Blackhawks

[Hards Alumni]

It's also funny that you can determine what Chicago thinks.

I never said that, in my experience with Chicago fans (you included now), they think they are the cream of the crop and no one is a fair weather fan.

Its okay to disagree with me, but to do so is plainly delusional.

[GGGG]

Green Bay begs to differ sir, come back when your sold out for 50+ years in a row.

Conveniently forgetting the days of blackouts when they didn't sell out County Stadium...

[HoopsMalone]

Thank you for supporting my argument.

This is PRECISELY what I am talking about.

You did not make a point at all.  I have no what the heck you are talking about.  Are people supposed to be at the same level of excitement all year?  

Look, there are teams to cheer for at all times.  When MU is in the tourney, fans are going to be most excited about that.  When the Bears are in the playoffs people are going to be most excited about that.  There is always something to be most excited about depending on the time of year.  It won't be equal throughout and your suggestion that people are somehow fair weather implies some level of being fake.  Sounds petty to me.  People see fans get excited during the playoffs and then rip on them and make generalizations about a fan base.  

[mugrad2006]

Anyway back to the game, it was a pretty fitting end for the Hawks.  God knows how many times they turned the puck over in their offensive zone this year for goals.

I said during the offseason I didn't think Crawford would be the answer for the Hawks in goal but I was completely wrong about that.  He was a stud all season and he put on a clinic last night.

I'm still amazed that game ended 2-1.  During the second period it seemed like Vancouver was gonna score 5 goals.  There was one possession where the Canucks must have gotten off 10 separate shots.  Crawford was brilliant last night during that possession, stopping the penalty shot, gloving the point blank shot b/c of the TO behind the net.  He was the only reason Chicago was even in the game.

[Hards Alumni]

You did not make a point at all.  I have no what the heck you are talking about.  Are people supposed to be at the same level of excitement all year?  

Look, there are teams to cheer for at all times.  When MU is in the tourney, fans are going to be most excited about that.  When the Bears are in the playoffs people are going to be most excited about that.  There is always something to be most excited about depending on the time of year.  It won't be equal throughout and your suggestion that people are somehow fair weather implies some level of being fake.  Sounds petty to me.  People see fans get excited during the playoffs and then rip on them and make generalizations about a fan base.  

It is completely assinine for you to believe that more than 1/3 the people who are cheering during the playoffs even watched more than 2 regular season games.

[TallTitan34]

Trying to spin this into a positive here.  This loss might be a good lesson for the young Blackhawks.  Had they won and gone on another nice run, their players might have learned a negative lesson that they can sleepwalk through the season and flip a switch at the end.  

Even though they already have a title, I still think we have not seen the ceiling on all of these guys.  That is a scary thing.  Hopefully this loss motivates them to get better.

This is a great core and Bowman did the best he could give the contracts inherited from Dale Tallon though.  Crawford looks like the answer going forward, and Bowman made a tough move by not signing fan favorite Niemi.  

100% agree Malone.

While I would have liked to see the young guys get a little more playoff experience with a deeper run, they definately got a taste of playoff hockey playing in 4 straight elimination games.

[HoopsMalone]

I never said that, in my experience with Chicago fans (you included now), they think they are the cream of the crop and no one is a fair weather fan.

Its okay to disagree with me, but to do so is plainly delusional.

You won't find a person on the planet who thinks Chicago has zero fair weather fans.  You also won't find many people if any who don't think Chicago fans are at the top of the list or near the top when it comes to loyal, passionate fan bases in the United States.  

That's not a knock on any other fan base at all, as Chicago has more fans based on population.  The presence at road games is the most telling about Chicago's fan base.  Of course the UC and our other stadiums are always full and loud.  Geography allows Chicago fans to travel to more games since it is a short drive or a two hour flight to almost every sports city outside of California.  Not sure what there is to debate, though, on Chicago being cream of the crop unless you are considering international futbol fan bases.

[GGGG]

Look, there are teams to cheer for at all times.  When MU is in the tourney, fans are going to be most excited about that.  When the Bears are in the playoffs people are going to be most excited about that.  There is always something to be most excited about depending on the time of year.  It won't be equal throughout and your suggestion that people are somehow fair weather implies some level of being fake.  Sounds petty to me.  People see fans get excited during the playoffs and then rip on them and make generalizations about a fan base.  

Exactly.  How many Packer fans do you see wearing jersies in May?  Now how many did you see last January?  

When I think of fair weather fans, I think Miami...or Atlanta.  Not Chicago.  And for those pointing at Blackhawk fans, how about Brewer fans?  Until their recent streak of winning, the Brewers ranked 10th or lower (out of 14 or 16 teams) in league attendance every year from 1989-2006...except the year they opened Miller Park.

And I'm a Brewer fan.  I never went to see them in the mid-90s.  They were terrible.

[HoopsMalone]

It is completely assinine for you to believe that more than 1/3 the people who are cheering during the playoffs even watched more than 2 regular season games.

And that means...

I am not sure how much time you think people can devote to watching sports.  But there is football taking up most people's weekends and basketball competing with hockey.  People just don't have time to watch all games, but people do keep up with the teams in general and are supporting most when it counts.  

[TallTitan34]

It is completely assinine for you to believe that more than 1/3 the people who are cheering during the playoffs even watched more than 2 regular season games.

It is completely assinine for you to believe that a guy who breaks out a jersey during the playoffs didn't watch more than 2 regular season games.

[TallTitan34]

The Hawks just won a championship.  Of course they are going to have bandwagon fans.  What championship team doesn't?

[HoopsMalone]

While I would have liked to see the young guys get a little more playoff experience with a deeper run, they definately got a taste of playoff hockey playing in 4 straight elimination games.

That's a good point.  It would have been nice to see some of these guys take more time to gel.  They have enough talent to get hot too.  

I am excited to see how these guys mature next year, and I am looking at Kane more than anyone.  I'd like to see them take the regular season a little more seriously.  

[MUBurrow]

First, I'm very impressed with the Hawks guys here (TT, mugrad) that are rising above the fairweather fray to actually discuss the game. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch it (more of a Wild or Penguins fan than Hawks, being from Green Bay area with no clear rooting allegiance).  

That being said, I have been really hard on the new Hawks fans in the past. Based primarily off of these stats:
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/year/2006
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/year/2007
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/year/2008/sort/homePct

However, it is clear that the championship has energized the fanbase, and every year they are top 5 in NHL attendance, my eye rolls will become fewer and fewer.  If the Hawks keep representing a couple of years without winning championships, or even if they should miss the playoffs, then time dictates that the bandwagon label be taken away.  There was never any doubt Chicago could become a great hockey city again, but it was that extreme potential that led me to be pretty pissed about the fervor around the championship run, after those attendance numbers only a couple years before.

[JWags85]

It is completely assinine for you to believe that a guy who breaks out a jersey during the playoffs didn't watch more than 2 regular season games.

Shh, don't bring logic into it.  Its much more easy to blindly hate.  For example, 2 of the people I watched with last night didn't know all the words to Chelsea Dagger, clearly they didn't even know who the Blackhawks were until last night in the 3rd period.

Green Bay begs to differ sir, come back when your sold out for 50+ years in a row.

Take care.

There is ONE team in GB.  In a town that literally owns the team and in a city isn't much else going on.  I'm not taking anything away from the passion of Packer fans, but its not a fair comparison.  If you want to bring in the rest of the state, its the same state that ignored the Brewers for many years and doesn't exactly strongly support the Bucks through thick and thin.

[JWags85]

More on point, I can't say enough about Crawford.  Dude was absolutely dialed in.  I thought he was magnificent.  Kruger and Johnson are both exciting and I think Leddy is going to be solid going forward.  Lot to be excited about.

[TallTitan34]

It's too bad that Bolland didn't play until the fourth game.  His presence completely turned the series around.

[HoopsMalone]

I think it is also important to acknowledge that Vancouver is a talented team.  In reality, there is no shame in losing to them in a rebuilding year. 

[TallTitan34]

I think it is also important to acknowledge that Vancouver is a talented team.  In reality, there is no shame in losing to them in a rebuilding year. 

Especially in overtime of game seven.

[SaintPaulWarrior]

More on point, I can't say enough about Crawford.  Dude was absolutely dialed in.  I thought he was magnificent.  Kruger and Johnson are both exciting and I think Leddy is going to be solid going forward.  Lot to be excited about.

I also love the way that they "stole" former first round pick and Univ. of Minnesota player Leddy from the Wild for Cam Barker.  They also received Kim Johnnson in the same trade but he had a concussion and missed all of the playoffs last year.

[mugrad2006]

There is ONE team in GB.  In a town that literally owns the team and in a city isn't much else going on.  I'm not taking anything away from the passion of Packer fans, but its not a fair comparison.  If you want to bring in the rest of the state, its the same state that ignored the Brewers for many years and doesn't exactly strongly support the Bucks through thick and thin.

I hate the 'GB only has one team argument, that's why so many people go to the games.'  The Green Bay MSA has about 290k people.  Lambeau holds ~70,000 people.  By your logic its pretty impressive that a quarter of the locals have gone to every game for 50 years.  

By contrast the Chicago MSA is 9 million people, almost twice the population of all of Wisconsin.  If you add up all the seats at Wrigley, the Cell, Soldier Field, and the UC that's ~185K seats.  If every event was played on the same night, it will still only take 2% of the local population to sell them all out.  

All I'm saying is when Chicago fans blast attendance figures in Milwaukee or try to belittle the record numbers in Green Bay, they should think a little bit about large differences in fan base.  

Also, great game last night b/t the Hawks and Canucks, and fantastic series to watch.

[HoopsMalone]

I hate the 'GB only has one team argument, that's why so many people go to the games.'  The Green Bay MSA has about 290k people.  Lambeau holds ~70,000 people.  By your logic its pretty impressive that a quarter of the locals have gone to every game for 50 years.  

By contrast the Chicago MSA is 9 million people, almost twice the population of all of Wisconsin.  If you add up all the seats at Wrigley, the Cell, Soldier Field, and the UC that's ~185K seats.  If every event was played on the same night, it will still only take 2% of the local population to sell them all out.  

All I'm saying is when Chicago fans blast attendance figures in Milwaukee or try to belittle the record numbers in Green Bay, they should think a little bit about large differences in fan base.  

Also, great game last night b/t the Hawks and Canucks, and fantastic series to watch.

It is hard to compare cities because populations are so skewed.  I think the NFL is an outlier though because there are only 8 home games and it is by far the king of American sports.  Comparing NFL and baseball is apples and oranges. 

[SaintPaulWarrior]

It is hard to compare cities because populations are so skewed.  I think the NFL is an outlier though because there are only 8 home games and it is by far the king of American sports.  Comparing NFL and baseball is apples and oranges. 

For arguments sake let's say that the Packers did sell out 50 straight years (which they have not).  8 games a year that is 400 games.  Cleveland Indians sold out 455 straight games.  So Cleveland fans are obviously better than Green Bay fans.

[DJO's Pump Fake]

Let me clarify

Lambeau Field Season Tickets have been sold out since 1960 - over 80,000 people remain on list

Is that better for you?

[mugrad2006]

For arguments sake let's say that the Packers did sell out 50 straight years (which they have not).  8 games a year that is 400 games.  Cleveland Indians sold out 455 straight games.  So Cleveland fans are obviously better than Green Bay fans.

I did not know that fact.  I'd have to say that is pretty impressive (probably more impressive than the GB streak) given the number, time, and frequency of baseball games.  The only flip side is that Cleveland won their division 6 out of the 7 years of that streak, whereas Green Bay sucked pretty bad in the mid 70's to the late 80's.  Again, pretty crazy streak by Indians fans.

[SaintPaulWarrior]

Let me clarify

Lambeau Field Season Tickets have been sold out since 1960 - over 80,000 people remain on list

Is that better for you?

No.

I did not know that fact.  I'd have to say that is pretty impressive (probably more impressive than the GB streak) given the number, time, and frequency of baseball games.  The only flip side is that Cleveland won their division 6 out of the 7 years of that streak, whereas Green Bay sucked pretty bad in the mid 70's to the late 80's.  Again, pretty crazy streak by Indians fans.

This article was written March 11th.  It is current sell out streaks going.

The Boston Red Sox have sold out Fenway Park for 631 consecutive games in Major League Baseball and top the list of active sellout streaks in North American pro sport. Seven teams in three leagues have all surpassed 300, including the Canucks in fifth-place at 343 and counting heading into another home stand beginning Monday.

The Dallas Mavericks, #1 in the NBA and #2 overall, stand at 391 consecutive sellouts, while the NFL’s Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins are third and fourth at 365 and 356, respectively.

Mayenknecht notes that the NFL considers only non-premium seating capacity in recording sellouts. Sellouts in the NFL do not require sell through of all suites, club and other premium seats, which amount to more than 10,000 seats in some NFL stadiums.

Five of the top-10 teams on the active list are NFL franchises. Joining Green Bay and Washington are the Pittsburgh Steelers (327), Denver Broncos (317) and San Francisco 49ers (282).

http://www.teamradio.ca/news/canucks-set-to-reach-350-consecutive-sellouts/