You saw in my ticket frame that I had a ticket to the 2009 Winter Classic. However, I marked it with an asterisk; I never actually saw it live.
In late 2008, the popularity of the Blackhawks went through the roof. It wasn't always that way though.
More than once, Chicago's NHL franchise was voted the worst organization in all of American sports. I mentioned before that I went to a few games with my dad, but I never paid attention to them beyond that. I was young, but the team was decent and still riding the wave from their 1992 Stanley Cup Final appearance.
The darkest years were from 1997 to 2007. In that time, the Hawks regularly finished at the bottom of the conference, and only made the playoffs once. That's an absolute disgrace.
Let me put it into perspective for you- 1997 ended a streak of 28 straight playoff appearances (which dated all the way back to 1969). Then they went just one for ten. The Blackhawks were one of the most historic teams in the game, and became a giant joke.
You see, nearly all the blame came back to Bill Wirtz, who became the primary owner of the team in 1966. This man was the cheapest son of a bitch to ever walk on this planet.
His greatest criticism was not broadcasting a single home game on TV. He thought it was unfair to the season ticket holders to let other fans watch the product for free in their own home. The only time home games were on TV was the playoffs (which were picked up by national broadcasters), or in the extremely unlikely case that a game sold out. While he has some sort of point, that's just unreasonable. It's impossible to build a fan base when people can't watch the team and take an interest in the game.
His second issue was not paying players. He never offered to pay the talented players what they deserved. He often traded them, or simply let them walk out the door to sign with another team. Jeremy Roenick, Dominik Hasek, Chris Chelios, Bobby Hull, and Denis Savard were all fantastic players, and had some of their best years with other teams.
One positive that came out of the suck-fest was draft picks. In 2006, Johnathan Toews was the third overall pick, and in 2007, Patrick Kane was selected first overall by the Blackhawks.
A small glimmer of hope and optimism appeared in 2007. Wirtz was getting older, and didn't influence the day to day operations nearly as much as before.
On September 27th, 2007, a wonderful thing happened that was long overdue. Bill Wirtz finally kicked the bucket.
Oh, you think I'm being rude? A little disrespectful? What about the people that either booed or cheered during the moment of silence held for him at the Hawks home opener? (Start at about 1:30)
And wouldn't you know it, almost the instant he croaked, the Hawks play improved dramatically. With Toews and Kane leading the team in 2007-2008, they missed the playoffs by a mere three points.
Over the summer, fans and the media began chatting. There were whispers of the Hawks being good, or at least decent, but I personally didn't believe it.
When it was announced that the 2009 Winter Classic would be at Wrigley, the stadium I loved more than any other, my ears perked up. On New Year's Day 2008, the inaugural Winter Classic in Buffalo was a huge success. However, I didn't know this was the second annual game until it was being mentioned in news stories and online articles after the Hawks were officially declared the hosts.
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| The Penguins played the Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY in 2008. |
The buzz grew throughout the entire first half of the season. More and more fans were paying attention and coming out of the woodwork as the Hawks held their position near the top of the Western Conference.
Now here's where my story comes in.
I became interested in the game very quickly at the beginning of the season. I went to a couple games, and watched almost every night with my dad. He used to be an avid fan, but like many others, stopped caring when the team took a turn for the worst. It was an odd interaction when we watched games. Since I was oblivious and still learning, he would tell me things from past Blackhawks teams and the game as a whole. It was very weird to have these conversation when I was 17 instead of 7.
The hype for the big game grew more and more with each passing week. The Hawks were set to take on their long time nemesis, the Detroit Red Wings. Title aside, this was truly going to be a classic match up.
I thought about going, and anxiously waited for any ticket information. The 2008 playoffs were a heart breaker for the Cubs, but I was ready to see my summer home packed with fans in the middle of winter. How many times does that happen?
For something like this, I already knew the odds weren't in my favor. Most of the seats would be gobbled up by the many Hawks season ticket holders. After the NHL, the participating teams, the city of Chicago, and the wealthy got their tickets, there wouldn't be a whole lot left.
I can't remember the day I got a first look at it, but here's what I was so excited about:
Simple, and ridiculously expensive. All hopes I had of going nearly went out the window. I usually aimed for something under $25 for a normal game at the UC, so this wasn't going to work. I stopped paying attention to it. That is, until I got an email from the Hawks on December 22nd:
"After assembling the ice surface, we have determined there will be more seats available to the general public than previously thought. If you wish to buy tickets, they will go on sale tomorrow morning at 10 AM".
I had no idea how many people got this email, and no guess as to how many seats they were talking about. Did they set up folding chairs on the field or something? How else could they get more than what they thought before?
I carefully dropped the email into conversation with Dad that night. The response surprised me, and went something like "No way, there's still tickets? Go for it dude, that'd be really cool to be there". Well, that was much easier than I anticipated!
The next morning, I had my windows all set up at 9:50, and was constantly refreshing at 9:59. (I'll always remember feeling guilty for missing swim practice that day. This wasn't the only reason for missing, but I would be lying through my teeth if I said it didn't have any influence at all).
Obviously, I was going for the $75 seats. I put in my request for two, and the page was incredibly slow loading. I got one message that said, and I'm paraphrasing here: "Hang on, what did you want again?", followed by multiple "There's too many god damn people, try again". After only 10 minutes, the option for two $75 seats disappeared.
I texted Dad. I told him $225 was our only choice now. Unless we won the lottery, we wouldn't be able to go if I was lucky enough to snag some. Since this is a marquee event, I knew we'd be able to sell the tickets no problem. I was very confident with this, because just a few years before, I sold a set of Bears tickets on eBay for $360, creating a $180 profit for myself. I may as well make some money for the effort I'm putting in, right? I just wanted to let him know I would be charging an extra $300 to his credit card. "That's a lot. But go for it".
So I did. I didn't care what I got offered, I was so in the moment that I would take anything. A pair finally popped up. Aisle 231-LV, Row 23.
Well, I knew there were no more than 25 rows in the Terrace Reserved sections. Being at the top was actually a very big plus. Being higher meant being able to see over the boards, as well as being closer to the upper deck and the next price level.
That 'LV' was the only thing my eyes could see. My worst nightmare- limited view.
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| The approximate section; the center ice dot was almost exactly where second base is. As you can see, no poles. |
Before I could tell myself "Okay Ryan, this seems like it'll work out alright", I was already looking at the conformation number. The total was $480, including a $30 charge for order processing and delivery.
Since the game was so close, print at home was the only choice for the delivery method. I printed them as soon as I got the email, and treated them like solid gold. I couldn't believe what I was holding in my hands. It was in the discussion about being Chicago's most sought after ticket in my lifetime, and they were in my possession.
I was still struggling with the thought of not going. I went through this whole process and got myself excited, just to get rid of them. No matter how bad I wanted to go, I knew this was way too much money for just a game.
I placed them on the kitchen table and waited for Dad to come home. I was hoping for a high five, or a smile, or at least a positive attitude. That said, my overall positive mood was dragged down when he showed none of the above.
There was a tiny bit of confusion between us earlier that morning. Dad thought the TOTAL would be $225, not the price for each ticket. When I saw his reaction to the real total, I realized I had made an enormous mistake.
After talking with him more, reality set in. I didn't want to face it when I was on the computer this morning, but there were major flaws in my 'solid' reasoning.
- Taking the limited view was the worst idea ever. Who would willingly risk that much money for a bad view? Not many people are aware that it's simply a turn of the head, and think they'll be behind a brick wall or something.
- The printed tickets were really screwing us. The biggest rule of the secondary market was to never ever take paper tickets; that's the easiest way to sell fakes.
- We could have possibly emailed them to the winning bidder if we put them on eBay, which is often a plus to the digital tickets. But what if these ones we had were the only valid ones, and duplicates would be rejected at the gates? Then we would be out $500 AND miss seeing the game, a lose lose.
- After reading the fine print, we saw something that said "Only the original purchaser can use this ticket". Would they be checking IDs? At a normal event, of course not. But with such a popular event, anything was possible. They could be trying to track down scalpers that made fakes.
- We were almost out of time. If I put them on eBay, all the people wanting to go will have their tickets already, or have given up since it was so close. Plus since we wanted to have the first set of tickets be the only set we print. We would have to FedEx them to winner, and factor in the time for them to get there; a week to be extra safe. Thus, we're presented with the second bullet point again.
(I've since learned that I had nothing to worry about with points two and three, but I just assumed the worst would happen).
I was mortified. I immediately regretted this entire thing. It wasn't worth the risk. We were out of options. I couldn't eat, much less sleep, and it was the only thing on my mind for days.
I forget how the whole process went down, but Dad and I mentioned we had them to everyone and their mother, hoping to find ANYONE that was interested. On Christmas Eve with my mom's side, we got a bite. My Aunt remembered that her brother wanted to go, and didn't have tickets yet. She said he was laid back, and would take almost anything. All we wanted was our money back, and he was okay with that. We had a deal in place.
I didn't say a word about it anymore. I didn't want to jinx it. My mom brought them over to the Aunt's house a few days later, she exchanged them for a $480 check, and that was that.
What a huge relief. The demonized pieces of paper that were sitting on my desk were out of my life forever. Some of the worry was still there about if they would have problems getting in, but that was very unlikely. We would deal with if the situation arose.
I woke up on New Year's Day feeling great. I grabbed a bowl of cereal, and watched NBC's pregame coverage. Dad joined me at Noon for the puck drop, and was just as excited as I was. Needless to say, sitting on the couch at home was a great feeling after this ordeal.
By the first intermission, we knew we were safe. They had to be there already. By the second intermission, I clicked on the bookmarked web address for the ticket and printed off my own copy in full color. It looked a lot less scary the second time.
Whenever I stop and look at the ticket in my frame, I go back and remember how I felt that entire week, and the empty feeling in my stomach. Never again will I buy tickets with full intention to sell them. I learned my lesson.
This event benefited the Hawks immensely even though they lost 5-3. This was more than just a game for the organization.
Blackhawks mania continued to spread in 2009, as Chicago advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals, ultimately being defeated by the rival Red Wings.
The roar was back, and as you all know, this was only the beginning. This is not the last you'll hear about the Blackhawks on BaseBlog, either.
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