A Championship in Chicago: Thank You, Blackhawks

49 years.

That's how long the Blackhawks had to wait in between championships.

But with their dramatic overtime victory in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the wait is over.

I won't pretend to be the world's biggest Blackhawks fan—I sadly spend too much time with the Chicago Cubs.

But as a life-long Chicagoan, this tastes pretty sweet. 

A Stanley Cup Championship.  An unbelievable run to an unbelievable title for an even more unbelievable team.

The 2009-10 Blackhawks, comprised mainly of players under the age of 26, are now the best hockey team in the world, and no one can take that away from them.

The city of Chicago is rejoicing now and will be for some time—championships in Chicago are rare.

Sure, we had the 2005 White Sox.  They were a terrific team that steamrolled through the playoffs with dominant pitching, timely hitting, and a championship swagger all the way.

Some of my best friends cried tears of joy that October night, but not all of Chicago felt the same way.

Half the city (or more) was indifferent to the White Sox title and could care less what happened.  We call those people Cubs fans (I would have cared less, but seeing my friends' excitement made me happy in a weird sort of way).

The Bears' 1985-86 Super Bowl was the greatest thing since sliced bread, or so I'm told.

Problem is, that was over 20 years ago.  Can't we get something more recent, Bears?

They came close in 2006, winning the NFC and making it all the way down to Miami for Super Bowl XLI, but were defeated by the Indianapolis Colts 29-17.

They have since failed to reach the playoffs in every year since. 

With the Bulls, we were spoiled to death by their dominance in the 90's.

Yes, a Chicago sports fan base was spoiled...with winning!  How crazy is that?

The Bulls have been rotten since His Airness departed, and now pray that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, or Chris Bosh (or Batman, Superman, The Incredible Hulk or someone similar) will come play for the Bulls this summer.

Acquiring one of those giants will help put the Bulls back on the map—if it happens, of course.

But in the meantime, the Blackhawks are on everyone's maps.  They're No. 1.

The media attention this week surely will focus on the Lakers/Celtics NBA Finals, the death of the USC athletic program, the BCS conferences' realignment, and the Tom Izzo-to-the-Cavaliers rumors.

That's fine by me; we as Chicagoans are used to getting overlooked.  We are, in fact, the Second City, right?

But we are second to none in hockey right now.  The best in the world.  That sounds so amazing.

I will let this title soak in, my first as an adult, and remember what my friends and family told me when the White Sox won it all in 2005.

They said you'll never know how this feels, until you're in our shoes, experiencing this first-hand.

They were speaking from a White Sox fan's point of view to a hopeless Cub fan's point of view.

Now I know. 

I know how it feels to be a champion—to watch a team rise up and capture the game's ultimate prize.

And it doesn't matter if people think Jonathan Toews' name is pronounced "toes."

And it really doesn't matter that people can't spell Dustin Byfuglien's last name, much less pronounce it.

No one will care that Niklas Hjalmarsson's last name is incredibly hard to utter.  In fact, it's almost dangerous to pronounce it, the blatant overlooking of the letter "H."

There are certainly bandwagon fans, but there would be for any sports championship in any city, so try and get over that fact.

It's about a team that had one goal.

And guess what?

They've reached it.  They are the best hockey team on the face of the Earth.

The city of Chicago will now be known for something other than really delicious pizza and crooked politicians.

The city of Chicago is the home of the world champion Chicago Blackhawks.

World Champions....it will never get old saying that.

So thank you, Blackhawks, for lighting the lamp and lighting the city of Chicago up for eight months.

You have successfully distracted everyone from the terrible baseball being played on both sides of the city.

We'll now get back to our lives and we'll have to look for new reasons to go to the bars on a Tuesday night.

But we'll get back to our lives with the notion that we have the greatest show on ice playing in our fine city.

Thank you, Blackhawks.

It was such a fine road to have shared with you.