My Date With Stanley

When the Hawks started bringing the Stanley Cup around to seemingly every trendy bar in Chicago, I told myself someway, somehow I was going to see Lord Stanley's Cup in person this summer. I mean where's the justice that some douchebags and trixies with their fake tans and Hawks shirts with the tags still on it get to touch the Cup, whilst us long suffering fans just get to see it on the internets.  I had no idea I would be so blessed to do more than just view it less than two weeks after the Hawks won it all.

 My brother "knows" people. I on the other had must have gotten all of the wallflower genes in my family. Seriously, at three he would have ten friends in five minutes at the swimming pool. I'd be in the shallow end, wallowing in self pity. He called me excitedly Tuesday night: "How'd you like your picture with the Stanley Cup?" I had to look at the calendar to make sure it wasn't April Fools Day. Turns out one of his good friends is president of the Edison Park Chamber of Commerce. They were in the midst of planning a rally for John McDonough (the Hawks' Team President) who grew up in EP. They were looking for a photographer for the EPCC and my brother name dropped me (it's the only thing I do that almost makes my BFA worth it). She had seen some of my Hawks pictures and asked how much I would charge to photograph the event. "One picture with the Cup" is what my brother replied. Considering they'd have to pay at least $200 for a "professional" it was a done deal. I had to keep this info secret all week as they still finalizing plans with the Hawks organization. I thought Saturday would never get here.

 
We arrived at Brooks Park around 10am - the rally was at 12:30 and there was already a good crowd by the stage they had set up in the park. Around 11, the Cup arrived. They brought it to the fieldhouse so a select group of people could view it and take pictures. The man in the photo above is the representative from the Hockey Hall of Fame who accompanies the Cup during its travels. When he wheeled it in the gym a hush came over the crowd gathered. He carefully placed the NHL logo adorned tablecloth on a small table and removed the Cup from its case to a chorus of "oohs and aahs." It amused me that he adorned the gloves every time he handled the Cup without fail. I could see some slight dents in the Cup - apparently our boys didn't use quite the same amount of care when handling it. At least it hasn't ended up in a swimming pool (yet).

A line formed for folks to take a picture with the Cup. Some simply posed, others kissed it and in two instances an infant was placed in it. Whole families smiled happily - in a few cases small children fussed and frowned, too young to grasp the significance of the moment. Years from now, I'm sure they'll be kicking themselves because they looked like they just sucked a lemon in a picture with the Stanley Cup. Even the multitude of police officers giddily took turns posing with it. Of course, they cut in line to do it, but who's really gonna shout "No buts, no cuts, no coconuts!" to someone with a gun.

My brother, Amy and I had our turn posing with it. It was simply surreal touching and kissing a piece of hockey lore that every player dreams of hoisting, and so few actually get that opportunity. It is a moment I could never forget. Amy didn't kiss the Cup - heathen! She was actually surprised my germaphobe ass did, but it's the fucking Stanley Cup! Besides, Adam Burish hasn't had his day with it yet. I had some time to take some pictures of the Cup as well - above is the engraving for the 1961 Hawks. We were in that gym for an hour, and watching the joy on so many people's faces, and my opportunity to be a part of it I will always cherish.

The Cup made its way to the stage carried by John McDonough. I would estimate maybe a thousand or two people had gathered - but I'm bad at guessing such things. It definitely wasn't as many people as downtown (thank you Jebus!). The rally was MC'ed by Gene Honda (the PA announcer at the UC for the Hawks) and the National Anthem was sung by Jim Cornelison. Speaking of whom...

That's myself and my brother with Jim. He was really a nice guy. I LOLed at the way my brother is lovingly gazing at him. I really didn't talk to anyone else in the Hawks organization. Again, it's the wallflower persona I am so damn good at.

I got to stand in the press area of the stage to take pictures. That was pretty neat except it was muddy as hell (and of course I wore my good sandals) and I nearly went deaf when Jim sang the anthem as I was right next to the speakers. Several of the local politicians gave speeches, followed by the principal of the grammar school John attended. They presented him with a quilt made of some of the schoolchildren's uniforms - LOL. John himself took the stage to loud applause. His speech wasn't very long - he reminsced about growing up in the area and thanked everyone who came. The whole rally lasted about a half hour, but you could tell many folks were more than thrilled with the opportunity just to see the Stanley Cup in person. Also it was nice the Cup was presented in a family friendly event - which the parade downtown really wasn't.

Afterward, John, his family and the Cup headed to the Curragh, a bar/restaurant in the main drag of Edison Park. I was shocked there weren't any accidents on Northwest Highway as folks were randomly running into the street to get a view of the Cup. They held the luncheon in a private room - the sight was rather surreal as the Cup sat on one of the tables while everyone looked at menus, chatted and seemed somewhat oblivous to the big shiny thing in the middle of the room. Meanwhile a whole crew of folks were looking through the windows gawking at it all - awkward. Random people were brought in to view/take pictures of the Cup: waitstaff, bartenders, bus boys, seemingly an entire Little League Baseball team (whom John took some time to chat with which was cute). There is a small newsstand on the corner - apparently it's been there for decades. One of the men who runs it was allowed in to take a few pictures and talk to John - he was moved to tears. The owner and waitstaff kept asking me if I wanted something to eat - they were all very nice. I declined because my brother and Amy were waiting for me elsewhere and I didn't want to dawdle. Though it would have been awesome to have a meal on the Hawks' tab!

While they were waiting for the lunch to be served, they took the Cup across the street to Tony's Deli. Again a mass of humanity crossed Northwest Highway following the Cup. The mother of the owner stood at the door saying "Buy Sandwich. Everyone buy sandwich!" as folks ran into the deli. They placed the Cup on the deli counter (above the salami no less - I wish I could have gotten a picture of that but there were too many damn people in there) and posed for pictures. My dad and brother buy their lunch meat from there - I was really happy they took the Cup to local family run businesses. It's such a special moment for the folks in the neighborhood.

I left the party once the food was served. It still really hasn't hit me that this all happened - hell, I still can't believe the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup to begin with. I'll be forever indebted to my brother for helping make this happen. I'll always have these memories to cheer me up when I'm down (like during the annual Circus trip - bleah). I just noticed the picture above looks like the Stanley Cup is about to give a speech - I bet it would complain about the time somebody changed his kid's diaper in it.

MINE!

I took over 900 pictures - it's a good thing I cleared a bunch of pictures from the memory card beforehand.  I put the best ones in a flickr set if you're so inclined to take a look.

One bonus picture:

 My first bootleg T-Shirt FAIL! Since when does Predators have an "i"? LOL.