The statement I make is bold and risky. There are a lot of idiot hockey fans. Philly fans are just terrible, St. Louis fans aren’t much better and (according to some of my friends in Canada) Toronto fans can be unbearable during the playoffs (because they never make them). But after sharing Blackhawks season tickets for the first time this year, a couple of things led me to believe that Hawks fans (as a whole) are the most idiotic, misinformed bunch of Cretans in the NHL.
We bought our tickets in the 300 Level and that is the Mecca of the morons. We do have a couple of wonderful older folks who sit around us. They are quiet and nice. However there are also lots of drunk idiot fans that sit up by us too. They make it a point of finding fans from out-of-town to verbally assault for three periods.
They also consistently misuse hockey terminology. According to an idiot behind me you should yell “forecheck, forecheck!” with the puck on your own end of the ice and/or while in the middle of line change. This happened all of the time. His friend, also a member of Shortbus Ice Crew, assumes boarding occurs any time a Hawks players gets checked hard into the boards. It got to a point during the season when he would yell “BOARDING!” and I would calmly reply “Not Boarding”. Once one of my comments almost got me in trouble when I replied to Boarding Boy with, “Flight 233 for Idiotsville”. I know, I stooped to his level on that one. And one thing almost all of them holler during ANY home game is “Detroit Sucks”. Well, first off if you are playing LA, Minnesota or Vancouver and you are chanting Detroit Sucks, you are an idiot. Secondly, they don’t suck. They have owned the Hawks since the mid-90s and never, ever looked back. I think it could be helpful if the fans try chants that make sense like, “Detroit is a Hell Hole!” That would be accurate and I would support that…when playing the Red Wings.
Stupid fan comments aside, I think the treatment of fans from other cities is just terrible. In rare occassions they deserve a good ribbing. This Pittsburgh fan was starting all kinds of crap pre-game. Bad move on his part. But most fans want to make the trip to Chicago and see their team play. Some are families with kids and let me assure those kids learn a whole new language by the time they get out of the United Center.
When the Hawks played the Devils this past year I wore my Brodeur jersey simply because he is my favorite hockey player. That was a bad mistake on my part. I was treated like crap from moment one of that game. After the Hawks won in OT it got worse. “Brodeur is a faggot!” and “Brodeur SUCKS!” were the most common insults. I just smiled and walked back to the car because in reality I know Marty is a womanizer and not a homosexual and that he is one of the greatest goalies of all time with several Stanley Cup championships under his belt.
The Blackhawks season has been over for a while in Chicago and baseball has been front and center. The town has also been a buzz with Jay Cutler talk and the NBA Draft. However, last week was the Blackhawks Convention. Much to the fans credit it was sold out and from all reports it was exciting and a lot of fun. Unfortunately the fans displayed their true colors by ruthlessly booing a man they cheered just one year ago.
Team President John McDonough (formerly of the Chicago Cubs) was booed big time. Why you might ask? Why boo a man partially responsible for making our Hawks into one of the league’s top 5 or 6 teams?
GM Dale Tallon was fired by John just before the festival and Stan (son of Scoty) Bowman was introduced. To Dale’s credit he put much of this current Hawks team together. Dale did a solid job evaluating young talent over the past 5 years and bringing skaters in off of the scrap heap to become solid contributors. However, there are a lot of things he didn’t do well. Overpaying for Defenseman Brian Campbell (who can’t play defense) and Cristobal Huet (incredibly inconsistent) was just the beginning.
Dale was told that the pursuit of Defenseman Chris Pronger would be a priority for a team that struggled definsively at times. The Hawks lost out to Philly without even getting into the bidding.
The next not-so-brilliant move from his office was to lose Martin Havlat. Negotiating terms with free agent Martin Havlet was said to be important. In talking with one of the Hawks future young studs, Kyle Beach, most of the players were disappointed that they didn’t retain Marty. While injury prone, he was the key to the Blackhawks run last year. While Marty sat “unwanted” Dale made Red Wing free agent Marian Hossa a priority and, to Dale’s credit, got him. The downside was the Hawks probably overpaid in salary and terms for Marian’s services.
Don’t get me wrong, Hossa is a very nice player. He is an all-star caliber forward the Hawks have lacked for a long time. During this time Havlat was courted and signed by Minnesota. Dale said they tried to bring Marty into the fold to play with his old Ottawa teammate but stated he wanted to go a different direction. What happened? Nothing according to Havlat who said the front office never even contacted him.
The straw that broke Dale’s back was the fiasco with the restricted free agents, most notably Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg. All of the free agents were due for about a 10% raise. Unfortunately for Dale and the Hawks paperwork was never filed with the league office and they almost ALL became UNrestricted free agents. And, to top it all off, they had to fork over hefty raises to all of the players just to keep them. Kris Versteeg for example made $480,000 last year and was due for a 10% raise. That is it. Instead, because of Tallon’s bonehead moves they forked over $3 million per season for three years. Absolutely terrible management. Now, when the Hawks are in contention in 2009-2010 and need that additional defender or goalie they won’t be able to get him because they spent millions of dollars extra on guys they didn’t have to give millions to.
For all of those reasons Dale Tallon is now a special assistant to the guy that offers you mints in United Center’s really nice bathrooms. John made the right decision and appointing the Bowman family is the right thing to do.
Instead of being students of the game and realizing that firing Dale was the right thing to do, you boo the man responsible for bringing your asses back to the United Center.
Hawks fans NHL’s worst? I guess you could debate that. Amongst the worst? Undebateable!
Big Papa Daddy's Sports Rag 
Being from Chicago, especially after the 08-09 season-I do agree with you to an extent. However I can’t say that these fucktards you encountered were actual fans or just hopping on the bandwagon. The Blackhawks fans I know-are friends and I am fortunate enough to have intelligent (for the most part) fellow fans/friends. I have noticed however with the Blackhawks picking up-there have been an overwhelming surge in cubs fans (normally the only baseball hat you saw was a white sox hat). I can’t help but notice the coincidence. The people chanting ‘Detroit Sucks’ when they weren’t even playing the Red Wings were probably people who had heard or googled that that was what Blackhawks fans did. The cumfart with absolute zero knowledge about forechecking, boarding, etc was most likely some douche bag who played NHL 09 on his xbox and thought he knew a thing or two about the sport now. That is very sad (but not entirely stupid on your part) that you were booed for wearing Martin Brodeur’s jersey. In the 90’s when the Hawks were rockin with Amonte, JR, Probert, Eddie the eagle, etc. My dad took me to an Avalanche game when back in the not so distant day on certain days it was $5 for the 300 level. I was wearing a Patrick Roy jersey (that’s Patrick “WAH” for the fucktards out there) because he was my favorite goalie after the Eagle and we’d just lost Belfour to San Jose. I wasn’t booed fortunately-people knew he was fuckin good.
Maybe its because the Hawks are doing well and you have these people who are going because it’s the ‘hot ticket’ now. They don’t know anything about the Blackhawks-let alone hockey and are looking for the cool place/thing to do. Where as if they weren’t doing so well, say last place-only the DIE HARD fans would be there and you might be able to get a tangible, intelligent conversation on hockey with a complete stranger.
Maybe it’s cubs fans pouring into the U.C. because they miss McDonough or because the cubs aren’t playing/losing.
While I agree with you to an extent, respect you for it and where you’re coming from. You have more than logical reason and examples-I must ask that you dont base your opinion on a single season with a handful of expierences and people.
Michael, I grew up in Chicago too on Chicago’s south side. I went high school and university in Chicago as well. I currently work in Chicago so I am very connected to the city.
I can tell by your comments you are definitely a White Sox fans. I’m not so sure it is “a side of town” problem as much it is the intelligence, common sense of the average Chicago fan.
I remember going to Cubs and Sox games with my brother and buddies. There were never any issues with drunken brawls or excessive cussing, yet it happens almost all the time now. I can’t take my kids to a game unless I pay through my ass to get great seats and I’m not doing that, especially for baseball in this town.
It truly is so different here because I’ve sat at games in Detroit, New Jersey, Tampa, New York, Boston, etc. They don’t have the same problems we do here.
Another example is how Chicago fans go up to Lambeau and say how nice it is there and how great and accomodating the fans were. Packers fans come down here and they are treated like shit. It has very little to do with home field advantage but it does have a lot to do with being an asshole.
I go to games and every single time I end up apologizing to some stranger from out of town. “Sorry, we’re not all like that.” is my standard line.
There is nothing wrong with a little good natured razzing. I enjoy it and I can give as good as I get. However, when I have my young son with me or some other family is in ear shot and some drunk asshole is yelling, “Red Wings Suck, Lidstrom Fucks Goats!”, that is excessive.
Unfortunately I go to less games now because I just don’t want the aggravation. I do take my kids to minor league games like the Wolves, Flyers, Cougars and South Bend Silver Hawks. I enjoy hosting house parties during games. Throw a some meat on the grill, ice some beer and enjoy the game without the yelling, cursing and drama.
If you still go to games enjoy yourself Michael and thanks for checking out BPD Blog.
I find everything listed here happens nearly every place you go. Chicago fans have actually been mentioned as some of the kindest most welcoming fans around. Sure you get the ones that ruin it, but go anywhere else even any sport. You still hear the cussing (Well, you hear that no matter where you go anymore today), you see the drunks, and you get the idiots. It happens. But, to say Chicago fans are the only ones guilty of this is unfair. I’ve been to many Hawk games and I have noticed that the level of intellegence does go up as you go down, but that simply makes sense. I, just finishing college, can usually only afford the cheap seats so I do get stuck there. I however, have never experenced or witnessed any of the behavior you have mentioned towards out of town guest. If I remember correctly even detroit fans admit that they enjoyed going to Chicago to watch the wings because the fans were very welcoming, and again you get your idiots, but you’ll have to excuse them. I feel you are judging the entire “true” fan base off of a couple dumb asses that don’t know shit about hockey or even come to watch the games, or arn’t even from chicago. I’ll take my chance to apoligize in behalf of the fan base, but ask you don’t judge the entire fan base off of the same idiots that are at nearly every professional sporting event in the country.
Thanks for checking in Kyle. I appreciate your comments. I must admit when you said “Chicago fans are some of the kindest” I laughed immediately.
I have been to many NHL, MLB, NFL and NBA games in and out of Chicago. You are right about one thing, there are a lot of bad fans EVERYWHERE. No doubt about it. But, Chicago fans are right up there with worst in the nation. I haven’t conducted any sort of experiment to determine the abrasiveness or classless nature of sports fans, but I don’t think it is a stretch putting the average Chicago fan up there with Cleveland and Philly fans.
I worked for the Cubs organization and I know how bad it gets in Wrigley. I can’t bring my kids to a game. Same goes for Comiskey (Sorry US Cellular, old habits die hard). Bears games get down right ridiculous and Bulls games, not so much because they really don’t draw much interest these days.
But Hawks fans just take it to a whole new level. I have sat in the 100 seats near the glass and the 300 level about 3 rows in front of Eddie in the box. Not good anywhere you go.
Now, there are good fans. I have friends that are good fans. I’m a good fan. I know the rules. I know not to get up while the puck is in play. I mute my cell phone during the game. And, above all, I pay attention to the game.
The words rude and obnoxious come to mind and that is because I choose not to print the really bad words that first come to mind.
At any rate I remain loyal to my teams and the city I love. Unfortunately there is a new breed of fan in the city and it makes us all look really bad.
Again, I agree, the sports arena is not the place for kids. Its sad but its true. I’m not sure if you have a higher standard than me (maybe we are all different), but I’ve never had a problem with any Chicago fans. You get the occasional fight and lots of cursing, but that happens every where.
But what about, for example, Redwing fans who half of them don’t know anything about hockey including there annoncer. The ones that only repeat things they hear on the tv and usally twist comments and rules around to work in there favor, or my favorite only post the part of the rule that works in there favor and fails to display the second half that usally works against them. Most in which only cheer for Detroit because of there 11 cups and current sucsess. Like the ones I find here in Chicago, I like to call them band wagon jumpers. Can’t chear for there own team because they weren’t doing well, and only cheer on Detroit cause they are.
Or what about Philly fans who rough up nearly every visitor fan out there. Great for a fan base, but not really all that classy. They are actually known to throw stuff at visiting fans. Or the New Jersey devil fans (Ones I figure your know well) who after every goal that their team score yells to the other team(or the goalie I’m assuming) “You Suck”.
The fact is though, I have gone to games in Dubuque, IA and Rockford, IL (Both non professional) And the fan base goes out and yells things like you suck and cuss up a storm usally in a chant or some way in unison, but when I go to a Chicago blackhawks game I don’t see nearly as much of that going on. Atleast not in unison, just some individuals. Ones we will never welcome.
If your curious they have done polls on the best and worst fans (I can try and send you some links if I can locate them again, which I’m sure I can) That all show Chicago near the top of the list for best fans. Most of them actually have Detroit and Philly as the worst fan bases.
I understand its a very opinionated question, and that you have spend nearly if not all your experiences in Chicago arena’s, so you have seen some of the best and worst nights from fans, so its easy to think they are the worst. But in my opinon, I find this City as a very welcoming place, and if you don’t think so then I’ll let you know this, there is atleast one welcoming fan out there that you can be sure about.
First off I disagree about the Red Wings fans comment. I happen to have friends in Michigan and Ontario, Canada who are die hard Red Wing fans. They are fanatical and very knowledgeable about the game. I find this with most Red Wings fans I run into. That includes the ones living in Chicago who watch games at places like the Gin Mill. They are Michigan transplants who are fanatical about their team.
Most old school Hawks fan who remember Mikita, Hull, Savard, Secord, Dirk Graham, etc., know the game. A lot of the newbies don’t. Some don’t fully understand the game. They don’t know all the rules and they certainly don’t know hockey game etiquette.
I won’t argue Philly fan antics because they are bad, maybe the worst in fandom. But as far as Devils fans go they are pretty easy going. They support their team pretty well but are pretty apathetic as fans go.
I have gone to many other arenas though. This is my count….
NFL – Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Indianapolis and Kansas City.
MLB – Chicago NL/AL, Milwaukee, Atlanta, New York NL, Los Angeles NL, St. Louis, Cleveland.
NHL – Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, Boston, NY Islanders, New Jersey
NBA – Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis
NCAA Football – Kansas, Notre Dame, Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Southern Mississippi, Purdue, Tennessee, NIU, Illinois State
Now, I have not been to as many venues as some but I think I have been to more than just Chicago area venues. I base my opinions mostly on my experience but also on the experiences of many sports fans I know personally.
So, on this issue, we tend to agree to disagree and that’s OK. I have enjoyed our exchange Kyle.
All the best. Go Hawks!