Chicago's response to Tampa Bay

[daughtersrus]

http://abc7chicago.com/sports/mayor-emanuel-welcomes-lightning-fans-to-chicago-/763203/

 

[Tardisblue]

Tampa Bay is insecure and their attempt to keep Blackhawks fans from showing up is laughable. Nashville tried the same thing and they are watching the finals from home.

Go Hawks!

 

[kimblebee]

I'm cheering for Chicago ONLY because they actuLy get snow. An Anaheim/Tampa Bay final would have bugged me.

 

[Tardisblue]

I'm cheering for Chicago ONLY because they actuLy get snow. An Anaheim/Tampa Bay final would have bugged me.

Come on! You took Dustin Byfuglien from us, that should be more than enough to cheer for the Hawks!

 

[Rhombus]

Old Man Wirtz really alienated lots of Chicago fans during the 80s, 90s, and early 00s. When his son took over, he made the Blackhawks into a class organization.

Tampa Bay gets good attendance, but it seems from 10% to 50% of the fans at any given game are rooting for the opposition. Makes sense, due to all of the tourists vacationing in and transplants living in Florida. But they were afraid of all of the Rangers, Montreal, and Detroit jerseys that would show up on TV. And of course they had to make room for all of the "long time Lightning fan" bandwagon jumpers when they came out of the woodwork.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

I'm cheering for Chicago ONLY because they actuLy get snow. An Anaheim/Tampa Bay final would have bugged me.

As a Californian, I hate these comments. Just because we don't have snow in our part of the state doesn't mean we shouldn't have hockey here. Would it be better if the teams were in Trukee or Lake Tahoe where there is snow, but no people?

 

[Tardisblue]

As a Californian, I hate these comments. Just because we don't have snow in our part of the state doesn't mean we shouldn't have hockey here. Would it be better if the teams were in Trukee or Lake Tahoe where there is snow, but no people?

From what I've seen and heard, neither of those areas have any snow this year...

You can surf on Lake Michigan, doesn't mean the Surfing World Championships should be held in Chicago.

 

[kimblebee]

As a Californian, I hate these comments. Just because we don't have snow in our part of the state doesn't mean we shouldn't have hockey here. Would it be better if the teams were in Trukee or Lake Tahoe where there is snow, but no people?

As a Canadian, and a die hard hockey fan..in MY opinion, yes it does bother me that you have two, TWO hockey teams and the whole of Canada has seven. When arenas are selling tickets for ridiculous prices or even giving them away, they may not deserve a team. That's not directed at you and it's totally a rant for a different day so I'll stop LOL

 

[Tardisblue]

As a Canadian, and a die hard hockey fan..in MY opinion, yes it does bother me that you have two, TWO hockey teams and the whole of Canada has seven. When arenas are selling tickets for ridiculous prices or even giving them away, they may not deserve a team. That's not directed at you and it's totally a rant for a different day so I'll stop LOL

Add the 2 in Florida and one in Arizona and you have over half the number in 3 warm weather areas that an entire country has. To this point, there simply isn't a culture of hockey south of Illinois/Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota/New York. Not to say that the Kings, Ducks, Preds and Lightning don't have good/great hockey teams - they do, no question. But, and this is coming from someone who grew up in Alabama and lives near Chicago now, there isn't the passion for the sport down south (including California I'd venture) that you see ANYWHERE in Canada or the northern part of the U.S. They put up hockey boards in the neighborhood park near my house in November for pick up games. That is something you simply can't do south of I-80.

 

[kimblebee]

Exactly,and don't even get me started about the proposed team in Vegas

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

As a Canadian, and a die hard hockey fan..in MY opinion, yes it does bother me that you have two, TWO hockey teams and the whole of Canada has seven. When arenas are selling tickets for ridiculous prices or even giving them away, they may not deserve a team. That's not directed at you and it's totally a rant for a different day so I'll stop LOL

We have three teams, not two. When it comes down to it, the NHL is a business. The teams are surviving, if not thriving, here in California. If you (general you) want to get pissy about it, you can probably trace the blame back to Peter Pocklington, a CANADIAN, who sold off Canada's biggest asset and is probably the sole reason the Ducks and Sharks even exist. If a team can't survive, it goes away...as you know that's how you got a new Jets team. If the Coyotes continue to fail in Phoenix, they will go somewhere else.

 

[daughtersrus]

It looks like they gave in on the no opposite team apparel. There were talks about possible legal issues since the stadium is publicly owned. Lots of red in the stands. Now the Hawks just need a goal.

 

[kimmar067]

I'm cheering for Chicago ONLY because they actuLy get snow. An Anaheim/Tampa Bay final would have bugged me.

 

[kimmar067]

It looks like they gave in on the no opposite team apparel. There were talks about possible legal issues since the stadium is publicly owned. Lots of red in the stands. Now the Hawks just need a goal.

.....REALLY.....go Keith!

 

[kimmar067]

Exactly,and don't even get me started about the proposed team in Vegas

.....the Gamblers? Kinda has a nice ring to it, dontcha think?

 

[TifffanyD]

It looks like they gave in on the no opposite team apparel. There were talks about possible legal issues since the stadium is publicly owned. Lots of red in the stands. Now the Hawks just need a goal.

The opposing teamwear was always ok in most of the stands - just not one specific club area

 

[kimblebee]

We have three teams, not two. When it comes down to it, the NHL is a business. The teams are surviving, if not thriving, here in California. If you (general you) want to get pissy about it, you can probably trace the blame back to Peter Pocklington, a CANADIAN, who sold off Canada's biggest asset and is probably the sole reason the Ducks and Sharks even exist. If a team can't survive, it goes away...as you know that's how you got a new Jets team. If the Coyotes continue to fail in Phoenix, they will go somewhere else.

My apologies, I forgot about San Jose. I don't necessarily agree that if a team doesn't thrive, they leave. Phoenix/Arizona has been in trouble for ages. Believe me, as a Winnipegger I know. When Glendale city council had meetings that discussed the team, our newspaper would stream the meetings on their site and have thousands of viewers LOL

Bettman is way too stubborn to admit that hockey in some markets just isn't a good idea. I didn't see the story but didn't something come up in Arizona a week or two ago where the new owners are trying to back out or change the terms or something? Hockey should not be in that market at all.

 

[georgina]

Add the 2 in Florida and one in Arizona and you have over half the number in 3 warm weather areas that an entire country has. To this point, there simply isn't a culture of hockey south of Illinois/Michigan/Wisconsin/Minnesota/New York. Not to say that the Kings, Ducks, Preds and Lightning don't have good/great hockey teams - they do, no question. But, and this is coming from someone who grew up in Alabama and lives near Chicago now, there isn't the passion for the sport down south (including California I'd venture) that you see ANYWHERE in Canada or the northern part of the U.S. They put up hockey boards in the neighborhood park near my house in November for pick up games. That is something you simply can't do south of I-80.

We're a bit south of I-80 here in Pittsburgh, but there seems to be a hockey culture. Brandon Saad of the Blackhawks grew up playing here. The hockey fans are much less obnoxious than the football fans at least!

 

[Tardisblue]

We're a bit south of I-80 here in Pittsburgh, but there seems to be a hockey culture. Brandon Saad of the Blackhawks grew up playing here. The hockey fans are much less obnoxious than the football fans at least!

Pittsburgh is a notable exception and possibly Denver. My wife met Saad at a Zach Brown concert at Wrigley last summer and hasn't stopped talking about it. I'm sure she would leave me in a heartbeat for that kid.

But back to the original discussion. Here is a quick review of the 31 man roster for the Blackhawks by where they were born:

14 Canadians
6 Swedes
5 Americans
4 Finns
1 Czech
1 Slovakian

Of the 5 Americans, 2 were actually born in the South (South Carolina and Virginia). So, it's not unheard of for players to grow up in the South, but it's not common based on this small sample. The numbers speak for themselves in regards to our friends up North eh!

 

[Art 1]

I get to a few Lightning games each year, lots of fun and a great atmosphere and arena. Next year I will get to some in Toronto and am looking forward to that.