Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Chicago: 177 Years And Many Fine Memories

It would be almost a crime not to remiss about Chicago and all the great moments it has given me personally in sports. So how about a top 10 list? The city, which celebrated it's 177th birthday yesterday, has two baseball teams in the bigs. It also has the Bears. Then there are the Bulls. And my favourites, the Blackhawks! Can I cram it all into one list of 10? Bound to be some omissions! I think I'll do it chronologically to try and avoid some controversy. Not that this list isn't going to have some, anyways! You are free to add your honourable mentions:

10) It's 1906, and we have the first ever Subway Series. The White Sox took this one, but the Cubs won it the next two years. Alas, the Cubs have yet to win another World Series since 1908. But back in the early years, you could certainly say The Windy City had some great baseball teams.

9) April 22, 1959: The White Sox somehow score eleven runs on one hit. How you do you do that, anyways?

8) It's 1961 and the Blackhawks not only stop the Montreal Canadians from making it six Stanley Cups in a row, but also go on to defeat Detroit to win Lord Stanley's mug for the first time since 1938. Alas, it will be another 49 years before Chicago wins the Stanley Cup again!

7) It's 1983 and Lee Elia goes off! Well, I don't think I should post a profanity-laced tirade here. But I swear, I never stop laughing at it no matter how many times I hear it!

6) It's 1985 and the Bears take the Superbowl with a blowout win over the Patriots! New England was a Cinderella-like story, but are they no match for Chicago. 46-10 is the final score. Oh well! Not every Superbowl is a good game, you know!

5) It's 1991 and Micheal Jordan leads the Bulls to their first ever NBA title! Oh, he'd do many more times. Five more times to be exact. The swagger, the tongue sticking out, the clutch buzzer-beaters. We'd all come to expect that, right?

4) It's 1994, and with a 1-0 loss against Toronto, the Hawks are eliminated from the playoffs in six games. It's only the first round, but it is also the last hockey game ever played at old Chicago Stadium. The organ, that goal horn (and it sounded like a fog horn, believe me), it will never be the same again!

3) It's 2005, and now the White Sox need to get it done. The year before it was the Red Sox ending 86 years of frustration. Now, it was worse for Chicago, with their last World Series win being 1917. Add to that, the shame of 1919, and you have 88 year drought. But with a four game sweep of the Houston Astros, another long World Series drought came to an end.

2) Finally, after 49 years, the Blackhawks get it done! With Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, the team wins an excellent 6-game Stanley Cup finals over Philadelpha. What more can I say? I guess 49 years isn't as bad as 88 years, right? But did this kind of drought have to happen to the same city? Even the Bulls had to wait a while, as their 1991 was a long time coming. When will the Cubs finally get it done and complete the cycle?

1) The Bruins are just 76 seconds away from game 7, which is going to be in Chicago. But then Bryan Bickell scores to tie it with the goal out. Then, just 17 seconds later, it's Dave Bolland who scores to throw Boston in shock. The stunned Bruins now had to pull their goalie, but they don't get the equalizer. Chicago had their second Stanley Cup in four seasons.

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