The former chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks, Bill Wirtz, had his hockey team operating through the dark ages. The United Center became nothing, but a few crickets in the stands chirping while watching mediocre talent on ice. The home games were blacked out on television because if you wanted to see his product, you would have to buy tickets not to watch for free. A Stanley Cup caliber team was too expensive. Then Bill Wirtz would pass away, and then came the savior of Chicago Blackhawks hockey. Rocky Wirtz, the son of Bill, would take the family business to new heights. Everything the opposite of his father. Three Stanley Cups. A dynasty was created. Like father like son, Rocky Wirtz is now experiencing the dark clouds over the Blackhawks organization. The questionable logo of the Blackhawks. The poor play on the ice. Never finding that second tier, third tier or 4th surrounding Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews with caliber players to get back to going deep into the playoffs. Then the Kyle Beach sexual harassment saga, and the cover up, has brought the dark days back to this organization. Trying to tread water at the town meeting, the once savior Rocky falls to canvas like Mister T knocking out Balboa in the first fight. For Rocky Wirtz, it would be foot and mouth disease that has now brought the Blackhawks to the lowest level possible in their history that goes back to the original six in the NHL.

The Chicago Blackhawks were having a simple little town hall meeting which some fans and the press were invited to. The Blackhawks wanted to discuss the state of the franchise. The meeting started off well as the Blackhawks’ new leaders answered questions without a hitch. Chief Executive Officer Danny Wirtz, and President of Business Operations Jamie Faulkner, had you feeling pretty good. The Blackhawks made a settlement with Kyle Beach. The Blackhawks were able to get Brad Aldrich’s name off the Stanley Cup. Still the Blackhawks should have been prepared to field any kind of question throwing at them. A reporter by the name of Mark Lazerus from the Athletic got the pot stirred up with a question to the panel saying along the lines of how are the Blackhawks in the future going to prevent sexual assaults. This was referring to prospects like Kyle Breach. Rocky Wirtz bellowed an answer, “None of your business.”

It reminded me of something along the line of when the White Sox General Manager was telling reporters, “Stay out of White Sox business,” which was years ago.

Rocky Wirtz and management quickly swept away what Brad Aldrich did to Kyle Beach back in 2010. They thought the minds of the press and their fans should be wiped clean like something out of the movie Men in Black. Maybe the sequel should be called Men in Blackhawk going down.

Rcoky Wirtz would lash on saying, “You don’t work for the company. If someone in the company asks that question we’ll answer it. And I think you should get on to the next subject. We’re not going to talk about Kyle Beach. We’re are not going to talk about anything that happened. Now we’re moving on.”

Another reporter fired up a follow up question. Danny Wirtz tried to answer, but Rocky quickly lashed out at him. More dark clouds formed above in the skies above the United Center.

The only good thing about the Chicago Blackhawks these days is they have the coolest logo in sports. How long will that last? Many people think the Blackhawks logo is racist against the Native Americans. They recently scalped the Washington Redskins along with the Cleveland Indians. They still have other Native American-named teams in the four major sports. You assume it will eventually have a domino effect as the Chiefs, Braves, and Blackhawks will fall at some point in what order who knows which owner would cave in first. The way the world is nowadays, everything from the older generation seems like a giant F-you to those people of the past. It’s mostly the younger generation rather than the generations that have lived through these teams for decades. I think the Blackhawks logo is a compliment to the Native Americans more than an insult. My question is how does Florida State get away with their Indian logo? The local Native Americans in Florida get paid by the University.

It would be easier to deal with what the stupid owner Rocky Wirtz had to say in the town hall meeting if his team was actually winning. Rocky Wirtz did have that meaningless apology written up by the intern the next day after he took his foot out of his mouth. The team still struggles to find the right pieces to fit around Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. The trades and the moves made by Stan Bowman have not panned out this off-season. It took uncovering a cover up to fire the Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman who in my opinion has not done a very good job. Blackhawks are still in search for a new GM. Could someone come in and do what Stan Bowman could not do? Find the right players to squeeze one more run out of Kane and Toews. The organization still needs another President. The head coach of the Blackhawks is an interim coach, Derek King. Is King the right guy in the future? Do Rocky’s comments doom this team from getting the right guys in fixing the problems they are have on the ice and inside the organization? Perhaps a muzzle for Christmas for Rocky might solve one issue.

What will hurt the Blackhawks the most is if the fans stop coming through the gates. The attendance has been down for the Blackhawks, but you can say that could be Covid-related. Even with attendance down, it will still cost the average fan an arm and a leg to take their family to see a game. To me this is like father, like son how this organization in the 1980’s and the early 1990’s one of the hardest tickets to get in Chicago. Every organization has a bad decade of teams that do not perform for whatever reason. Blackhawks seem to tumble as a team and organization at the same time, through dark times with no light at the end of the tunnel in sight. Blackhawks revamped & changed their evil ways to win three Cups from 2010-15. Maybe the team had two good years after that. History has repeated itself as the entire organization and the hockey team have fallen on hard times once again at the same time. I love to see the Wirtz family sell the team to someone who gives a damn about the team and integrity of a human being. Would you want your son to play for the Blackhawks and be swept under the rug if any problems circulate? Maybe it’s “Oh, Danny Boy” Wirtz’s turn to give it a shot and run the Blackhawks. I will still be a fan of the Blackhawks, but I sleep with one eye open. Going to a game I’m kind of turned off at least this season. It’s a shame because seeing Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews play at the United Center is pretty cool. Both those guys may need to leave town before this gets any better.