Lots of locals: Blackhawks
Yesterday was Blackhawks Day: PHT
Love the game: ESPN
Here’s your best chance to see the kids not stapled to the bench: CSN
I’ll kick this series off, though this one comes with a caveat.
Adam Creighton never stood a chance with me. That’s because he was acquired for my first favorite Hawk, Rick Vaive. I wrote about this last summer. I can’t really tell you why Rick Vaive won my heart. I think I was just attracted to the #27, as my birthday is on the 27th and 27 always just looks kind of cool on any jersey in any sport. And it’s not like Vaive was useless, because in his one full season in Chicago he put up 43 goals (Jesus, Rick Vaive scored 43 goals!). He scored 50+ goals three times with Toronto. He also arrived with Stumpy Thomas for Al Secord and Eddie Olczyk, and anything that put Eddie O out of town can’t be bad.
Shaw’s going to be Shaw: CSN
19 over 87?: ESPN Insider (sorry)
4 years later still no answer: PHT
Laugh at their pain: PD
Kids, we all know that August for hockey is the down time. The signings and trades are mostly made, training camp is still way far off in the distance, most of the STDs acquired from the Convention have been medicated and there just isn’t much going on. But we have to do something, and we’d like all of you who want to to be a part of it.
All August long, we’ll be running yours and our recollections of Hawks that we couldn’t stand. Players who made you dread their shifts, and somehow despite that made your fandom all that much more locked down in your life. Guys who couldn’t skate, couldn’t pass, or got walked by the most mediocre forwards around. Yes, Wayne Van Dorp would qualify as all three. So would Karl Dykhuis.
If you want to participate, just email me your entry at committedindian@gmail.com, with “Least Favorite Hawk” in the subject line. And while you’re free to write about some of recent vintage, we’ve covered the Bollig-Versteeg-Scott territory heavily in the blog. We want to hear about your flashbacks about Brian Noonan or Keith Brown.
Not that it’s Earth-shattering news, but friend of the program (and probably soon to be re-assigned for doing so) Scott Powers of ESPN Chicago is reporting that Kevin Hayes won’t sign with the Hawks before the August 15th deadline and will hit the open market. Most everyone has known this would be the case since about April when Hayes’s college career at Boston College ended. The Hawks have tried everything they can offer-wise, shrinking the term on his entry-level so he can get to restricted free agency quicker. Some have speculated it’s an ill-feeling after the trade of his brother Jimmy. The more likely one speculated is that Hayes doesn’t see himself cracking the lineup in Chicago immediately, or at least not the top six where he might have to play.
Fro-Yo back in the Peg: Chicago Tribune
Jimmy Hayes back in South Beach: CBS
YES!! The Score
This could get interesting: TSN
Non-hockey related but awesome: LA Times
Moving on into The Core of The Core ™, it’s time to take a look at currently the only guaranteed Hall of Famer at this point that’s on the Hawks’ roster, Marian Hossa
Obviously I was going to use a Veruca Salt reference. Sometimes this is easy for you to predict.
I’m a little late to the party on this, but I wanted to address it badly. Last week, Red Eye ran a piece about the Hawks and their relationship with their female fans. It included a anecdote about Casey Rathunde, you can follow her on Twitter @Raedances and you should because she’s my new personal hero for asking a tough question at the convention, asking the Hawks’ brass about the Ice Crew and other things related to their treatment of women and their female fans. Of course they gave it the boiler-plate, brush-off answer, which is what we should have expected. Probably would have gotten the same thing if anyone had asked about the continual shitty ice surface.
There’s obviously a lot of talk about women in sports, women as fans, and how they’re treated by the sports leagues. I’m going to do my best to not link this to the Ray Rice stuff, because that’s a topic that needs no debate and is just a disgusting event that everyone involved should be ashamed of (and some should be in jail, but I won’t be sitting on a hot stove waiting for that one).
