Chicago Fanatics Message Board :: View topic - Fan Jersey restrictions????

Curious Hair wrote:

Blackhawks attendance was in the 20,000s in the first few years of the United Center. Sports media exploded in the late '90s and the Hawks didn't go along with it.

Right. That's when the blackout of home games got stupid.

A lot of people didn't have the vision to see the power of television. Back in the very earliest days when TV was desperate for programming there was an opportunity for New York harness racing to be on every night. Stan Bergstein begged for it to happen, but track owners thought people would just bet with bookies and never go to the track. An opportunity lost. That's bad enough. The stupid ass Hawks couldn't see the power of TV in 1985. :lol:

Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:

Curious Hair wrote:

Blackhawks attendance was in the 20,000s in the first few years of the United Center. Sports media exploded in the late '90s and the Hawks didn't go along with it.

That's because Wirtz thought it was still 1955.

Scorehead wrote:

I hate these fake hockey towns like Tampa Bay.

Tampa is a respectable hockey town. It's better than anywhere else in the south.

Curious Hair wrote:

Blackhawks attendance was in the 20,000s in the first few years of the United Center. Sports media exploded in the late '90s and the Hawks didn't go along with it.

arglebargle akls you ever ddo tiss rip ofn the team and no one likes you and if you were weith a bunh of fanss like me i'd bea tyou up

Really? I know he went a lot when he was young. Then life gets busy but I still remember him going. I think he stopped when I was in 8th gradeish. The getting rid of Belfour, Savard, and Chelios must have done it. I don't remember, I didn't pay attention to it.

The Wirtz family's shortsighted television notions aside, no grown man should be wearing the jersey of their team. Ever. At any point. Laurence Holmes also thinks so and that makes it true.

It's a morgue when they're down a goal in the third.

poopcup wrote:

arglebargle akls you ever ddo tiss rip ofn the team and no one likes you and if you were weith a bunh of fanss like me i'd bea tyou up

Spaulding wrote:

Hard to be a fan when you can't really watch them.

There were a lot of empty seats at the UC during those years. And they were very, very cheap. Any fan who wanted to watch them certainly had the chance. They didn't though, because the team was fucking horseshit.

“when I was ten, I was misbehaving on my birthday,” Rocky recalls. “We were going to go to the Chicago Stadium for the party and he said, ‘If you do that again, I’m leaving you behind for your own birthday party.’ Naturally I tested him. Sure enough, the family station wagon went right down to Chicago Stadium with all my friends, and I got left home. I deserved it, but it was indicative that whenever he made up his mind you weren’t going to change it.”

NCAA hockey is growing fast, faster than I'd like, and I won't be surprised if Northwestern or U of I gets in on it eventually.

The smart thing would be for the Blackhawks and Blues to go halfsies on funding a program at C-U (Penn State's new program is funded almost entirely by the Sabres' owner), thereby fortifying support in the downstate battlefield between Chicago and St. Louis, but the Blues are so fuckin' broke they couldn't even afford to run their farm team in Peoria anymore. Owning the Blues is a license to lose money for some reason.

A year old, but it'll have to do until new numbers come in: registered hockey players by state.

Author:	sjboyd0137 [ Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:31 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote: Curious Hair wrote: Blackhawks attendance was in the 20,000s in the first few years of the United Center. Sports media exploded in the late '90s and the Hawks didn't go along with it. Right. That's when the blackout of home games got stupid. A lot of people didn't have the vision to see the power of television. Back in the very earliest days when TV was desperate for programming there was an opportunity for New York harness racing to be on every night. Stan Bergstein begged for it to happen, but track owners thought people would just bet with bookies and never go to the track. An opportunity lost. That's bad enough. The stupid ass Hawks couldn't see the power of TV in 1985. That's because Wirtz thought it was still 1955.

Author:	Joe Orr Road Rod [ Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
sjboyd0137 wrote: Joe Orr Road Rod wrote: Curious Hair wrote: Blackhawks attendance was in the 20,000s in the first few years of the United Center. Sports media exploded in the late '90s and the Hawks didn't go along with it. Right. That's when the blackout of home games got stupid. A lot of people didn't have the vision to see the power of television. Back in the very earliest days when TV was desperate for programming there was an opportunity for New York harness racing to be on every night. Stan Bergstein begged for it to happen, but track owners thought people would just bet with bookies and never go to the track. An opportunity lost. That's bad enough. The stupid ass Hawks couldn't see the power of TV in 1985. That's because Wirtz thought it was still 1955. I saw him once at Northbrook Court and he was wearing a fur coat from the 50s. That fucker was shedding all over. And he drove an old Benz that looked like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Author:	Scorehead [ Tue Jun 02, 2015 4:32 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Curious Hair wrote: Scorehead wrote: I hate these fake hockey towns like Tampa Bay. Tampa is a respectable hockey town. It's better than anywhere else in the south. I'll give you that. Tallest midget award though.

Author:	enigma [ Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:55 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote: Curious Hair wrote: Blackhawks attendance was in the 20,000s in the first few years of the United Center. Sports media exploded in the late '90s and the Hawks didn't go along with it. Right. That's when the blackout of home games got stupid. A lot of people didn't have the vision to see the power of television. Back in the very earliest days when TV was desperate for programming there was an opportunity for New York harness racing to be on every night. Stan Bergstein begged for it to happen, but track owners thought people would just bet with bookies and never go to the track. An opportunity lost. That's bad enough. The stupid ass Hawks couldn't see the power of TV in 1985. The Hawks absurd TV policy cost them a generation of fans. What was the old saying "There are 19,000 hockey fans and they all go to the games." I don't think this saying was that far off the mark. I remember going to the 1st game of the Campbell Conference finals in 1992 with my dad and brother. We arrived two hours before the game to buy tickets at the Stadium office expecting only standing room tickets to be available. Instead we were able to buy three seats in the upper deck. Can't imagine doing that for the Hawks/Ducks this year. Even when the UC first open I remember tickets being available for a second round playoff game against the Avalanche in '96. If Wirtz had the foresight to to put at least playoff games on TV starting the late 80's, the Hawk fan base would have grown substantially. Those playoff teams back then were exciting. Instead the Hawks never grew their fan base and then when the Hawks decided to move popular players like Roenick for Alexi Zhamnov....or a Hall of Fame goalie in Belfour for Ulf Dahlen, michael Sykora and Chris Terreri even the diehards couldn't take it anymore. I believe the Hawks now have a fan base where when they do eventually become average I don't think the UC will become a morgue.

Author:	Curious Hair [ Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:12 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
It's a morgue when they're down a goal in the third. poopcup wrote: arglebargle akls you ever ddo tiss rip ofn the team and no one likes you and if you were weith a bunh of fanss like me i'd bea tyou up

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Fan Jersey restrictions???? http://chicagofanatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=94262	Page 2 of 2

Author:	Zizou [ Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:14 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
The Wirtz family's shortsighted television notions aside, no grown man should be wearing the jersey of their team. Ever. At any point. Laurence Holmes also thinks so and that makes it true.

Author:	Don Tiny [ Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Spaulding wrote: Really? I know he went a lot when he was young. Then life gets busy but I still remember him going. I think he stopped when I was in 8th gradeish. The getting rid of Belfour, Savard, and Chelios must have done it. I don't remember, I didn't pay attention to it. I was at Chelios' last game as a Blackhawk (I had no idea that was going to be the case, of course) ... button 48.

Author:	BigW72 [ Wed Jun 03, 2015 1:37 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Zizou wrote: The Wirtz family's shortsighted television notions aside, no grown man should be wearing the jersey of their team. Ever. At any point. Laurence Holmes also thinks so and that makes it true. I'm guessing that's been kicked around here a bunch, but it's the first I've heard of Laurence saying that.....really?

Author:	Darkside [ Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Curious Hair wrote: It's a morgue when they're down a goal in the third. poopcup wrote: arglebargle akls you ever ddo tiss rip ofn the team and no one likes you and if you were weith a bunh of fanss like me i'd bea tyou up That's good.

Author:	pittmike [ Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:48 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
I see red there.

Author:	shakes [ Thu Jun 04, 2015 3:16 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote: Spaulding wrote: Hard to be a fan when you can't really watch them. There were a lot of empty seats at the UC during those years. And they were very, very cheap. Any fan who wanted to watch them certainly had the chance. They didn't though, because the team was fucking horseshit. That's not true. Most of us didn't go because we were boycotting the owner. As soon as Bill Wirtz died, I along with many others packed the building for the very next game.

Author:	Darkside [ Thu Jun 04, 2015 5:24 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
What shakes said. After I went to a real stinker of a game in 2002 and paid a bundle I swore I wouldn't spend another dime until the old fart blew his last gut.

Author:	Hussra [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 7:44 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Cuz Virgina McCaskey, Donald Sterling, Jerry Reinsdorf, Sam Zell, the Ricketts, Marge Schott et al are such amazing public citizens. ain't nobody boycotting any sport wholesale cuz the owner of the local professional franchise is a douchebag. Even if Hitler owned their pro franchise, people still play basketball in LA and Chicago, people still play baseball on the North and South sides of Chicago, people still have their kids play high school and peewee football around Chicago despite the Bears having shite owners. Chicago was not a hockey town for more reasons than people didn't care enough to watch a losing NHL team. Ask the folks at Mcfetridge and Johnny's the difference between now and 7 years ago in terms of the level of interest in ice hockey. Heck, go to the yelp reviews for mcfeteridge, it's all "I lived near this place for a decade and never knew their was an ice rink inside until... 2013/2014" yadda. Last time Illinois had a college team in the CCHA was 1996, UofI Chicago. They dropped their hockey program that year. Alabama has more Division I college ice hockey teams than Illinois. And Illinois, the 5th largest state, only produces 1/4th as many NHL players as either Minnesota and Michigan, both much smaller states in terms of population. Great that Illinois and Chicago is finally catching on to hockey; premature to be shite-tawking another city's interest in hockey.

Author:	Curious Hair [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 7:49 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
The Wolves had great attendance, at least by IHL/AHL standards, in the throes of the Hawks' dark age, so hockey fans in the area were at least watching. I can't argue that participation has always been low in Illinois. We've never had the high school leagues that Minnesota and Michigan have. I'm not sure how much we can pin that on the Blackhawks -- if anything, the strength of Minnesota prep hockey was part of the North Stars' undoing. But yeah, every good hockey city in America has had a big downturn except Philadelphia. It's hard to support every sport all the time and hockey is the first to go. EDIT: except Philly, obviously, where it's always been easy to stop giving a crap about the 76ers.

Author:	Curious Hair [ Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:31 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
A year old, but it'll have to do until new numbers come in: registered hockey players by state. I have taken two minutes in Excel to rank them in descending order: 1 - Minnesota - 54507 2 - Michigan - 50585 3 - New York - 48354 4 - Massachusetts - 48074 5 - Pennsylvania - 30529 6 - Illinois - 29977 7 - California - 25288 8 - New Jersey - 18438 9 - Wisconsin - 17762 10 - Ohio - 14387 11 - Colorado - 13570 12 - Connecticut - 13275 13 - Texas - 12909 14 - Florida - 11982 15 - Virginia - 9351 16 - Maryland - 9122 17 - Alaska - 8469 18 - Washington - 8369 19 - Missouri - 7162 20 - Maine - 6526 21 - New Hampshire - 6211 22 - North Carolina - 6180 23 - Indiana - 5922 24 - North Dakota - 5387 25 - Arizona - 4860 26 - Vermont - 4756 27 - Rhode Island - 4621 28 - Utah - 4421 29 - Montana - 4253 30 - Idaho - 3396 31 - Iowa - 3378 32 - Tennessee - 2938 33 - South Dakota - 2788 34 - Oregon - 2148 35 - Georgia - 2095 36 - Wyoming - 1925 37 - Nebraska - 1693 38 - Kansas - 1648 39 - Kentucky - 1625 40 - South Carolina - 1619 41 - New Mexico - 1298 42 - Nevada - 1244 43 - Alabama - 1236 44 - West Virginia - 1147 45 - District of Columbia - 1113 46 - Delaware - 915 47 - Oklahoma - 738 48 - Louisiana - 425 49 - Arkansas - 359 50 - Mississippi - 223 51 - Hawaii - 19 States with an NHL team are in bold, plus Maryland and Virginia since counting DC by itself wouldn't really be fair. If you clicked the link, you noticed the proviso that Minnesota high school hockey isn't registered with USA Hockey, so the number of people playing hockey in Minnesota is even higher. I don't know what the numbers were like several years ago, but all things considered, Illinois could be doing much worse than 6th in the nation. New York and the three Ms aren't going down, and Pennsylvania was in striking distance. I'm surprised Montana is so high. There must be a lot of ringers down from Calgary. Also, it's funny how the list of registered hockey players has a rather positive correlation with places that seem nice to live, other than Hawaii at the bottom and Pennsyltucky at the top.

Author:	Curious Hair [ Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:14 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Let's hear it for Wisconsin cracking the top ten without an NHL team of its own, though they do have a highly successful college team. Still pretty impressive. And to think the NHL is farting around in Tennessee instead. Here's how they stack up per capita: 1 - Alaska (come on this isn't even fair) 2 - Minnesota 3 - Vermont 4 - North Dakota 5 - Massachusetts 6 - Michigan 7 - Maine 8 - New Hampshire 9 - Rhode Island 10 - Montana 11 - Connecticut 12 - Wyoming 13 - South Dakota 14 - Wisconsin 15 - Colorado 16 - New York 17 - Pennsylvania 18 - Illinois 19 - New Jersey 20 - Idaho 21 - District of Columbia 22 - Maryland 23 - Utah 24 - Ohio 25 - Washington 26 - Missouri 27 - Virginia 28 - Iowa 29 - Delaware 30 - Nebraska 31 - Indiana 32 - Arizona 33 - California 34 - New Mexico 35 - North Carolina 36 - West Virginia 37 - Florida 38 - Kansas 39 - Oregon 40 - Texas 41 - Tennessee 42 - Nevada 43 - Kentucky 44 - South Carolina 45 - Alabama 46 - Georgia 47 - Oklahoma 48 - Arkansas 49 - Louisiana 50 - Mississippi 51 - Hawaii

Author:	Curious Hair [ Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:31 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Curious Hair wrote: A year old, but it'll have to do until new numbers come in: registered hockey players by state. Speak of the devil! http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/docu ... eports.pdf Percentage lost or gained from last year in the third column. 1 • Minnesota • 55450 • 1.73% 2 • Michigan • 50602 • 0.03% 3 • Massachusetts • 49591 • 3.16% 4 • New York • 48580 • 0.47% 5 • Illinois • 30553 • 1.92% 6 • Pennsylvania* • 30078 • -1.48% 7 • California • 26383 • 4.33% 8 • New Jersey • 18753 • 1.71% 9 • Wisconsin • 17917 • 0.87% 10 • Ohio • 14735 • 2.42% 11 • Colorado • 13652 • 0.60% 12 • Texas • 13500 • 4.58% 13 • Connecticut • 13414 • 1.05% 14 • Florida • 12505 • 4.36% 15 • Virginia • 10063 • 7.61% 16 • Maryland • 9607 • 5.32% 17 • Alaska • 8788 • 3.77% 18 • Washington • 8594 • 2.69% 19 • Arizona • 7329 • 50.80% 20 • Missouri • 7082 • -1.12% 21 • North Carolina • 6677 • 8.04% 22 • Maine • 6440 • -1.32% 23 • New Hampshire • 6252 • 0.66% 24 • Indiana • 6185 • 4.44% 25 • North Dakota • 5832 • 8.26% 26 • Vermont • 4538 • -4.58% 27 • Rhode Island • 4532 • -1.93% 28 • Montana • 4469 • 5.08% 29 • Utah • 4138 • -6.40% 30 • Iowa • 3638 • 7.70% 31 • Idaho • 3459 • 1.86% 32 • Tennessee • 3449 • 17.39% 33 • South Dakota • 2868 • 2.87% 34 • Oregon • 2566 • 19.46% 35 • South Carolina • 2091 • 29.15% 36 • Wyoming • 2080 • 8.05% 37 • Georgia • 2043 • -2.48% 38 • Nebraska • 1839 • 8.62% 39 • Kansas • 1636 • -0.73% 40 • Kentucky • 1623 • -0.12% 41 • Alabama • 1497 • 21.12% 42 • New Mexico • 1418 • 9.24% 43 • Nevada • 1358 • 9.16% 44 • West Virginia • 1159 • 1.05% 45 • Oklahoma • 1143 • 54.88% 46 • District of Columbia • 1117 • 0.36% 47 • Delaware • 962 • 5.14% 48 • Arkansas • 404 • 12.53% 49 • Louisiana • 394 • -7.29% 50 • Mississippi • 174 • -21.97% 51 • Hawaii • 15 • -21.05% *USA Hockey divides Pennsylvania into Western PA, grouped with Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia for some arcane regional system I don't care to understand, and Eastern PA, grouped with Delaware and Jersey. 12,945 on Pittsburgh's side of the state, 17,133 on the Philly side. I don't know where the dividing line is and I don't care. Oklahoma has the biggest percentage gain, but only a net gain of 405, so who gives a fuck, really. But Arizona added nearly 2,500 registered players from last year. The Coyotes are never moving now. What's worse is what's going on in dear old New England: Connecticut and New Hampshire saw only small gains, while Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont lost players. As a region, numbers went up, but only because of major growth in MA. The DMV, taken as one state (c'mon, Virginia hockey players aren't coming out of Norfolk), would be at 20,787. Affluent white suburbs + Ovechkin = much hockey. Illinois registration is up 576 players from last year, may one of them grow up to be a Blackhawk.

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Author:	Hussra [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:19 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
People are starting to notice that Illinois doesn't have non-club NCAA Div I Hockey. UIC Flames upgrading their club team back to varsity hockey and joining the WCHA makes the most sense. UIC Pavilion being an el stop from the UC. Bolts head coach Jon Cooper got his start coaching high school hockey in Michigan:

Author:	Curious Hair [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:26 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Also, for what little it's worth, it was never about Bill Wirtz being a bad person, but rather his effort to make sure the Blackhawks would never be competitive or accessible. That the NFL's rogues' gallery of shithead owners is boycott-proof is just a function of football being so much bigger than hockey. The last successful NFL boycott was when Memphis ran the Oilers out of town a year ahead of schedule. That barely counts for anything. Much like Reinsdorf, most people had very kind words for the man as a person if not as a businessman. Rocky would probably not be one of those people; an old profile from Chicago magazine details the time Dollar Bill kicked Rocky out of his own birthday party at the Chicago Stadium: Quote: “when I was ten, I was misbehaving on my birthday,” Rocky recalls. “We were going to go to the Chicago Stadium for the party and he said, ‘If you do that again, I’m leaving you behind for your own birthday party.’ Naturally I tested him. Sure enough, the family station wagon went right down to Chicago Stadium with all my friends, and I got left home. I deserved it, but it was indicative that whenever he made up his mind you weren’t going to change it.” NCAA hockey is growing fast, faster than I'd like, and I won't be surprised if Northwestern or U of I gets in on it eventually.

Author:	conns7901 [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:41 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Curious Hair wrote: NCAA hockey is growing fast, faster than I'd like, and I won't be surprised if Northwestern or U of I gets in on it eventually. I can't see either adding a men's sport and the scholarships and money that would have to go with it. Along witht the matching women's scholarships. Big step up for their club status.

Author:	Curious Hair [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:54 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
The smart thing would be for the Blackhawks and Blues to go halfsies on funding a program at C-U (Penn State's new program is funded almost entirely by the Sabres' owner), thereby fortifying support in the downstate battlefield between Chicago and St. Louis, but the Blues are so fuckin' broke they couldn't even afford to run their farm team in Peoria anymore. Owning the Blues is a license to lose money for some reason.

Author:	conns7901 [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 9:06 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
Curious Hair wrote: The smart thing would be for the Blackhawks and Blues to go halfsies on funding a program at C-U (Penn State's new program is funded almost entirely by the Sabres' owner), thereby fortifying support in the downstate battlefield between Chicago and St. Louis, but the Blues are so fuckin' broke they couldn't even afford to run their farm team in Peoria anymore. Owning the Blues is a license to lose money for some reason. Well the Blackhawks lose money according to the owner too

Author:	Curious Hair [ Sun Jun 07, 2015 9:37 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
The Blackhawks haven't had to hock an AHL team to cover operating expenses. That's desperate.

Author:	conns7901 [ Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:07 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Fan Jersey restrictions????
I would love to know the expenses for Illinois Hockey Players compared to Minnesota and Michigan. With the lack of facilities compared to demand, I know it cost a few thousand dollars a year just to play on a high school hockey team.