I'm sure there are Hawks fans out there who will claim that they won't watch the Final, either because it doesn't involve the Hawks or they can't bare to watch the Canucks any more.
But I know that's a lie, because I know you're not going to watch the wretched baseball being exhibited on both sides of town, and for a lot of us getting an actual life isn't an option available or one we'd take anyway.
So we will watch, beginning Wednesday, pinning our hopes on the Black and Gold of the Boston Bruins.
This isn't a preview of the series or a breakdown of the matchup, you can get that elsewhere. But it's time we faced the un-faceable. It may be time to steel ourselves against something we would have never considered before. It may make your blood boil, or physically ill, you may even pass out.
The Canucks may win this series.
I know, I don't like it any more than you. It took me a full five minutes to type that sentence. I feel slightly woozy after doing so. But they're this far, which means they don't have to go that much farther to be crowned. It very well could happen.
The longer you deny that knowledge to yourself, that's how much worse the crash will be when and if it happens. But if you take the time to at least allow yourself, if only for a minute (and any longer than that and you may want to have the doctor on speed-dial), to deal with the possibility of this evil ascending, and it won't be so bad.
Well it'll be bad, but you might avoid the aneurysm.
So what happens if they win? Well, first of all Vancouver is a long way away so you almost certainly won't have to deal with a large number of fans in person. You may know one or two here in Chicago, but it's unlikely you know many.
This is the problem with the Red Wings, and pretty much all their fans move here eventually because no one with more than eight cents and three brain cells stays in Detroit. The Canucks don't provide this problem.
Secondly, should they come out on top that would only make them equals to us. They'd have a Cup, we'd have ours, and we'd settle this thing once and for all next year. Or at least until the next one. This isn't the Packers getting another one over the Bears. We had our day, maybe they'll get theirs. But it won't be any better or memorable than ours.
Still, please God, win this, Bruins.
