It just screams inferiority complex. I like when Brewers fans give me shit for wearing Cardinals gear in Milwaukee. Those ass hats should be thanking the opposing fans for giving money to that shit heap.

I hate these fake hockey towns like Tampa Bay.

I hate these fake hockey towns like Tampa Bay.

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

It just screams inferiority complex. I like when Brewers fans give me shit for wearing Cardinals gear in Milwaukee. Those ass hats should be thanking the opposing fans for giving money to that shit heap.

The team was bad, yeah. I remember my dad going a little bit with his brothers and friends when I was younger. He stopped when they stopped showing games. You live closer, I wouldn't cart my ass downtown to watch a team I never got to see on TV. The combo of having them on TV and being great has really been perfect for them for the last 6 years. I don't know how many will jump off the wagon if it goes bad but I think they've gained some life long fans.

The best hockey town in America is Philadelphia. There's no other American team in the NHL that has had the consistent support that the Flyers have enjoyed. Chicago, we know. Detroit was empty through most of the '80s (and kind of is now, too). Boston has had stretches of deep apathy. Pittsburgh and St. Louis have been heartbeats away from relocation, and the Minnesota North Stars did move because people supported high school/college hockey instead. But Philly has always been solid.

The team was bad, yeah. I remember my dad going a little bit with his brothers and friends when I was younger. He stopped when they stopped showing games. You live closer, I wouldn't cart my ass downtown to watch a team I never got to see on TV. The combo of having them on TV and being great has really been perfect for them for the last 6 years. I don't know how many will jump off the wagon if it goes bad but I think they've gained some life long fans.

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.

Well, you could always watch all the road games.

Pretty simple, don't come back. Because there are no ass hats down at the BFIB stadium. I didn't go thru anything down there when I went to Game 1 of the NLCS.

I think the home games used to be on, I'm not sure when they were taken off. He also didn't like the treatment of players. They'd get rid of all the good ones or fan favs and then the teams sucked.

It's still a stupid philosophy. You want people to be fans but they can't watch half the games? Makes it hard to follow.

Nope, the no-home-games policy predates Bill Wirtz and goes back to Art Wirtz. In fact, Art Wirtz wouldn't even carry the first period from the Chicago Stadium on the radio. You had to pick it up at the second or go to the game.

There were home games on pay-per-view around 1992, but that didn't last long, if that's what you were referring to. Home games were never on SportsChannel.

Well, you could always watch all the road games.

I'm not saying it isn't stupid. But when the philosophy was established the money from TV wasn't what it would later become. It really never hurt the Hawks' attendance when they had a good team. I listened to a lot of Hawks games on the radio. Are you a Hawks fan or a TV fan?

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.