Goodbye Blackhawks! It Was Fun While It Lasted!
While still maintaining my status as a Cubs fan, I simply cannot watch them this season. Not because they suck, but because they suck because the front office screwed up in the off season letting DeRosa go and signing excess baggage like Milton Bradley. Now the same appears to be true of the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks front office screwed up so royally in the past few days letting stellar players like Martin Havlat, Matt Walker, and Nikolai Khabibulin go while signing players like 30-year old Marian Hossa for crazy 12-year deals. As such, I refuse to watch next season. Don’t you dare call me a fair-weather fan either. I love this team so much (that is, the players) that I simply won’t watch them get treated this way.
Like the Cubs, the Blackhawks have kept poor performers like Brian Campbell and let go of proven winners like Khabibulin and Havlat. And I don’t want to hear about the cap. If you want someone badly enough, you’ll find a way. This was no way to treat some of our most beloved players. And so like the Cubs, the only way I can express my utter contempt for the front office is to not watch the games anymore.
Martin Havlat was right in his goodbye tweet when he said, “There’s something to be said for loyalty and honor.” So true. The Blackhawks organization can propagandize all they want about how the Hawks are one big happy family, but in the end, it was just that: propaganda. When it comes right down to it, it’s about money. And the Hawks will be getting none of mine via ticket sales, merchandising, etc. going forward. While I understand that sports is a business and hockey is no exception, there is still such a thing as business ethics and you just don’t go screwing people over that way and treating them like hunks of meat instead of human beings!
Thanks again to the players for making 08/09 a great season. I’m sorry your bosses are jerks though. In the next few days they’ll make former heroes out to be devils saying players like Havlat wanted too much money or contracts that extended too many years. But rest assured former Hawks. Our loyalty was always to you, not the front office. And we know the truth.
I’m sure there will be more screwings over in the days to come, but I won’t be watching. I wipe my hands of this blood bath.