Chicago has Blackhawks Fever and It's Bad

The Black Hawks going to the Stanley Cup is quite a big deal here in the city!

New CTA rail cars temporarily sidelined

It seems they've found a problem with the new trains already. They have been in regular passenger service since late April. Currently they've been running along the CTA Green Line. I've had a chance to ride them several times when they were running along the Red Line:

Vibrations were affecting a component in the braking system, CTA engineers found. The vibrations could possibly cause the "slack adjuster'' in the brake to loosen and result in a loss of braking friction during extended use. The slack adjuster makes accommodations for the amount of wear on the brake pads over time.

There have been no cases of brake failure, officials said. They added that they have known about the issue for months and were waiting for a replacement part from Bombardier Transit Corp., which manufactured the 10 prototype trains the CTA has been testing.

"The new part is ready now,'' CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said.

CTA officials said they expected the rail cars to resume passenger service on the Green Line in a few weeks after the adjustments are made and the trains are tested without any passengers on board.

Before the CTA orders more of these new railcars they have to be tests on the entire L system. I like these cars, but I think I can live without the longitudinal seating.

Black Hawks championship history

The Black Hawks existed as an NHL franchise since 1926. They are considered one of the "Original Six" franchises of the National Hockey League (NHL). So called because from 1942 to 1967 Chicago, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings were the only teams that competed in the NHL.

The NHL was formed in 1917 and only two of these original six franchises Toronto and Montreal were founded before 1926. The other four Original Six franchises including Chicago were founded in 1926. Now from the time of the NHL's founding other teams had come and gone through the years until 1943.

The Stanley Cup was created in 1892 by Lord Stanley who was the Governor-General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. He was originally a British nobleman and politician and he offered this cup as the prize for amateur hockey teams in Canada. By 1926, the NHL were exclusively competing for the prize known as Lord Stanley's Cup.

Over the years the Black Hawks have competed for the Stanley Cup in 1930-31, 1933-34, 1937-38, 1943-44, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1964-65, 1970-71, 1972-73, 1991-92. They have won cups in 1934, 1938, and finally 1961. In addition they have made conference champion in 1992 which was their last Stanley Cup appearance having been defeated by Pittsburgh. That is in addition to 14 division titles starting in the 1969-70 season.

This season (2009-10) they will play for the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1992. They also won a division title and conference title this season.

GO BLACK HAWKS!!!

The top image is of Bobby Hull and Jack Evans another teammate (if you know who that is please leave a comment) standing with the Stanley Cup after their Stanley Cup victory against Detroit on April 16, 1961. This info was found on June 10, 2010 at Chicagoist.

The evolution of Chief Black Hawk

This graphic is from the Chicago Sun-Times

You know in light of the Black Hawk's remarkable playoff run I may be going overboard just a little bit on Black Hawks stories. Just yesterday, I had posted about why I make the team's nickname into two works instead of the officially used one word as it has been since 1986.

Today's post is about the Black Hawk's logo. It has been an enduring one and is easily one of the most recognizable in sports. People from 80 years of age to 8 (according to this Sun-Times article) will be wearing some Black Hawks paraphernalia.

The Blackhawks logo has gone through many changes in its evolution, much like the team it represents -- one that stands just four wins away from its first Stanley Cup since 1961.

It was first introduced to the world in 1926 after team founder Frederic McLaughlin's wife, Irene Castle, designed it for her husband's franchise, which was in its infancy.

McLaughlin, a Harvard-educated coffee tycoon, named the team after a renowned leader of the Sauk tribe -- Chief Black Hawk -- after serving in a U.S. Army infantry unit that called itself the Black Hawks during World War I.

Castle was a popular ragtime dancer and vaudeville performer whose innovative style made her a trend-setter in the fashion realm. But perhaps her most durable legacy was coming up with the long-lasting symbol of the Original Six franchise.

Originally outlined with a black-and-white circle, the logo was ringed with the word "Black Hawks" on top and "Chicago" on the bottom. Facial features were few and far between, but it would become the groundwork for the icon going forward.

In 1937, color was added to the design as well as facial features. The feather, too, was more detailed. By 1960, the franchise had abandoned the encapsulating circle, and the profile took on a wider look. War paint, along with red, green, yellow and orange feathers adorned the back of the head.

Ten years later, the face took on a slimmer look and darker complexion. Today, it's very much the same as it was 40 years ago.

Enduring and believe it or not I have a jersey (actually a training jersey that I had bought in 2002) at home. Often I would wear it around campus and had more meaning as last year the Hawks were in the playoffs for the first time since 2002. That run was remarkable as it marked a turnaround for the original 6 NHL franchise especially since almost a year before Bill Wirtz (some fans may refer to him as "Dollar Bill" because he was unpopular) had passed away.

What ought to be next is a championship history since I did one with the Bears when they went to the Super Bowl. I wonder if I'll have enough time to do some before the Stanley Cup finals commence on Saturday!

I wonder if you notice how I type Black Hawks

I just felt like answering a question to something no one may notice but I'm sure wants to ask if they did.

It's my way of being retro. That's why in showing the Black Hawks logo I may be more apt to find a retro version of the Indian Head logo. The one above for instance and the one below.

Anyway looking up Black Hawks history it wasn't until 1986 that you see Blackhawks. From Wikipedia:

In 1985–86, while going through the team's records, someone discovered the team's original NHL contract, and found that the name "Blackhawks" was printed as a compound word as opposed to two separate words ("Black Hawks") which was the way most sources had been printing it for 60 years and as the team had always officially listed it. The name officially became "Chicago Blackhawks" from that point on.

Well there ya go, but in some respects I really like going retro. While the Black Hawks want to keep things official I think that I would like to keep them two separate words. And continue to use the old-style Indian head logos in addition to the current iteration of the Indian head seen below.

A few days ago when Marathon Pundit noted the success of the Black Hawks in this year's playoffs could again capture the attention of that American Indian groups who believe any sports teams' usage of American Indian images could be considered racist.

Although I think in the case of the Black Hawks they more or less honor American Indians more than any other team. The other one could be the University of Illinois as they are named for the Illini, a native Illinois tribe. Unfortunately UIllinois have had to put their mascot Chief Illiniwek to rest.

YouTube's at five years

Believe it or not YouTube didn't exist when I started blogging five years ago. If I wanted to share something I saw on TV with you all I could do is either link to it or discuss it in whatever detail I could.

Now assuming someone else has posted some segment from TV, I can embed onto this blog. And this doesn't merely have to be YouTube. These days we also have the luxury of embedding from a variety of sources, especially if that clip is available from a major media outlet whether newspaper, TV or whatever. So it doesn't always have to be YouTube.

For example if I were to embed from the C-Span archives the program on the American Presidents I can do that here. Now be prepared to watch a program in excess of 2 or 3 hours.

Of course not all we see on YouTube needs to be that serious. People have become "famous" because people may have created some mindnumbing entertainment. There doesn't have to be any rhyme or reason for it, but it captures people's attention for the moment.

Perhaps that's the revolution of YouTube.

Waiting for my train to pull off

At 95th street on board the new railcars. Watching car leveling in action.

Coco on 60 Minutes!!!

Watch CBS News Videos Online

His first interview since leaving Tonight back in January of this year. It had been 7 months since he assumed hosting duties. Sadly in a reshuffling Conan left NBC and Jay Leno got his old job back.

You know...

Expect him on TBS in the near future. He even comment on that deal in this interview as well.