For the first time since 1992, the Chicago Blackhawks are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.  And, for the first time in a long time (probably since Michael Jordan and the Bulls started winning titles) the Hawks are the toast of Chicago.  And it's sad and funny all at the same time.

I believe strongly in being loyal to your team.  To be there in good times or bad and not to abandon them no matter how much they suck. I was a White Sox fan in the early seventies. I was a Bears fan in the early seventies.  I've been a Blackhawk fan all my life.  From Bobby Hull to Alex Zhamnov to Dustin Byfuglien, I've been there.  From Tony O to the Panger to Eddie the Eagle to Nemo, I've watched the Hawks play hockey.  I've been a Hawk fan so long, I go back to the announcing days BEFORE Pat Foley, to the great Lloyd Pettit and the not so great Jim West. 

Yet, so many who haven't, who abandoned this franchise for the bright lights and big city of the NBA have suddenly come back.  I can't say I don't blame you as the end of the Bill Wirtz-Bob Pulford cycle of death regime was brutal, but then again, so were the John Allyn years with the White Sox and the pre-Ditka years with the Bears.  Sure, it would have been easy to adopt a new team that won every year, but that's not what being a sports fan is.  Rule #1 is you don't abandon your team in bad times.

What's interesting me is that so many middle agers like me were raised on the Hawks.  We were kids when the Hawks were getting beat by Montreal in the seventies and we've just stuck around.  So, when some semi-grey hair calls a talk show saying he wants the Hawks to play Montreal to atone for 1971, my chest swells with pride.  While the Generation X types who host some of the talk shows and couldn't tell Bobby Hull from Glenn Hall, roll their eyes, others get it.  Those are the ones that have stood by this team all these years.

So, for those of you that know names like Towes, Sharp, Kane, Keith, Seabrook and Hossa but have never heard of Hull, Mikita, Koroll, Roenick, Daze, Bannerman, Larmer, Wilson, Amonte, Russell, Mulvey, Ludsik, Sutter, Waite, Noonan, Vandenbussche, Russell, Passmore (pucks between your legs) and Manson, we say welcome.  There's plenty of room for you.  Until of course after the Stanley Cup finals.