BLACKHAWKS
(Currently 3-1-1 and in 6th in the West)
I have a prediction this year that either the Bears or Hawks will win their respective championships. I base this on the fact that Chicago sports enjoy taunting me whenever they can. My only real evidence of this is that I cheered for nothing but mediocre teams through my teen years. The Bulls had just lost Jordan, the Hawks were clinging to their playoff appearance streak, and the Sox were forgettable at best. In Fall of 2005, I decided to leave Chicago and head off to Central Indiana to go to Purdue. I was still surrounded by a solid number of Bears fans and even enjoyed the company of some Hawk and Bulls fans. At this point, the White Sox decided to go ahead and win the World Series. Don't get me wrong, I love that year and had a blast, but when they clinched the championship, I screamed and darted into the hallway in Owen to find one other excited person the length of the hallway away. I was hardly able to celebrate. Back to the present, I have now moved to where I have no Bears or Hawks fans around. In fact, the Bears are division rivals with the Vikings. Since God loves making me celebrate alone, I have confidence that this will be the year! I think the Hawks definitely have the better chance and I'll dive into that now.
Last year the Blackhawks made a miraculous run into the post season that few, if any, truly expected. Entering this year, they had a ton of question marks. They lost Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulan, their leading point scorer and starting goalie. They added Marian Hossa to compensate for the lack of scoring, but he will be out until late November. They added nobody to replace Khabibulan and are left with a $7 million liability in Huet. They have huge financial decisions hovering ahead and one star player decided to punch out a cab driver. All of that being said, this team is the most entertaining team in hockey to watch.
I truly believe that Huet will cost us some games, but that he will be solid enough. It will be up to the Hawks' defense to keep him out of trouble as much as possible. That defense, however, is stepping up big time thanks to John Madden, who was also added this offseason. The offense will not be an issue. The Hawks are already putting up big numbers and that's with Hossa on the bench. After watching what they did against Calgary (look for a post about that game in the near future), the sky is the limit for this team. For the sake of time, I will move on now to the other Chicago teams, but there will be plenty more written about the Hawks before I lose interest in this blog.
Da Bears
The Bears are a curious team this year to say the least. The aquisition of Jay Cutler and the fact that Kyle Orton is undefeated right now make it seem like that deal was a good one for both teams. Kyle Orton is able to make smart use of the receiving talent in Denver, while Cutler has been good at force feeding the Bears receiving corp and helping to develop them into legitimate threats. This week will be a huge test for the Bears in a Sunday night matchup with Atlanta so look for a more elaborate post after that game.
Bulls
The Bulls this year will be fun to watch. I expect that they will do similar to last
year in getting in the lower end of the playoffs and looking decent in the first round, but ultimately losing. This team is going to be a huge player in the bidding war for Dwayne Wade. They will hope that LeBron will steam the hype and they can create a hometown backcourt of Rose and Wade. If they want a chance at this, they cannot do poorly this year. They need to look like a team that is one or two pieces away from being a legitimate contender and I am really hoping they will do this. I am a big Bulls fan and am really hoping they will give me a reason to hope soon. I will be cheering for decency this season, though. One team, one dream, play round one.Boilers
I have been to three Purdue games and will be going to a fourth this weekend. I watched them beat Toledo, lose to Notre Dame in a heartbreaking but not entirely unexpecte
d game, and lose at Minnesota. It is fun to be a fan of the enemy when you have no hope because you don't really get heckled. I know Minnesota is supposed to be full of nice people, but I think it was more pity than kindness that lead to their general silence towards us.The fun with this team is figuring out how they will blow the game in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. They will inevitably jump out to a lead and then make a late charge in the 4th, but the amazing number of turnovers, a blocked field goal, tired defenses, and awful punting are all ingredients in the comedy routine that is Purdue football.
In Conclusion
This upcoming year I will be posting mostly about these teams (plus Purdue basketball and any offseason moves made by baseball teams). From now on, I promise posts will be a little more focused, but I feel like this has been a good introduction to me. Pretty unorganized and all over the place. I will be putting up posts in the next few days on attending the Twins/Tigers tie break game, the Hawks comeback against Calgary, the evolution of Patrick "20 cent" Kane, and whatever hilarity ensues on Saturday as Purdue takes on Ohio State. Please come back...I can't let Kelly Twomey be better than me at this.
