Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

The Hawks Lose, and We're All Tired

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Hawks lose.

Understand that I cheer for the Hawks as hard as any other Chicago team these days, and watch their games almost as much as any other team unless they’re directly going against a Bulls game, which sounds ridiculous coming out of my mouth, that I’d prioritize watching a Bulls game over *literally* anything.

Having said that, my committed fandom to the Hawks is relatively new, as I’ve written extensively about here. I am a part of the generation who preferred to drink and have the Hawks on rather than turn the Hawks on and then drink. Led to a lot of good times in my life.

However, now I sit by my lonesome and watch games into the wee hours of the night. Let me tell you, I wish I had a drink.

But my point about my newly-found, more intense Hawks fandom is that my hockey takes reflect that. I’m not going to sit here (at least now) and break down the data or tell you what Jeremy Colliton must change to win Game 2. But that outsider-type perspective, I think, can still be of some sort of value.

Firstly, hockey is a low scoring battle, usually — like baseball is. But the game never stops, unlike baseball. It’d be like if a ball was constantly soaring out of the park and always either a warning-track fly-out or a home run.

Yes, they don’t score much, but it seems like someone is on the brink at all times. For one, that makes the goaltenders’ performances all that more impressive.

I never thought there was anything more stressful than watching the Cubs play in the playoffs, and for me personally, there probably isn’t still, but goddamn, hockey by its nature is just so much more intense. My ass is clenched until Pat Boyle comes back on my screen. Thank god there’s two intermissions.

Secondly, it’s still hilarious to me that Jonathan Toews, one of the biggest names in hockey, can just get punched in the fucking face twice and no one does anything. Game just starts again. That’s absolutely hysterical and pretty awesome all at the same time.

Pat Foley just goes, “They’re letting the boys play tonight!”

Let’s restart!

Toews ate that, but that also rubbed me the wrong way. Hockey fans — no gloves were dropped — that’s a bit of a cheap shot, no? They were just shoving and then the dude just popped him. That didn’t sit right with me. If you have a strong opinion on that, hit up the comments and let me know.

The announcer in Edmonton just announcing the details of the goal aloud five minutes afterward while play is going on is just so strange.

Also, Kirby Dach looks so goddamn young out there. That makes sense, because he is. It’s just so nuts how well he played last series and how much he plays at this young of an age. He looks like he should be drinking Busch Lites watching hockey and not deciding whether or not to shoot it on a breakaway in Game 1 of a playoff series.

On another note, we had some disagreement on this in the group chat. Is a power play for the opposing team after a failed challenge (this happened after the Hawks challenged a no-offside call on a Golden Knights goal) too much?

Given how easy it is to access video before challenging, I feel like considering the risk/reward before challenging is a good thing. Others disagreed, thinking it was too harsh. What are your thoughts?

The oddsmakers give the Knights a near 80% chance of winning this series, but (perhaps naively) I just don’t take those odds seriously when it comes to the Hawks. Their experience just seems to especially shine through in big moments.

There are still certain advantages to being the “home team” in hockey, but the Hawks are definitely at an advantage that they won’t be in Vegas with strobe lights and people on drugs going bananas in the crowd.

Despite the loss, they hung in there until the collapse in the third period. Despite a relatively good effort, there’s not much worse than waiting up until 12:30 at night when you have work the next morning just to see a playoff loss.

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On a brighter note, at 11-3, the Cubs have the best winning percentage in the MLB by a pretty wide margin. If those hillbillies from St. Louis get their shit together, and we can get to a bubble for the playoffs, it’s the most exciting year to be a Cubs fan since 2017, with a team that has its best start since 2016 (also started 11-3 then).

My apologies to all of you who rode the Chicago parlay last night and got the first two legs and lost the last with the Hawks.

The White Sox got back in the win column and the Cubs helped out their cause with a win over the Indians last night. Hopefully a couple more of those L’s are on the way from the North Side to the South Side.

Come back tomorrow for a new newsletter. Check out Friday’s if you haven’t yet. Have a great day — and most importantly, thanks for reading!