The Chronic Consumer

I used to be a huge hockey fan, but gave it up when my hometown Blackhawks hit a terribly long losing skid from about the mid-’90s on. Then last year, the team finally made the playoffs again, and the mood in Chicago totally changed. The city was enamored with all the fresh, young, exciting players on the team, guys like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, and everywhere I went, it was Blackhawks, Blackhawks, Blackhawks. People were driving around blaring their horns and flashing their led tail lights… it was just crazy. And very hard not to get involved again.

So I started watching and soon fell back in love with the team. Even after they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Conference Finals, I was so thrilled to be a hockey fan again that I decided to splurge on a few purchases, including an official puck to commemorate the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The puck has the Blackhawks Indian head logo on one side, and the Stanley Cup logo on the other. It is a cool piece of memorabilia, and though it’s not as special to buy one of these as to score a souvenir at an actual game, I still love it. It sits on my desk as a paperweight, and every time I look at it I can’t help counting down the days until the regular season begins.

Lots of people seem to think that it’s now or never for the Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup, because soon enough the salary cap and free agency will ravage the lineup. I’m not sure what the future holds for the players, but as a fan, I’d certainly love to see the cup come back to Chicago in 2010!