Madison St. Station by Sam Fels

Author:Sam Fels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Hockey, blog, sportswriting, Chicago Blackhawks, United Center, Committed Indian, Faxes From Uncle Dale, Chicago Stadium
Publisher: Sam Fels
Published: 2017-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

The First Heritage Night

March 7, 2008

Sharks vs. Kings

Pretty much from the moment that John McDonough was installed and Rocky Wirtz was fully entrenched as running the Hawks, they tried to illustrate how different things would be. They got a slate of home games on TV, and then added a few more as the Hawks actually became an interesting story. They had new, clever ads featuring the players for the games on TV and for Hawks tickets. The players were popping up on local morning shows, doing more and more interviews than ever before.

The big stroke, with emphasis on “stroke,” was this first “Heritage” night they planned, which is when Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita were going to be honored. Honored for what exactly, no one was terribly sure. Both of their numbers had long been retired by the team.

Certainly, their relationship with the Hawks under Bill Wirtz after their playing days were over was at best non-existent, at worst toxic. Wirtz never really forgave Hull for bolting for Winnipeg in the WHL for more money, and he had no relationship with the team afterwards. Some claimed it also had to do with the team's inability to secure his son's services. Mikita also had little to do with the Hawks after he was done playing. It was said that he and Bob Pulford couldn't be in a room together, the scars of many battles in the faceoff circle representing the Hawks (Mikita) and the Leafs (Pulford) not even close to healing.

So this was McDonough and Rocky's grand gesture to show that the way things had been done in the past were over. That there would be a connection to the players of the past who had been frozen out before. It was to show that everyone was welcome back, be they players or fans who had cut the team adrift long ago.

Of course back then we didn't much consider the moral conundrum that this indeed was, and would later entangle the Hawks in some hypocrisy that they naturally didn't give a flying fuck about. Did I know about Hull's past of wife-beating and Nazi-sympathizing remarks? Yeah, I mean, I knew. I didn't give them much thought, but I knew they were out there. Most fans did, too. Did I or the rest of us think about it when he and Mikita came out onto the ice that night on the back of a ‘60s Corvette? No, we didn't. And we should have. While 2008 doesn't sound that long ago, it is very long ago in how we think about these things now, or at least how I and hope others do. Certainly no mainstream outlet mentioned this part of his past in the lead-up to this ceremony. And the alternative outlets didn't have much of a voice yet, at least not in Chicago.

I and the arena didn't care, though. All I could see was a full building screaming out its collective lungs for two playing legends who hadn't been in the building in years.

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