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2010 Stanley Cup Champions - Chicago Blackhawks
After 49 long years, Lord Stanley Cup has finally navigated its way into the city of Chicago again. The longest drought in the NHL is finally over and Chicago is ready to party like it’s 1961. Almost 50 years of failure erased with a shot that no one even saw outside of Patrick Kane and a couple of his teammates. But boy, was it ever in!
This title means a lot. Anyone who tells you anything different should be at the intersection of Wacker and Washington Friday morning, when thousands of Blackhawks fans will join their heroes for the victory parade. This title means so much because of who won it – Chicago Blackhawks. One of the “Original Six” teams and a team that the whole Chicago can agree on. A team that everyone can root for in Chicago, those from the North side and those from the South side. No division needed here.
Sure we have seen titles in this town. The Bulls spoiled everyone with their six titles in eight years in the 90’s and the White Sox ended their own curse in 2005 after 88 long years. The Bears won their title in 1985 but nothing since. The Cubs, well, we don’t have time to focus on the negatives today. There will be plenty of time to reflect on the Cubs’ struggles. So, we have seen some titles in this town, but nothing the whole city can be happy about since Michael Jordan’s epic shot over Bryon Russell in the ‘98 NBA Finals. Just like back then the whole city can celebrate this one.
The writing has been there for all of us to see, all year long and even last year. Losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the Conference Finals last year was a learning step. Sure we were all disappointed with the outcome but still happy nevertheless, that our team made it that far after so many years.
Even this year and the famous motto: One Goal. Yes, everyone knew the team was better with a couple of big acquisitions and the maturity process of our youngsters Toews and Kane but good enough to win it all? Few will tell you they had the Hawks as the Stanley Cup favorites before the season started. Everyone knew the talent was there but no one knew it would mesh into this stellar team of rising stars and a couple of key veterans.
They peaked at the right time, and they found themselves a goalie for the next X number of years in Antti Niemi. The resilience of the team on the road was extremely impressive. The Hawks finished the postseason with exactly the same record on the road and at home: 8-3. It’s hard to win any game in the playoffs but to win eight on the road is simply incredible. The NHL’s largest crowd at the United Center (average 21,356 per game in the regular season according to ESPN.com) propelled the team to some great victories at home, but the true sign of a champion is winning games on the road. And that’s exactly what the Hawks did all playoffs long, none bigger than the game last night in Philadelphia.
Last night’s game summarized this team for anyone who didn’t know much about them. Leading 3:2 with about four minutes left, the Flyers scored the equalizer to extend their life and force the game to overtime with the possibility of Game 7 looming in two days time. It could have been very demoralizing for the Hawks, knowing they were four minutes from the ultimate glory only to be tied seconds later. As they have done all year long when facing adversity, they stepped up and delivered a knockout blow. Only this time there was no getting up for Philly. The fat lady had sung her tune and the Chicago Blackhawks have etched their name into the Stanley Cup history for the first time after nearly 50 years.
Can the Hawks repeat? Will they repeat? Who will leave and who will stay? These are all questions to be answered in the forthcoming weeks. These are serious issues that need to be revisited…but not right now. This is a happy time in the history of Chicago sports.
Live it up Chicago. Enjoy the parade and the rally tomorrow morning. This has been a long time in the making. Forty nine years to be exact. Oh, how sweet it is.
Congrats Blackhawks!!!
Did you miss Valentines day? Don’t worry, all you need to do is to show your girl some Chicago history. A tree is all that is left at the site where the St.Valentine’s Day Massacre occurred on Feb 14th, 1929.
The tree is at 2122 N. Clark Street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Almost eighty years ago, four of Al Capone’s henchmen, posing as police officers, drew machine guns from their overcoats and murdered six members of Bugs Moran’s gang. Apparently, Capone didn’t like Moran cutting into his market. Moran was also muscling in on a Capone-run dog track in the Chicago suburbs. Jack McGurn is one of the people most frequently cited by researchers as a suspected planner.
No one was ever charged with the crime, and the warehouse where the slayings occurred was torn down in 1967. Now this unassuming tree sits on an open lot at the south end of an apartment building. Rumor has it during the month of February you can hear the shots from their Thompson sub machine guns. If you guys cant keep your girl at arms length at this scary peice of Chicago history….Even “Cousin Vinnie” thinks you might be outta luck.
If you are wondering where other Big Al hangouts are, don’t stress. The City of Chicago made it easy for us. The Chicago Department of Transportation has placed a sign there pointing out the architectural significance of those buildings. They are located at Michigan and Cermak, which doesn’t look anything like it did in the 1920s and 30s. Back then, two luxury hotels — The Metropole and The Lexington — were the center of those roaring times. That sign also indicates that this is where Al Capone and his gang were headquartered. City officials almost never like to connect Big Al with Big Shoulders. History is not always pretty, or something that we are proud of, but sometimes it’s best just to “deal with it”. You learn from mistakes that have been made and you move. People want to see sights like this. This is history, and I apprieciate living in a city that realizes it. This one is for you Chicago.
It was called “The Roaring Twenties” for a good reason. America had recovered from the First World War and words like demobilization and urbanization graced the front pages of the newspapers. We entered a new era of musical, artistic, and technological development. It seemed like the perfect time to suppress the creative sparks that consuming massive amounts of alcohol brings, right?
Prohibition and the gangsters are a vital part of 1920s American history. The 18th Amendment banned the sale, transportation and manufacturing of alcohol. But anyone with any sort of common sense knew that millions of Americans neither wanted this law nor would respect it. Besides, with people making homemade gin in their bathtubs instead of taking baths, there was obviously a huge market for alcohol.
It was the gangsters who dominated various cities who provided this commodity. Each major city had its gangster element, but the most famous was Chicago with Al Capone. In 1931, the law finally caught up with Capone and some say it was with the help of E.J. O’Hare, Al Capone’s lawyer, had a son named Butch; with big dreams of being a pilot. He wanted to join the Naval Academy at Annapolis. But the government could not see the son of a lawyer who works for Alphonse Capone getting accepted to a prestigious school like that. Well, Capone did get convicted of income tax evasion in 1931 and he got slapped with 11 years in jail. In prison his health deteriorated, and when he was released he retired to his Florida mansion. He was no longer the feared man he was from 1925 to 1931.
A few years later, Butch did go to Annapolis, and graduated Class of 1937 (coincidence? I think not). In World War II he became a pilot and earned a Medal of Honor (the award, not the video game). He was later killed in another engagement. Today he is the reason our beloved O’Hare Airport is graced with such a nice name. In 1939, E.J. O’Hare was fatally gunned down on Nov. 8, 1939, while driving in his car on Ogden Avenue near Western Avenue
Alderman Ed Burke, a Chicago historian, has gotten the police department’s Cold Case Squad to take another look at E.J.’s murder. If you take a look at this new book by Jonathan Eig, Get Capone, it will shed new light on O’Hare’s role in Capone’s downfall. I want this book!