Pure acts of kindness in this world are hard to believe.
So was it just a friendly gesture by the Chicago Cubs when they agreed to give up their radio slot to air the Chicago Blackhawks’ finals?
The Chicago Tribune reported that the Cubs agreed to let WGN-AM 720 air all of the Hawks’ Stanley Cup finals series . That includes three of the series games that overlap with scheduled Cubs games.
Now, I can’t think of any nitty-gritty, hidden motive the Cubs would have for giving up their airtime. Or maybe I just can’t accept the fact that there is a heart deep inside the business of sports.
What a brilliant idea and display of sportsmanship by WGN-AM’s vice president and general manager Tom Langmyer, who pitched the idea to the Cubs of allowing the station to air the finals series.
But don’t be fooled yet. The Cubs agreement is not really that big of a sacrifice. Let’s analyze Langmyer’s possible real motive: ratings.
The Blackhawks are hot. The Cubs are not.
The Hawks are looking to end the NHL’s longest Stanley Cup title drought. The Cubs are riding a slow start at 22-25, sitting in third place in the National League Central division. They too know what it feels like to wait and wait. Cubs fans might even have to wait another year with how this season is going.
You can bet that Blackhawks fans (and hockey fans in general) from all over and beyond Chicago and throughout the nation will be watching the Hawks vs. Philadelphia Flyers finals. That means big ratings and big bucks for the radio station.
Money definitely does suck the heart out of sports. But overall, that agreement with the Cubs and WGN-AM exemplifies the greater purities of Chicago sports.
Even if Chicago has many different sports teams, Chicago itself is like one whole team. While it compiles many different sports teams, those teams act as one.
It makes me smile when one sports team supports another.
On May 25 for the Dodgers vs. Cubs game, Hawks Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Brian Campbell, and Adam Burish were sitting front row behind the Citibank advertisement at Wrigley Field. I was watching the next day’s ballgame against the Dodgers on TV, and the camera caught two other Hawks players at the game too, but I couldn’t tell who they were.
Right after the White Soxs won the 2005 World Series, then-Sox center-fielder Aaron Rowand was chatting it up with a couple of Chicago Bears players on the sidelines before one of the Bears games (then Rowand was traded the next day to the Philadelphia Phillies).
I doubt you’ll see a Cubs or Sox player supporting each others’ ballgames, but there’s always a warm fuzzy feeling when one town’s sports team supports another.
Forget the dirty business.
Chicago can thank Langmyer for expanding the Blackhawks’ audience base. Let Chicago celebrate what their hockey team has been fighting for. It’s been a long wait for Blackhawks fans. Cubs fans would want the same support too. Heck, the Cubs have had a longer wait in winning a title. The Cubs have been in the Hawks’ skates before, and now the Cubs can play big brother and help build up the hockey team, not knock its teeth out.
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