Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Avoiding The Bandwagon

The bar was a sea of red jerseys. The patrons were all proclaiming their love and loyalty to the Hawks. And, my friend, Rob, and myself , were also. We were all there united in our desire to see the Hawks win a much needed playoff game. Alas, the end result turned out to be a frowner, as the Hawks went down in the now customary overtime period. As we were watching I was once again reminded of how strong the Chicago fan base is. Pride in our local teams is a internal city joy. The population wears the team colors and furiously roots for their team. Fan loyalty---Chicago-style...... Or, is it?....... Sports traditionally has fair-weather fans. It is not uncommon in sports, every team has them. They are the ones who jump on the bandwagon when things are going great guns. The team--- pick a sport--- is the hot potato in town and these followers come along on the merry-go-round ride of success. They bask in the glow of winning. Suddenly, they turn into experts, insisting that they know all there is to know about the franchise and acting as if they are personally involved in the fight for supremacy. The bandwagon people are just that. When the team that they profess to love suddenly takes a powder from winning and becomes a loser, they jump off the bandwagon with such suddenness that they had better make sure the bandwagon doesn't roll over them...... The Hawks are smack dab among these people now. Everyone in town is a Hawks fan, or so they like to believe. The jerseys outnumber all other teams, including the mighty Bears. By the looks of things, the Hawks and the NHL must be making a mint. On one hand, I applaud this because I have always been a Hawks fan. When I was a kid, I listened to them on the radio [they were never on TV] with my brother in the room we shared. I can fondly recall the sounds of the crowd in the old, still-missed Chicago Stadium, as the ''Here Come The Hawks, The Mighty Blackhawks'' theme came sailing over the radio. The mental pinwheels my mind played, imagining the game, is a cherished childhood memory. I would fall asleep with the game still playing, the names of Mikita, Hull, Magnuson, Esposito, mingling with my dreams.........On the other hand, I do not applaud this new popularity. These new ''experts''on all things Blackhawks annoys me. They know nothing coherent about the sport of hockey. They are the types of people who blame the refs if the Hawks are losing. They wanna pull Corey Crawford immediately if he is having a bad game. They wanna fire the coach if the team makes mistakes. You know these people if you are a real sports fan. The guys who wear the jerseys and are all unreasonable passion for something that is just a game. The women who like a certain player because he is cute. What makes me angry about these people---- besides embarrassing us true fans with their witless behavior---- is that they now make it impossible to go see a game in person. The price of tickets has gone through the roof, with a good seat now averaging in the thousands. Nose bleed seats, which are almost in the parking lot, are in the hundreds. For a family, a legit family of Hawks fans, to go see them at the UC, costs the parents an arm and a leg. Meanwhile, the bandwagon people are there, sitting front and center, undeserving of the seats, but getting them because they have connections. You know them, they are the ones texting during the action, telling their friends, ''Hey, I'm here and you're not!''....... This sort of thing happened in the 80's with the Cubs. It used to be that my friends and I could decide on a nice summer's day to go to Wrigley at the drop of a hat. We knew bleacher seats would be available, or upper deck in a pinch. It was easy and affordable to park [the nuns always took care of the car for ten bucks. Apparently, God got ten percent] and we were happily watching the Cubs, most likely, lose that day. However, with WGN pumping the games all over the world---- and, the Cubs actually having a few winning teams during this period--- suddenly, Wrigley Field became the place to go for the bandwagon people. And, with this crowd, came the natural capitalistic impulse of the owners to raise the tickets sky-high. Now, us kids or young adults, had to wait in line behind every Yuppie that was trying to impress the boss. Or, drunken fools who used Wrigley as an excuse to run rampant. Now, we used to drink there, too. But, any knowledgeable fan of any sport knows the rules of drinking at sporting events. You have a few in the ballpark, but, you save your serious juicing for the bars around the park. In a quick period of time, Wrigley Field was filled with the non-Cubs ''fans'' that rankled us loyal brethren. Soon, with the combination of ticket gouging, and, the annoying ''experts'' that commented on all things Cubs, made me very disenchanted about going to 1060 West Addison. For several years, I actively boycotted games there [the bad teams helped add to the boycott] but now I have lifted my protesting stance and go as often as I can. Besides, those ''experts'' on the Cubs have now moved to ''The Madhouse On Madison'' to do their spewing on all things Hawks. When they aren't texting, that is....... I do not mean be to be totally glum on the new fans. Many, especially, the kids, are most welcome to join us loyalists. And, I get that you become a fan of a team when they win. Who wants to be a fan of a losing team when you decide to embrace a sport? So, there are many good and knowledgeable new Hawks fans out there. Welcome to the club!!! Sit back and enjoy the Mighty Blackhawks!!!....... And, you will soon be a REAL fan when you look with contempt at the people who are posers......

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