Something that has often been talked about over the last few years is how many "bandwagon" fans there are of the Blackhawks in the city of Chicago. What are "bandwagon" fans? According to what most people are defining them as, they are sudden fans of the team once they start winning. Some jokes about the topic are funny. They are playful and harmless. For example, a YouTube video that came out last year called "Sh*t Chicagoans Say" included a man saying, "Oh I'm a huge fan of the Blackhawks. I love Toews". Only instead of pronouncing Toews' name correctly (Tayvz), he said "toes". Jokes like that are fine. That's not what I'm taking about. I'm talking about the passionate haters of the newer fans. Sometimes I wonder if some of them hate the new fans more than they actually like the actual team.
I have openly said that I'm not a huge hockey fan. I like to watch hockey, and I wish I knew more about it, but I don't know anywhere near as much about the sport as I do about baseball, basketball or football. Maybe that's because of the lack of NHL coverage we get from ESPN or Sports Illustrated. I don't know. But I've openly said that I don't know a ton about the NHL, nor do I claim to be a die-hard, passionate Blackhawks fan. I am also a fan of Pittsburgh sports teams. I watched some Steelers game with my uncle, who is from Pittsburgh and is a passionate fan when I was growing up, and as a result, I adopted the Steelers, as well the Pirates and the Penguins. So I am a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. If the Penguins meet the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals, I have no idea what I'll do or who I will root for. I guess I will find out where my blood lies when I watch, if it happens. So I'm not the biggest Blackhawks fan there is. Am I a bandwagoner? Maybe, I guess I'll let others be the judge of that. But I want to talk about why this hate is just getting ridiculous.
When I was little, I remember loving Tony Amonte, a star that played on the Blackhawks. It didn't take long for him to leave the team for the Phoenix Coyotes in free agency, however. I liked hockey, but one of the main points that really killed its momentum is when the NHL lockout happened, cancelling the 2004-05 season. This killed any momentum the sport was gaining. It almost had to reboot itself. One thing that helped the league, was some of the young talent that was entering the league the year after the lockout. Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin were dare I say, like what Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were as rookies in the 1979-80 NBA season. You had these two amazing rookies that were poised to become stars. But still, there wasn't a lot of talk about the NHL around here.
What I think a lot of people will forget is that the Blackhawks had a bad relationship with the city of Chicago for a while. Owner Bill Wirtz wouldn't allow home games to be televised, feeling that people should have to go to the games to see the team. This outraged a lot of fans, and many rebelled against the team. As I was saying, it was almost as if the NHL had to reboot itself. While the two great young players had come in to the league, not many people in Chicago were talking about them. In 2007, owner Bill Wirtz passed away, and his son Rocky took over. Not long after taking over, the team started trying new stuff out by airing some of their home games on WGN and Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The following season, every game was televised, which also happened to become the season people seemed to start talking about them again. They made many changes to the organization, and as a result, made the playoffs and won their first playoff series since 1996. They made it to the Western Conference Finals where they faced arch rival Detroit, losing in five games. It's also worthy to note that this season they hosted The Winter Classic at Wrigley Field and led the league in attendance.
Where did all these fans come from? The changes, and the winning. Since then, the Blackhawks have won a Stanley Cup, and many have been hard on bandwagon fans. It's funny because some of the people who are the ones ragging on bandwagon fans, are in fact bandwagon fans themselves. No one likes dealing with people that have a "holier than thou" attitude, and that's what some fans are. The league is expanding and getting bigger. One way it does that is through different cities, when they are winning.
If anything, the bandwagon fans or whatever you want to call them are good for the sport. They're helping it grow. And it's not like they don't know anything. Many that have joined in on the craze around 2009, are very passionate fans. And even if they don't know a lot, why gang up on them?
The city of Chicago hasn't been the most prestigious city when it comes to sports. Sure we had that Jordan stretch of six titles in the 90's, and a Bears' Super Bowl in '85, but this city has experienced a lot of heartbreak. The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908. That's nearly 105 years. We all cried after what happened in 2003 (don't get me started...). The Bears had one of the most dominant teams in NFL history in 1985, and at the time many thought they could be the next dynasty. My dad will often say that he never thought that 27 years later, they still hadn't won a title since. And as I said, the Bulls had those teams in the 90's. But they had also been without an all-star since Jordan until 2010 when Derrick Rose made the all-star team. We thought the Bulls could win a title the past couple years, and then Derrick tore his ACL, and had to miss the remainder of that season, as well as this past one. The city of Chicago has experienced a lot. A lot of broken hearts. Let people just enjoy the Blackhawks and their success. If people are a part of this city, they are connected to the Blackhawks, and if they want to celebrate, let them celebrate.
Something I was talking about with my friend last night is our hate for the Miami Heat. We don't hate the people that are a part of Miami and joined in on the Heat craze. We hate the people that have no connection to Miami or its players but just root for them because they have a stacked team and could become the next dynasty. There have been bigger bandwagons. So don't go around acting like a know-it-all, who just wants to ruin everybody else's fun. Just let the people of Chicago enjoy it.
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