Another Three Bite the Dust...

Bow your heads please, as we take a moment to remember three additional recently departed members of Your 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks...

Andrew Ladd

You played in the SCF with a fractured shoulder - that is a testament to your toughness. You were known more for your gritty style of play, but you also scored the team's only hat trick in the regular season. Alas, Atlanta offered you $3.5 mildo so off you went. Have fun with our other recently departed friends, Buff, Eager and Sopel on Blackhawks-South. 

Adam Burish

Trendy bars with co-eds will never be the same without you Burr. I'll miss your wit and cockiness. You never really seemed to put it all together this year - perhaps you were still recovering from your injury. You were willing to stay for a hometown discount, but either the money the Stars were throwing at you was too good to turn down, or the front office simply didn't want you back. Have fun with all the big hair in Texas.

Kris Versteeg

Who will be the team's aspiring rapper now that you're gone Kris? Your defiance in not dumping the puck into the zone and boneheaded defensive lapses frustrated me to no end. Yet, you easily had half a dozen highlight reel type goals last season. Perhaps the increased ice time you'll receive in Toronto will turn you into a better two way player - I suspect you may be the player we let go that ends up biting us in the butt. Sorry that you have been shipped to the team who has inherited the "longest Cup drought" title.

Losing seven players from a championship team less than a month after winning it all has been tough. It had to happen, and I'm thankful we won it all before it did. Still, I would have hoped we wouldn't have lost the equivalence of two complete lines. As it stands, this is what our lines would possibly look like if we played today:

Kane - Toews - Brouwer

Hossa - Sharp - Kopecky

Skille? - Bolland - Stahlberg

Bickell - Reasoner - Beach?

Keith - Seabrook

Campbell - Hjalmarsson

Hendry/Scott/Boynton??

Niemi

Huet/Crawford

This is of course assuming that they resign Toftbo and Nemo - I mean why clear all this cap space if you're not going to? I'm also going to guess Huet gets sent to Rockford once the season starts to rid the team of his albatross of a cap hit. But perhaps they're not, which is another reason for all of the salary dumping. That's a lot of IceHogs on the team - nothing wrong with that, but at first look, that's a *huge* drop in talent from our first two to our bottom two lines. It's possible we may pick up a veteran or two to fill in, but who knows what money we'll have to work with. All I know is one of our greatest strengths last season was our depth, and it's pretty much been gutted at this point.

*Sigh* it's gonna be a long summer.

Pride, Sports & Getting Sunburnt for the Gay

I am missing Chicago's 41st Gay Pride Parade, which should step off by the time I finish this post. Honestly, I'm not too torn up about about that - with one exception which I'll get to later.

Breaking Up the Band

We all knew it would happen. Due to the NHL's hard salary cap, there was no way Your 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks (see, it never gets old) would stay intact. The Cup had barely been lifted in triumph before the internets was abuzz with with the impending doom of the Hawks' Capocalypse. Still, three weeks after the ultimate victory, saying goodbye to four members of the team is bittersweet at best.

My Date With Stanley

A Thousand Words

 I cannot yet believe I got to do this today. More later, I may just die of happiness in the meantime!

A Week On: A Collection of Not-So Memorable Yet Hilarious Hawks Images

So, it's been exactly a week since the Blackhawks hoisted their first Stanley Cup in 49 years. The first several days seemed to be an unrelenting party going on in my head and everything seemed so shiny and happy. Unfortunately, going back to work on Monday really took the buzz off of it - Being understaffed and stressed out ruins everything! Still, the idea of being the reigning Stanley Cup Champions has not gotten old and certainly has gotten this summer off to a tremendously tremendous start. 

Since last Wednesday, I have collected an assortment of images off the internets which I either found funny or a big helping of FAIL. This will be an image heavy post so those on "smart" phones or on 28.8 modems may not want to click on the jump. But I promise you it will be fun!

Sweating My Arse off for a Taste of Victory

First off let me just say, if a Chicago sports team ever wins another championship I care about (Sox and Bulls need not apply) my ass is going to be watching it from the comfort of my own home. That being said, I have no regrets about attending the Blackhawks victory parade downtown on Friday. It was worth it, especially since I wouldn't be surprised if there's never another one for the rest of my days.

Changing of the Guard

When the NHL season started in October, I decided to change my desktop background to this:

This was the cover of ESPN Magazine's NHL Preview Issue. Who knew they actually gave a shit about the NHL anymore? For 9 months these faces looked back at me. At first, I'd stare at Hossa and wonder when we'd actually see him on the ice. Then I'd stare at Toews and marvel at his performance in the Olympics and say a little prayer of thanks to the hockey gods that he was our captain every time I looked at his boyish face. I'd look at Kane and mentally scold him for having viewed his girlish chest in those damn limo pictures. Lastly, throughout the year I'd look at Huet and either bless him for a good game, or more often than not, curse him for his sieve like goaltending skills. After the March Columbus trip, I would always make a wish he'd turn into Antti Niemi so I could lovingly gaze into this bright blue puppy dog eyes. It never worked though, and I admit I always felt sorry for Huey whenever he peered at me from my screen.

Many times throughout the season I was tempted to change the background image to something new or timely. I told myself that this was my image for the season though, and by changing it would be messing with hockey karma.

I just changed it:

This is from the official Hawks site. I like it well enough, but I suspect I might find something a little better in the upcoming days. In any case, I can gaze on the "Stanley Cup Champions" logo and remind myself it was worth the wait.

I'll have pictures and thoughts up from yesterday's crazy victory parade and a special funny post up this weekend. I now have to cram all the chores, sleep and adult responsibilities I have neglected in this crazy week in the two days this weekend. Believe me, I'm not kidding when I say we have no clean dishes, very little food in my fridge and I'm almost out of clean underwear. Don't ever say I don't have my priorities straight!

Stanley Cup Finals Ga-THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS ARE YOUR 2010 STANLEY CUP CHAMPS!

As the NHL commercial states, “There are no words.”

I am 34 years old, and 6/9/10 @ 10:06 PM CST will rank as the best sports moment of my life - unless of course the Cubs win it all, but since that’s a sign of the apocalypse (seriously, it’s in the Bible and everything) there may not be much celebrating. I was too young to fully appreciate the Bears in 1985. The Bulls’ six championships were nice, but I hate basketball. The Sox I treated as if any team from the AL won the World Series – I didn’t care. This was my holy grail. And I cried like a baby in public. And I’m not ashamed.

I am going to a ticker tape parade tomorrow, bitches. 24 years ago I pleaded with my mom to let me go when the Bears won it all – she refused. Finally all these years later, I get to attend one. I only wish my mom could be physically able to enjoy it with me in person.