G
Gurtholfin
Guest
Re: Who will be the 7th member of the Big Ten Hockey Conference?
As per usual, you have no idea what you are talking about. But keep talking in absolutes as if you do.
Having grown up in the Chicago area (left @ 19 in '88) under the boot heel of old man Wirtz, everything that EODS said is true. Here's what I wrote in the Hawks thread in the cafe about the dark years of the Hawks (1996-2007):
"To get into the psyche of Hawks fans who eventually stopped going to games you have to understand how depressing it was to see your team on the verge of a Cup over several seasons with several top level talents and then have management systematically dismantle it without any apparent plan or desire to ever get back to that point.
When I first started following the Hawks (early 80's) we had a core of Savard, Larmer, Secord, Doug Wilson, Troy Murray etc and that transitioned over 10 years to Roenick, Chelios, Belfour, Tony Amonte etc and then transitioned to almost an empty cupboard and stayed that way for over 10 freaking years.
Now this didn't happen in some small market, it happened in Chicago. There was money to spend and Wirtz just wouldn't do it and eventually, many of us just said screw it until the old man dies. And then he just kept on living and living and living...
Fast-forward to now and they (we?) seem like a front-running fanbase (and some are bandwagoneers, no doubt), but having grown up around it, at their core, Blackhawks fans are good fans. Those who criticize for the poor attendance in the late 90's early 00's just can't understand unless you lived through it. Honestly, they (management) weren't even trying to be good."
There's a lot more to it, but that's the core of it. It's awfully funny that a Minnesota sports fan would ever criticize any other fan base for attendance issues. The Gophers are really good this season and yet there are lots of empty seats for every game. Weren't a couple of Vikings games almost blacked out this season? Remember the Twins season where they averaged about 8k fans per game and didn't have their first sellout till the division clinching game? Where are the North Stars these days?
This sort of thing isn't exclusive to Minnesota (or Chicago or Madison), not saying that they are, but glass houses you know! Just realize that fans get to decide what they spend their money (and time) on and if the product is inferior and management doesn't seem to care, why would anyone feel obligated to hand over their money?
As per usual, you have no idea what you are talking about. But keep talking in absolutes as if you do.
Having grown up in the Chicago area (left @ 19 in '88) under the boot heel of old man Wirtz, everything that EODS said is true. Here's what I wrote in the Hawks thread in the cafe about the dark years of the Hawks (1996-2007):
"To get into the psyche of Hawks fans who eventually stopped going to games you have to understand how depressing it was to see your team on the verge of a Cup over several seasons with several top level talents and then have management systematically dismantle it without any apparent plan or desire to ever get back to that point.
When I first started following the Hawks (early 80's) we had a core of Savard, Larmer, Secord, Doug Wilson, Troy Murray etc and that transitioned over 10 years to Roenick, Chelios, Belfour, Tony Amonte etc and then transitioned to almost an empty cupboard and stayed that way for over 10 freaking years.
Now this didn't happen in some small market, it happened in Chicago. There was money to spend and Wirtz just wouldn't do it and eventually, many of us just said screw it until the old man dies. And then he just kept on living and living and living...
Fast-forward to now and they (we?) seem like a front-running fanbase (and some are bandwagoneers, no doubt), but having grown up around it, at their core, Blackhawks fans are good fans. Those who criticize for the poor attendance in the late 90's early 00's just can't understand unless you lived through it. Honestly, they (management) weren't even trying to be good."
There's a lot more to it, but that's the core of it. It's awfully funny that a Minnesota sports fan would ever criticize any other fan base for attendance issues. The Gophers are really good this season and yet there are lots of empty seats for every game. Weren't a couple of Vikings games almost blacked out this season? Remember the Twins season where they averaged about 8k fans per game and didn't have their first sellout till the division clinching game? Where are the North Stars these days?
This sort of thing isn't exclusive to Minnesota (or Chicago or Madison), not saying that they are, but glass houses you know! Just realize that fans get to decide what they spend their money (and time) on and if the product is inferior and management doesn't seem to care, why would anyone feel obligated to hand over their money?
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