I had the good luck to get invited to the Hawks game on Friday night.
Giant Hawks fan Bill Cimino asked a couple of us at work to go.
I had no idea that the night's festivities would include a tribute to Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, in fact I hadn't even been in a year or two.
Last time I went it got loud when a fight broke out, otherwise it was quiet and dull.
Friday night begins with an introduction to the Stadium Club bar, which is a pretty nice place to start.
And the tribute - all I know is that Bill Wirtz wasn't the best owner, no home games on tv, bad teams, and somewhere along the way he must have gotten in some kind of spat with Hull and Mikita...
I really don't know why two of the most famous faces in Blackhawk history were ostracized, but apparently they were.
So Bill passes away, son Rocky takes over and hires John McDonough away from the Cubs.
McDonough's roots are in marketing - he started with the Cubs in '83, and he's responsible for so many things Cub that it's mind boggling.
You can easily make the argument that he's responsible for making the Cubs such a gigantic brand.
(It certainly wasn't Hector Villanueva or Leon Durham or Keith Moreland.)
Anyway, Rocky and John put the home games on tv, they're gonna figure out a way to play outdoor hockey in Chicago, the young team is truly exciting to watch, and they invite Hull and Mikita back to be sort of ambassadors of the team.
I guarantee they're going to make Chicago a hockey town again.
Maybe this is blasphemy, but these kids Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are not unlike Hull and Mikita coming up at the same time and being the default leaders of the Hawks at really young ages - all of them started pro hockey at 18 or 19.
Remember in '04 how the Cubs season tix suddenly sold out?
I bet that happens with the Hawks pretty quickly too.
Meanwhile, the game Friday ended with an almost-miracle, but a goal was disallowed and the Hawks lost.
I totally got my share of goosebumps though, and my voicebox is still a mess.
Like the old Stadium, man.
That was fun.
