Chicago sports. Embrace what you have. You have the Chicago Blackhawks, skippered by one of the best coaches in the game’s history, and a GM that has a last name with some weighty pedigree in the sport.

Watch the Blackhawks. Support the Indian. Be proud to be a Chicago sports fan again.

Go Hawks.

– T

P.S. – If you go to extremes and decide to do something horrible with your Bears jerseys…remember not to take it out on Walter Payton. Never diss Walter. Read more at: http://thefanindiana.com/bears-fans-the-blackhawks-have-room-on-the-bandwagon/ Copyright © The Fan Indiana