This week in History.....June 17, 1994

This week in.....1994 - ESPN put together their best 30/30 film last week when they showed "June 17th 1994," an hour long movie taking you back to the events of that day 16 years ago. It was probobly the biggest news day in the history of sports. At least in my lifetime it is. 6/17/94 had it all. Five different stories that all would have been top page news on an ordinary day. But this was no ordinary day. This was history, and ESPN did a great job of putting together a documentary that took you from the morning hours and the jovial mood in New York to a near tragedy in Los Angeles in the evening.
At 10 a.m., hockey fans in New York were rejoicing after the Rangers won the Stanley Cup a few days earlier for the first time in 54 years. The parade down the canyon of heroes had New York fans glowing, especially since the Knicks were two wins away from giving the city a second parade in a week. At that point, New Yorkers already knew it would be a big day - A Stanley Cup parade in the morning downtown, and Game Five of the Knicks-Rockets NBA FInals series at Madison Square Garden that evening.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, former NFL runningback O.J. Simpson was named the top suspect in the killing of his wife Nicole and friend Ronald Goldman. He was scheduled to turn himself in, but never showed up when they expected him at 11 a.m. At his lawyer Robert Shapiro's news conference, OJ's friend Robert Kardashian came to the podium to read a suicide note OJ had prepared earlier in the day. The situation was real life drama, in effect, it was the beginning of true reality television.
We all know about the Bronco chase that ended at OJ's house that evening. It was clearly the story of the day. Bob Costas and other NBC sports figures were clearly more interested in watching the chase than covering Game Five of the NBA Finals, which occurred at the same time.
But this day's significance was prevelant outside of just New York and L.A. The United States hosted the World Cup in 1994 and the opening ceremony ocurred at noon that day at Soldier Field in Chicago. Being a nine year old, that is all I remember from that day. I remember it was hot and my father telling me the German team would have a hard time competing in the 100 degree weather.
At the U.S. Open that day, legendary golfer Arnold Palmer competed at his final major. Palmer deserved a great deal of publicity for the final event of his great career, but other events of the day obviously overshadowed him.
In Kansas City, Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 30th home run of the year, making himself the fastest to 30 in a season in MLB history. Griffey would not be given the chance to brake Roger Maris' record of 61 in a season due to a player's strike in August that cancelled the rest of the season.
One day, six gigantic stories. But only one of them was a history changer. Something that we will never forget. The event that spearheaded the trial of the century and changed sports and television coverage of live trials forever.

Blackhawks win, parade great for the city

CHICAGO - Two million Blackhawks fans crowded the streets of Downtown Chicago Friday to celebrate the Original Six franchise's first Stanley Cup championship since 1961. The estimated two million in attendence is clearly the largest number of fans to ever attend a Chicago sports team's championship celebration.

Ever since the Hawks won Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals in San Jose, it was clear that the Cup was headed to Chicago. There was no way any team still in contention could beat them four times.

Philadelphia gave it their best shot. The Hawks won the first two games of the series by a goal each time, and Philadelphia responded with wins in Game Four. Game Five was the best game of the series, with the Hawks winning 7-4. And Patrick Kane's overtime goal that no one saw in Game Six put an exclamation mark on one of the quickest turnarounds in sports history.

To truly put this in perspective, all you have to do is look at how things were three years ago, when the Blackhawks were seemingly irrevelvent.

The team was giving tickets away. They were the exception in an otherwise successful sports city. The Sox and Bears were less than two years removed from a championship appearance. The Cubs were the favorites to win the National League and the Bulls were even in the second round. The Hawks were the forgotten team. No one knew who the head coach was or even the leading scorer. Home games weren;t on television. Few were outraged because few cared.

But ever since the Blackhawks won the No. 1 pick in the draft and selected Patrick Kane, things have steadily improved. Over the last two years, this young group has won six of seven playoff series. Perfect free agent signings and good draft picks gave them the talent. And the 09-10 group meshed as well as anybody.

This isn't the greatest hockey team of all-time, but it seemed to have captured the hearts of Chicagoans more than any team in my lifetime. And hockey is suppose to be only the fourth most popular sport.

Chicago went crazy when the Hawks won it all Wednesday night. On Friday, the fans proved that the windy city will support a winner more than any other town. It was a party atmosphere all day. News cameras caught shots of not just one sea of red, but one on every street. People used anything to get a better view of the rally happening at Wacker and Michigan. There were no rules. It was a jungle.

Walking down Michigan Avenue at a snails pace because every space is occupied while confetti is flying all over the place and Chelsea Dagger playing on the stereos. It was a great moment.

I was happy to jump back on the "bandwagon" of Blackhawks fans last year. I don't feel bad about it either. About 80 percent of the people who will call themselves Hawks fans today couldn't name one player on the team in 2007. But when teams begin to do things the right way and compete at a high level, the influx in fans is the reward.

The number of Hawks fans tripled this year. Everyone is happy about this. So what argument is there against sports? Sports always have been a distraction at best, but, what else can make a mass of people collectively happy? The Chicago Blackhawks did that. As obvious as it was two weeks ago that the Hawks were going to win the Cup, it is still hard to believe it. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. Unbelievable.

Photo: Patrick Kane (88) with the Stanley Cup and a bottle of Champagne on the parade route.

TV Review: Cheers

The bar where everybody knows your name is the setting for the second greatest television show of all time.
When Cheers debuted on NBC in 1982, it was nearly cancelled because the ratings were so low. After one season, the sitcom ranked 200th out of 200 in the Neilson Rankings. Eleven years later, it became known as one of the greatest sitcoms of all-time.
Although the cast changed after what seemed like after every season, no television show in history had a core characters that were as relate able as the Cheers gang. Sam and Diane were classic opposites, feeding off each other like no other television tandem. I did prefer the Kirstie Alley episodes because Rebecca's character was simply funnier than Diane's. The show got funnier each year as the fans grew with the characters.
My favorite episode is still the Sky Diving one, where Sam, Norm and Cliff end up jumping out of an airplane. It was well written and the character development was awesome.
Because it was a 1980s show, it lacked the outrageous comedy that a lot of current shows have. It's amazing to see how much more conservative things were then. You couldn't get away with the same story lines back then.
The show is still referred to today, 17 years after the final episode in 1993. It will always be known as the bar "where everybody knows your name." Not many shows have the long lasting impact on people's memories as this one.
The know-it-all mailman, the naive bartender from Indiana, the Ladies Man, the out of work accountant, the waitress and mother of seven and the issue ridden psychologist combined to give you a group to fall in love with. You could relate to them. And their problems were odd enough to make you feel better about your day.
One of the best parts of the show was the setting. Regular people hanging out in a Boston bar, isn't that what a sitcom is?
I had a chance to visit the Cheers replica bar and the original, the Bull and Finch Pub, in Boston in 2003. I will make sure to pay a return visit to the sites the next time I visit Bean Town.

18 years in the making

CHICAGO - Some fans went to great lengths to celebrate the Hawks' win Sunday. This fan holds a home made "Stanley Cup" while leaning out of a car on Madison and Ashland. The Blackhawks had recently completed a four-game sweep of the San Jose Sharks, defeating them 4-2 in the fourth game blocks away at the United Center. 

Blackhawks sweep way to Cup final

CHICAGO - It's hard for Chicago sports fans to even believe, but the Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup Finals. 

Just three years ago, the Hawks were one of the worst franchises in sports. It was easy to get a ticket, but nobody wanted to go to a game. In 2006, the team gave the college radio station I worked at 30 free tickets to a game against the Dallas Stars in return for any air time at all. None of the major sports stations would discuss the Hawks. They were irrelevant. We couldn't even give all 30 tickets away. We opened the phone lines and said "The first person to call this station, wins two tickets." But no one bit. I went to the game that night and the stadium was more than half empty. 

So how have things changed since? Well now they are the talk of the town. The most talented team in hickey with a brighter future than perhaps any club in all of professional sports.   

I went down to the west side with my father and a friend on Sunday to watch the Hawks battle the San Jose Sharks in Game Four of the Western Conference final from Billy Goat Tavern, just a couple blocks east of the Madhouse. My plan was to watch the game near the stadium that day regardless of how the series was going for the team. My luck was that they were already up 3-0 and they had a chance to sweep. I had a chance to see a celebration. 

Game Four will be remembered forever. Duncan Keith lost seven teeth, but four shifts later, he reentered the game. San Jose took a 2-0 lead, but the Hawks evened it up pretty quickly late in the second and had all the momentum heading into the third. 

Before the final period began, I remember predicting that the Hawks would win 4-2, getting a goal with six minutes to go and then an empty netter with 30 seconds to play.

Probably the best prediction I have ever made in my life. And I doubt I will even come nearly that close to accuracy again. The Hawks went ahead with a Dustin Byfuglien power play goal with 5 minutes, 55 seconds left in the game. The empty netter came with 42 seconds to go. I guess I was off by five seconds and 12 seconds, respectively. 

The Blackhawks are the perfect example of how it's possible to resurrect a franchise from apparent hopelessness to great promise. True Hawks fans should savor this run. They have four more wins to get, but the Flyers should not be too much of a threat. Barring an upset, this will be the Hawks' first Stanley Cup title since 1961. 49 years, the biggest drought in the sport. 

Two years ago, we wondered if this team would ever return to the big stage. Two weeks from now, we could be planning a parade down State Street. 

Go Hawks!

Alwood's start lifts Maroons

FORSYTH - For a team that has been involved in slugfests all year round, it was nice to see the Clinton Maroons baseball team get a win with only five hits in their most important game of the season Tuesday. The Maroons received timely hits from Jordan Good and Ashton Tedrick to build a 6-1 lead over Maroa-Forsyth and withstood a late Trojan rally to preserve a 6-4 victory. 

David Alwood pitched five innings and was the winning pitcher. It had been his first start of the 2010 season. 

"David wanted a chance to start at some point this year, but I don't think he was expecting it to come on the first day of regionals," Clinton head coach John Hickman said. "But we had talked about it Friday and Saturday and everyone seemed on board with it. He had the freshest arm among all of our starters."

A few fielding errors forced the Maroons to use Aaron Ennis in relief. Ennis did a fine job pitching almost two innings and recording the save. 

Tedrick's two-run double in the top of the fifth put Clinton up by five, giving them a cushion they would need against a Trojan team that has proven they can come back. 

The Maroons also played well the following day in their 5-1 regional semifinal loss to Central Catholic Wednesday. Josh Merrick pitched well, but Clinton could not come up with the timely hits they did Tuesday night in Forsyth. 

Clinton will play again on Memorial Day, May 31 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Their opponent will be Hudsonville High School. 

Indoor Football excitement

BLOOMINGTON - One of the most exciting sports finishes I have ever witnessed occurred last Friday, May 14, at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington. The Indoor Football League (IFL) conference game between the visiting Chicago Slaughter and the host Bloomington Extreme went back and forth much of the way, with no team taking an advantage of more than nine points. 

The exciting finish was shaping up with less than two minutes remaining and Chicago trailing by six, 30-24, with the ball. They drove down the Extreme' one-yard line with less than a minute to go. Despite many fans urging the Extreme to let Chicago score, they stood tough on defense, forced a fumble, and returned it to midfield. 

With 50 seconds to go and up by six, all Bloomington had to do was take two knees and victory would be theirs. But on the ensuing handoff, the quarterback fumbled and Chicago recovered. The Slaughter then drove down the field in three plays and scored a touchdown to tie the game. The extra point to win? Missed. 

Still with 10 seconds to go and a short field, the Extreme set up the game-winning field goal with six seconds left. Peter Christifilakos was perfect on the attempt, but two seconds remained. 

The Slaughter returned the following kick and attempted too many laterals to count. Flags were all over the field because most of them were forward passes. The game was finally over and Bloomington had prevailed 33-30. 

If there were an NFL finish like that, it would have had to be the game of the year. 

What hurt the Slaughter most was the penalties, but that seems to be their approach. The team completely fits the personality of their head coach, Steve "Mongo" McMichael. Winning almost comes second t o them. First off, they need to make their statement and if a few players on the opposing team get injured in the process, so be it. 

It costs $15 to get a good seat to the Extreme game and I would say, because of the exciting finish, it was worth it. But I would not want to pay that much for a blowout game in the IFL. Not a bad decision to check it out though. For football fans like myself, you need to watch something in the long NFL off-season. 

Photo: A Bloomington Extreme receiver dives for the ball during the team's 33-30 win over the Chicago Slaughter Friday, May 14.