New York, New York – A Tale of Two Teams
“Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I’ll piss on them
that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ‘em to death
and get it over with, and just dump ‘em on the boulevard.” – Lou Reed
By Rich Lindbloom
Chicago has had the moniker, “Second City” for as long as I can remember. Following is an excerpt from Wikipedia that describes some possible originations for the always second best label:
“Second City:
For decades, Chicago was second to New York in city population rankings and New Yorker magazine writer Abbott J. Liebling used the term as a title for his 1950s tongue-in-cheek book titled, Chicago: The Second City. The book was not well received. Today, Chicago is actually the third largest city in the United States following New York and Los Angeles.
Liebling, however, did not originate the Chicago nickname. Chicago was often referred to as the “second city” during the battle with New York as the selection for the site of the Columbian Exposition. At that time Chicago annexed a large portion of the south side and her population was approaching New York levels. New York responded by combining all five boroughs and never looked back. Los Angeles surpassed Chicago’s in 1984.
But, there is another way of looking at the term. Chicago burned in 1871 and it provided the residents an opportunity to build a new and better constructed city – this time, not of wood. To Chicagoans, the Great Fire meant a “do-over.” Thus, Chicago today, is the second city, the first being pre-fire. And, many historians separate Chicago’s history into pre and post fire. In Mayer’s and Wade’s 1969 The Growth of a Metropolis, a chapter was entitled “The Second City” enforcing this theory.”
I suppose you could list the Yankees as a fourth explanation; as a life long Sox fan, the reality of second best was indelibly etched upon my psyche from 1960-1964 when the lads in the pin stripes won 5 straight American League pennants. (I won’t even bring up the Cubs collapse in 1969 to the Miracle Mets – a wounded soul can take only so much. For those of you with poor memories, the Mets were 9.5 games back on Aug 13th. )
New York also can claim Lou Reed, “The” Rock and Roll Animal. His album, Dirty Boulevard, is a classic. The song itself contrasts the differences between the rich and poor, much like Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The more things change, the more they remain the same, as they say.
For the last seven years however, the hockey teams from New York have pretty much been treated like Pedro, in Reed’s song, when it came to playing the Blackhawks – beaten like a red headed step child. I know a couple of regular season games in March don’t automatically get your name inscribed on Lord Stanley’s Cup, yet two very good hockey teams were dumped onto “the dirty boulevard” on successive nights this past week. One game was pretty much a 5 on 1 beat down; the second was one of the best games I’ve watched all year. When all was said and done, I found myself humming along with old blue eyes:
“I wake up in a city – that doesn’t sleep – and find I’m (still) king of the hill – top of the heap”
Somehow, without the services of Patrick Kane, the Hawks have gone 8-1-1 since his injury. When all was said and done, the Blackhawk’s were at least sniffing “the top of the heap.” You know the Blues and Predators are hearing the swooshing sound of skates catching up to them. As Satchel Paige once noted, “Don’t look back. Someone may be gaining on you.”
When it was determined they couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again, much was made of the core stepping up to the plate and delivering. After the Islander game, just prior to the announcement of the games three stars, I gazed over at the Blackhawk bench. Captain Psycho, Crow and Big Hoss were chillin’, basking in the warm glow of a crucial victory. I thought to myself, even without Kaner, that’s a pretty good foundation there; they’ve obviously gone to war together a few times.
Hossa and Toews comprise 2/3rd’s of The Red Wedding Line. Sharpie joined them in Sharks game after Versteeg aroused Coach Q’s ire. As were all too aware, Kris likes to hang on to the puck. There was a moment in the Sharks contest where Tazer was open along the boards about 10 feet ahead of Toews. It turned out to be a “damn it Versteeg” moment as he held on to the puck and skated into two defenseman resulting in an offside. I believe that was the last shift that day for Steegs on the top line. All you young hockey players out there, if a player is open ahead of you, get them the puck.
Versteeg was rumored to be a healthy scratch against the Islanders, but was penciled into the lineup just before the game. I believe he got the message of getting the puck deep in the opposition’s zone. He actually played pretty well when paired with Brad Richards and Bryan Bickell. As Sam Fels recently noted, he has the speed to torch the bottom defensive pairings on other teams. Somewhat surprisingly, Coach Q played the undrafted Ontario native, Andrew Desjardins, in place of Versteeg on Wednesday. I must say, I liked the tenacity Desjardins played with against the Rangers. Nothing fancy, he just played a defensively responsible game, bringing some much need physicality on the forecheck. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him penciled in against the Stars to counteract the hooligans on the Stars (most notably Rousell and Garbutt)
Of course any time we face the Stars, there’s always a chance Andrew Shaw and Antoine Rousell might have a go at it. Chicken Hawk seems to be playing very effectively as a winger on Kruger’s line. Sam Fels put it best in the Committed Indian on Tuesday evening; “Another benefit of having Shaw on the wing is that he annoys people that much more quickly with his non stop ways. Drew penalties against both the Yotes and Sharks by driving their d-men batty.”
Kruger, Nordstrom and Count Shaw – driving the other teams batty – you can “Count” on it.
Of course, many Hawk fans were concerned that Shaw might be suspended for his ill advised head butt on Brock Nelson. The frustrating part is, Nelson crosschecked Shaw twice and then interfered with him (the old moving pick in basketball jargon) before Chicken Hawk finally had enough. Although my dad used to constantly stress to me that two wrongs don’t make a right, in this instance, I can understand Shaw’s frustration. At the very least, should these two teams meet again in June, Brock Nelson will be well aware of the fact that Chicken Hawk don’t play. It should also be noted that Brock is 6’3″, 206lbs – Shaw is 5’11” 179lbs. Is there a doubt in anyone’s mind who would win a bout between these two if the gloves were dropped?
Jonathan Toews was 76% at the dot, mostly against Tavares who is at a 52.4% clip this season. He also scored two goals and added two assists. Many Hawk fans have been speculating something is ailing the Captain. If Jonathan wants to pace himself until the playoffs start, that’s quite all right with me. The bigger the game, the better he plays it seems. Hossa and Sharp also were an integral part of dominating the Islanders top line of Tavares, Okposo and Bailey. My son pointed out there was one play where an Islander defenseman was chasing Hossa around and finally gave up, dropping off him. One play that I took note of was actually a post whistle play by Patrick Sharp. After Big Hoss banged home the Captains sweet pass, Sharpie celebrated the goal by enthusiastically hugging Hossa – it was a clear cut violation of the “Man Hug Rules,” but I couldn’t help but feel there is a chemistry coming together with 10/19/81. A lot of other lines might end up being dumped on the dirty boulevard. Any of you Sharp detractors having second thoughts about jettisoning #10?
Killion from thecommittedindian.com summarized the second game of our tale of two cities as a classic pitchers duel in baseball. In his words, “I only bring this up because this game had a “pitcher’s duel” feel to it the whole way through. It’s the type of game that early in the season, baseball or hockey, really kind of bums me out. I can appreciate strong performances on the mound. But early in the season isn’t it more fun to see someone sock a few dingers?
Not only did the game against the Rangers have a pitching duel flavor to it, it had a intense playoff game atmosphere. Both teams were flying on the frozen pond. Actually, I think my all time favorite baseball game was the 2008 wild card game at The Cell against the Twinkies. The Sox handed out black rally towels and all the fans wore black. When the fans waved the towels, it looked like a bat infested Gotham City. Trust me, you had to be there, it’s one of those very rare occurrences in sports that can not be bought or paid for – it just happens.
“You can put it on the board!” – Thome connects
The game turned out to be a pitchers duel, aided by some sparkling defensive gems, between John Danks and Nick Blackburn. A lot of people compare baseball to watching grass grow. On this particular night, we all held our breath and sat on the edge of our seats for 9 innings. Michael Cuddyer was nailed at the plate on a great one bounce throw from Ken Griffey Jr., after he tagged up from third on a fairly deep fly ball to center. AJ Pierzinski did a great job denying access to the plate. Brian Anderson ended the game with a diving catch in center in the ninth. It was one of the best played baseball games I’ll ever witness, I’m sure of that.
Well for the second time in 10 days, the Hawks and Rangers treated us to a tension packed, playoff type effort. Both contests ended up in classic pitching duel fashion, 1-0. New York’s Cam Talbot and the Ent in the net for the Hawks, pitched themselves out of one jam after another. Reportedly, the Hawks arrived at their hotel about 4 am on Wednesday morning. It almost seemed too much to ask for, but the Hawk faithful were all clinging to the hope of a sweep of the teams from New York.
Brad Richards broke the 0-0 tie at the 7:19 mark of the third period. It appeared the Rangers went brain dead for a moment as Bradley circled from behind the net. As he waited for Talbot to commit, he was rumored to say “What you gonna do, what you gonna do,” before burying a lethal wrister deep into the twine and souls of the Ranger’s. I didn’t expect the lead to hold up, but again we had this Ent type thing between the pipes. “I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok, I sleep all night and I work all day…”
Both Niklas Hjarlmarrson and Rick Nash clanged one off the post and cross bar respectively. For a goalie, that’s sort of the baseball equivalent of a fielder bailing his pitcher out by nailing someone at the plate. Hjalmarsson actually took a page out or Pedro’s father’s playbook when he whacked the unprotected area in the back of Derrick Brassard’s knee. Brassard went down like a sack of potatoes and had a few unkind words for #4 on the Hawks as Niklas headed to the sin bin with less than 4 minutes in the game. He definitely had the look on his face of the kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
The Hawks held service though – I believe Coach Q had Kruger and Nordstrom out on the ice when New York pulled their goalie. Coach Q’s trust in those two Swede’s says a lot, no? Are those two becoming our closers?
In closing, I’d like to relate a real life story – another Montana Bob moment. My first backpacking experience was in the Tetons. Our destination was 6 miles of switchbacks away, and a 4,000 foot elevation gain. By the time we set up camp and tried to boil some water to cook are freeze dried food, we were all feeling a bit nauseous. After we finished eating, it was my job to hang the food on a tree, in case Yogi and Boo Boo decided to help themselves to our vittles. (I’m thinking even the Bears would pass on freeze dried food!)
Our location by Surprise Lake was surrounded by the scent of sweet smelling firs and pine trees. I stumbled around, looking for a solid branch to toss the rope over and hoist the food to safety. The problem is, none of those trees have branches that just out – they sort of just hang limply. I returned to the camp and to the great amusement and mockery of my “good friends,” stating, “I can’t find a tree.” Now those knuckleheads knew exactly what I was talking about, but yet, they couldn’t let it go. For the next week, all I heard was “I can’t find a tree.” It made me wonder about Aristotle’s comment “Without friends, no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”
Well, I finally found the tree. He’s manning the pipes for Chicago. I think I could have hung the food on his 6’6′ frame! The Lemont native, just in case you didn’t know, came up huge against the Rangers. His save on Rick Nash was just short of miraculous. If there was one word I’d use to describe him it would be “imperturbable.”
As a result, the Hawks were able to dump the both New York teams, on successive nights – onto that dirty boulevard. The Hawks once again showed, despite not having the services of a player in solid contention for the Hart trophy this year that they intend to make another run at the “top of the heap.”
“And back at the Wilshire, Pedro sits there dreaming
he’s found a book on magic in a garbage can
He looks at the pictures and stares at the cracked ceiling
“At the count of three,” he says, “I hope I can disappear”
And fly, fly away, from this dirty boulevard”
Other important stuff:
-I’ll take Chicago’s lake front over Central Park any day.
-Could this finally be next year for the Cubs?
-Holtzman, Seaver, Nolan Ryan – maybe the Amazing Mets weren’t so miraculous after all.
-This is why I love Canadian fans. My son said he heard the Winnipeg fans were chanting “Whose your Captain,” during the Jets 5-1 thrashing this past week, The Sharks are skating with 4 alternate captains and one of them is apparently a jar of pickles – Marc-Edward Vlasic
-Our top two lines are looking pretty lethal at the moment.
-A friend at work asked how many points I’d be satisfied with over the course of the Hawks next 4 games (Stars, Hurricanes, Flyers and Blue Jackets – basically all out of a chance at the playoffs) I’m hoping six.
-Chuck Norris won an underwater breathing contest – against a fish.
-I’m pretty sure if Satchel Paige were to try and describe Andrew Shaw he would say, “How big would you be if you didn’t know how big you was.”
-If I can’t find a tree in the forest, does it exist?
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Rich Lindbloom
