Home; but not Free

There has been Hawks home games on T.V. before to-nite, but the game against the Detroit Red Wings set for six o’clock is in all sense something brand new: it marks the start of the commintment of the black hawks organization to finally televise home games. It is a completely overdue- even embarrassingly overdue - move. A generation of young fans have been deprived of their proper quotient of Black Hawk coverage because of the bungling policies of the organization and have been alienated from the team. However, I believe this nite begins (only begins) the start of a long climb back into the general conciousness of the Chicago sports fan.

There was a time when the Hawks were easily the most popular winter sports team. They were the only team in town until the Bulls were founded in the mid Sixties. The Sixties teams, featuring Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, were consistently outstanding and entertaining. The Eighties teams, the ones I more properly grew up with, were also outstanding units. Featuring Al Secord, Dennis Savard, and Steve Larmer, the Eighties teams (and their close relatives, the Nineties teams, with Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, and Eddie Belfour) were always in the midst of excitement. The atmosphere @ the Stadium was always electric- packed Stadium, everyone hunched over, intent on the game, the organ, the “OOOOOOOO !!!” on an almost goal, the slice on the ice of the skates, the “BKKKK!!!” of the puck slapped off the boards- game after game after game. Its strange to think back now, but the year before Mike Jordan arrived to play for the Bulls, the basketball team averaged something like 4,700 a game. The old soccer team the Sting also played indoors @ the Stadium that same year and averaged 11,700. But the Hawks consistently had a hard ticket to get and always had standing room crowd of 18-19,000+. And now look= although the Bulls are not the Bulls of the 90’s, they are still far more popular than the Hawks. There is a good argument to be made that the Wolves are the most popular hockey team in town.

I got to go to a couple a year. Lazers and Moho had season tickets of almost unimaginable goodness= second balcony, second row rite above one of the blue lines. I got tickets once in awhile when one of them missed a game, and they got tickets here and there. All told, I got to about 2-3 games a year when lucky. I can remember making sure I saw Wayne Gretzky play. One of the two frenz above mentioned missed the game on #99’s first season in L.A.’s trips to the Stadium that fall, and then I somehow got a ticket to the next game. There was always a ‘real treat’ air around a live Hawks game in the loud smoky atmosphere of the Stadium.

Wirtz policies fostering an exclusivity about the team worked up to a certain point for televised games- to me, cable road games were another ‘deep treat’. I have many fond memories of watching regular season or playoff games @ this or that person who was a friend or a friend of my friend or a friend of my sisters - and I missed most televised games. There was the game in ’83 or so when we watched the Islanders game @ Big Man’s - we were all huge Mike Bossy fans. Then there was a playoff loss to Minnesota. And there was the ‘92 Stanley Cup game -v- Pittsburgh where the Hawks lost an early lead on the way to being swept. And although I do have hazy memories of Hawks games on free T.V. in the seventies, rarely was I ever able to enjoy the Hawks on T.V. in my formative years.

However, despite almost never seeing the team on T.V. and going to the games infrequently, I grew up a die hard fan. I knew every player, every line, who was in the minors, the other teams (especially division foes) strengths and weaknesses, etc… How did this happen? In a way that doesn’t probably doesn’t resonate with many of today’s young fans= the majority of my connexion with the Hawk games live was over the radio. I was of a high school set that thought nothing could be better than catching Pat Foley’s call of that nites game. We still joke about a game we listened to in Moho’s basement in what- ‘82. The Hawks were down a goal with less than a minute left and they had pulled the goalie. Daryl Sutter’s line was on the ice and someone made the crack that the only reason he was one the ice was because he was the captain- and of course he scored and tied the game.

Good memories, but they are of an older generation of fans, who grew up depending on the radio for sports in ways different to todays fans. We grew up without the vast expanses of sports available on T.V. these days- who knew in the Seventies I would not only be able to watch every single game of the Chicago Fire (to-days Sting), not to mention every Manchester United and every America game- if I could awake for all of them. I believe it is very important for the Hawks to put their product out readily available for every fan. Again, the elder Wirtz made the Hawks an exclusive deal, but I feel it was a case of “The forest for the tree’s”. He refused to change with the times. Non televised home games were famously great for his beer sales, but he lost fans growing up who never were able to become Hawks fans. In this world, being available on T.V. is all important. The business of marketing his team to the most impressionable part of our society- children- was lost. Wirtz blew it .

And now, to-nite, this long term mistake is finally being rectified. Good start. However, televised home games are only a start. For me, a far more important move by the Hawks would be to PUT GAMES ON FREE T.V. For me, this is of paramount importance. I understand that many houses (as well as most bars) have cable, but there is a significant percentage that only have the free stations. I believe that this is an important market.

An example is the sports loving kid who grows up in a non cable household. Since he only has free T.V., he basically never has a chance to see the Hawks on his T.V. Now= presto/chango, the Hawks put 12-15 games on Channel 9 and 26, just like the Sox, Cubs, and Bulls. Such a kid (with the limited viewing options on a given nite that is endemic to free T.V.) looking and not finding a baseball, basketball, football, or soccer game to watch; mite stop and watch the Hawks for awhile if it‘s the only thing on and he or she is flicking channels. To quote The Champ upon coming across a game back in the old days: “We got a game!!“ If they catch the game again and again, extended exposure to a non fan mite eventually lead to and enjoy and learn and become a fan if he or she stumbles across the Hawks.

It’s such a rite time for the change. God Bless the elder Wirtz, but his son Rocky is the needed fresh air. It was smart- and no disrespect to his father- to immediately get the seven home games on air. The change @ the top, the fresh 9-7 start with exciting new players such as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and two wins over to-nites opponent has created something that doesn’t often happen: a buzz about the Hawks. I welcome it, and hope it continues. The exciting team and the commitment to a realistic T.V. policy are significant advances for the team. However, a commitment to FREE T.V. games also should be pursued to further market the team to the kids growing up to-day. It should be an exciting time ahead for the team.