The natives are getting restless in Chicago, and when I say natives, I mean loyal Blackhawk fans. The Cubs are truly pathetic, the Sox are trying mightily to blow their season, the Bulls have been insignificant for a decade, and the Bears are one Jay Cutler injury away from a 4-12 season. So, what do we have to look forward to, Chicago? Blackhawks training camp is really the only answer. About the same time the Bears open their regular season, the Hawks will be starting training camp, and their defense of the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, it's really a "no win" situation for them, but the fans are going to be here to cheer them on, nonetheless. If they repeat, everyone will just say it was expected, and if they don't, which is a likely scenario for ANY franchise, all I'm going to read is how they broke up the team, and all that other utter trash the hockey rag writers will spew. As I have been thinking about how thankless the Cup was, outside of the Chicago area, I came up with a few more points and misconceptions I'd like to debunk. I'm not really sure why I get so wound up about dopey people and what they post on the internet, but I do. Stupid people and people who assume I'm stupid light my flame like nothing else. I'll flat out tell you the things I know nothing about, but Hockey is something I'm pretty educated on, so when I see lies, fabrications, and plain old stupidity, I get infuriated. Like a scene out of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, I want to go to each person's door and knock them out with a 2X4, for being morons, but then I remember that 90% of the population are the equivalent of slow adults. Nevertheless, here are a few more "Blackhawks for Dummies" points:
"The Blackhawks bought the Stanley Cup" - In the age of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Washington Redskins, Miami Heat, and a few others, things could look that way...if you're a total simpleton. Of the roughly 31 players that played games for the team this past year, a grand total of 6 players were signed as NHL free agents over the last 3 or 4 years. Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, Tomas Kopecky, John Madden, Brent Sopel, and Cristobal Huet were all signed on the open market. Of these players, only Campbell and Hossa were big name acquisitions with large contracts. Huet got a big contract, but is hardly a big name or impact player. Going out and signing 2 big name players (a whopping %6 of your roster), in successive years, is not buying a championship, folks. All of the rest were either drafted, traded for, or signed as unknown free agents. That's what you call building a franchise, not buying a championship. They did what ANY team should; they drafted very well, made a few smart trades, and filled in some holes with talented free agents. Anyone who tries to break that down any other way just looks childish and jealous. There isn't one team in any sport that wouldn't build their franchise that way, given the opportunity.
"The Blackhawks cheated" - I challenge anyone to show me one concrete example of cheating. Marian Hossa? His contract was reviewed and accepted by the league. It's not like he played illegally or anything. In fact, he missed 30 percent of the season with an injury. Again, more utter rubbish.
"The Championship will be nullified because of the Hossa contract" - This is one of the silliest theories I've ever heard. In the age where teams have championships with rostered players that were either drug abusers or steroid users, you're going to tell me they would revoke a title because they had second thoughts on the structure of a player's contract? If you think that, you're all high on crack. Seriously, you need to be put in a mental ward. It will never happen, nor should it. Again, neither the Blackhawks nor Marian Hossa did anything wrong. He played under a league approved contract.
"The Hawks will lose Marian Hossa" - Once again, not going to happen. If the league feels the contract violated anything in the CBA, they will void the contract as of that point. Rest assured, Hossa's agent and the Hawks management would, at the very least, quickly draft up a one year contract until the dust settles and they can structure another long term deal. If anyone thinks Hossa is going to want to leave the one team that has just given him the one thing he's been chasing, you are, once again, high on crack. Let's say the league fines the Hawks for the contract. Fines don't go against the salary cap, so they pay it and move on. Now, if we could get the league to void that Huet contract, we might be onto something.
"Without Niemi they will never repeat" - Until midway through the playoffs, no one thought the Hawks could win WITH Niemi, so that just goes to show that the general consensus really knows. Absolutely nothing. These are the same people who were SURE the Penguins were going to beat Montreal, and they were SURE the Caps were going to beat Montreal, so on and so forth. Marty Turco is more qualified to make a Stanley Cup defense than Antti Niemi, period. If you disagree, you're wrong. There is a reason Antti Niemi is still jobless on August 17th. He has no proven resume. He did enough to keep the puck out of the net for a team that was stacked from top to bottom, and no team is going to overpay for that. At least teams like Philly WANTED Turco. No one has seriously put an offer up for Mr. "Ye of 64 career games". If he's SOOOOO good, tell me why he's jobless, and quite possibly could be this season.
Feel free to email me any of the stupid propaganda that idiot Red Wings fans or any other fans, for that matter, are spewing. Jealousy is a funny thing. The Hawks were just jealous until they won the cup; now they are cheaters. Who is jealous now? I've said it before and I'll say it again; Until someone besides Jonathan Toews is hoisting the cup the Hawks are champs.
