...who among us (besides myself, of course!) would have predicted last year that the Hawks would be in the position they are now? The playoff picture looks great. Hawks fans feel they have a stake in this team so they use the phrase ‘we’ when discussing it. We have a healthy Marty Havlat cruising the ice like a stalking, well, Hawk. We have the fortunate accident of two healthy, happy goaltenders (I’ll admit I didn’t see that one coming!). Our kids have avoided the ‘sophomore stall’ that seems to slow so many promising careers. We have three players headed for the All-Star festivities. We have a rookie sensation in Versteeg headed for the Young Stars. We have a farm club rich in talent. We have one of the finest coaching and development staffs in all of hockey. WOW!
I knew Rocky Wirtz would bring in the talent needed to hype the Hawks onto the map again, but who expected the Winter Classic at Wrigley-or that it would come off without a hitch-even in Chicago’s crazy winter weather? The Bulls haven’t exactly caught on fire, the Bears made an early exit from the Sports scene, and lets face it, the press loves a Cinderella story so the Blackhawks are getting prime press! Blackhawks clothing is worn everywhere and strangers are constantly stopping me to discuss ‘our’ Blackhawks! Everything has come off just about as well as you could script it, except for one thing.
The economy.
The Blackhawks’ management needs to start looking at the future now, while they enjoy this ‘perfect storm’. Our economy is bad now, but it shows signs of being horrendous in the near future. A winning team, even with great publicity, won’t be enough to fill the stands or the corporate boxes if the economy continues to slump. Take a look in the stands at the next Detroit home game for your own look into the crystal ball. It’s a bitter pill to consider lowering prices on a product that is finally selling like hotcakes, but keeping the stands full is critical because excitement really is contagious. For those of us who can still ‘remember the roar’ of the 80’s, I ask you, can you also ‘remember the snore’ in the pre-Jordan days for the Bulls? The Hawks were fair to good, but the atmosphere of our ‘mob’ made it the place to be, and fair to good teams responded and usually played beyond their own abilities on the ice.
Someone recently posted a very poor joke about Bill Wirtz on the Blackhawks message Boards in regard to ticket prices, suggesting that he raised prices whenever the fans booed him. Fans booed Bill because most of them could be described as badass sons of bitches-and we (I do include myself) enjoyed mayhem. We booed the t.v. policy. We booed great teams. We booed great players. We even booed the poor shmuck ‘shooting for travel’ if he was one of us from the upper balcony! I for one, could afford to be part of that mayhem because ‘Dollar Bill’ not only put aside 1000 good tickets for walk-ups every night, he also kept them affordable through the years-the years with talent and those without. Fans remained paying fans because it was affordable fun, no matter what happened on the ice. The price of a cheap ticket and parking was all it cost me to be part of the excitement. Other folks would buy a few ‘pops’ (which only increased the mayhem!), but with the absence of ‘concessions’ to buy in the Barn, you could be entertained on many levels without taking out a second mortgage. The ‘Madhouse’ was far more than the old Barn. It was more than the massive pipe organ (R.I.P.). It was more than the team on the ice. In reality it was the fans. I knew folks who went to the games just to be part of that violent, angry, and exuberant, take no prisoner’s crowd no matter who was on the ice! You could be there because you could afford it. SO LISTEN UP!
My advice to fans? Enjoy every second of this season. Remember YOUR roar! Bring your kids to it. Get pumped! Scream! This IS that special.
My advice to the players? Exactly the same, but consider this special feeling when you consider contracts and relocating for dollars. I’m old enough to say this now boys-money isn’t everything. Don't allow your ego or your agent to rob you of this experience. The experience IS life!
My advice to management? Be nimble, think beyond the conventional and take advantage of this perfect storm. I’m watching established business entities crumbling around me because of their shortsighted approach to this economy. Marketing for now is terrific; planning for the future is critical. What was written in stone in the past will be disastrous policy in this environment. Loyalty can reap long-term rewards when things go bad. Fans don’t need much encouragement to spend irrationally on sports, but they do appreciate and remember loyalty.
I learned that many years ago from Bill Wirtz….
….and was reminded of it this year by a guy named R.K.
Go Hawks!
-tib
