The sports world is chalked full of dumbass takes. That being the case, it's really something to stand out and make a name for yourself with a dumbass take. But Mac manages to do so with his moronic NBA/NHL take.

How big of a whiny bitch do you have to be to hold a grudge against an entire sport for drawing attention away from a team you liked in fucking '91? Christ, that's idiotic. I mean, really. Guess what, Mac? Practically no one gives a shit about the NHL, and that'd be the case even if the NBA had never existed. And I say that as a person who watches every Blackhawks game. For what it's worth, it's a good thing for the Blackhawks that everyone tuned them out in favor of the Bulls in '91.

IMO, Mac's a good radio host (when he shows up), but between his laziness and his idiotic hockey resentment, he really undermines his appeal. He whines about being mid-morning, but seeing as how he refuses to talk 1/4 of the major sports or show up on any day where he isn't contractually obligated, the Score is absolutely right to confine him to a low-priority time-slot.

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The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

I agree with your general premise that Mac is wrong to resent the NBA because it competes with the NHL, but could you elaborate on this for me? It doesn't make sense.

Also, Penguins-Blackhawks was '92, '91 was the Penguins and the late lamented North Stars.

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Its honest, though

Id prefer that to him pretending to like the NBA

You shouldn't have to pretend to like the NBA. It's often really good. If you like sports, how can you not like basketball at its highest level?

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The same argument is made for soccer though.

There are plenty of reasons to like the NBA. There are plenty of reasons to not find it compelling.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Well, the bottom line is that they were overshadowed in the early 90's by a superior Bulls team. That's good for them, because ultimately, they were just a huge disappointment.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

But that's not it. It's not so much that he doesn't like the NBA. He refuses to watch it out of pure butthurt.

I know that sounds impossibly idiotic, but he's basically admitted as much.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

Mac's made a noticeable effort to pay attention to the Bulls within the past year. I'd wager he's eclipsed Terry in cogent basketball talk.

To the extent that's true, and I'm not sure it is, that's truly the lowest bar to clear ever. Mac & Terry do seem to be locked in a battle to be the laziest bastard in the sports world though. At least Terry has the excuse of being old.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

So the Blackhawks benefited from an unmaximized market share because they ended up not winning a Cup anyway? They had a funny way of showing those benefits for the next fifteen years. Most teams don't win Cups, especially when they run headlong into other teams' dynasties. Look at the Hawerchuk/Steen Jets that kept having to play the Gretzky/Messier Oilers in the first round. Look at the entire history of the Flyers after 1975.

You'll have to excuse the tangent, but one of the things that drives me nuts about the NHL is the way they purport to "grow the game." Do you think the Blackhawks have hit the saturation point in Chicago? Do you think that television ratings, hockey participation, and interest in general are as high as they can possibly get in a metropolis of over 9 million? I sure don't. You can say the same thing for Detroit, Pittsburgh, Denver, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Long Island, Washington, and a number of places where NHL interest is good but not great. I'd say the only American city where hockey is as big as it can get is Buffalo, and that's because there's shit else to do in Western New York and it's practically Canada anyway. But instead of making sure that the NHL is maximized in the Northeast/Midwest, where it should be, they've been content to build on their collection of nibbles with even smaller nibbles in Miami, Phoenix, etc. It's like going to get seconds before you've finished your first plate. It'll never be baseball or football where it captures everyone from coast to coast, but there's no reason hockey can't be a big deal in the cities where it's played but for piss-poor, half-assed marketing efforts and a contentment with not having more than what they had. It was a terrible business plan and they'll never recover.

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Well, the Hawks are a special case. Leaving aside the NHL's efforts generally, they had an owner who was seemingly determined to undermine the popularity of the franchise.

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You can't see me because of internet.

The landowner effectively owns part shares in millions of part-time slaves called, "taxpayers." -Roy L
A Personal Relationship with Jesus?

This is true. And yet there are still dead-enders out there who prefer Bill Wirtz to Rocky as represented by John McDonough, because "at least with Bill, you know what you were getting." Really, they're Sox fans that just can't reckon with the fact that success came to the Blackhawks by way of a Cubs guy.

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So has my 3yr old, and he stutters far less.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

It's cuzza all dem gangbangers an der tattoos an dem long shorts an all dat jewelry. I like dem college guys cuz dey play wit da fire and da passion an dey truly love da game!!

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I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out. - Bill Hicks

Let's do it for Johnny!

I have never heard anybody waxing poetic about the Bill Wirtz years. Not one person.

I doubt that bigfan would take such a silly shot at Sox fans like that.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

There was a Hawks board out there, I forgot the name I want to say it was Indian Head Nation, that was tremendously atavistic about all things Blackhawks. They were total shitlords about the fact that they had season tickets to see Michael Handzus and Matt Barnaby, and always going on about "dat Jon McCub, Jon MCPIMP." They probably all lived in the southwest burbs and chain-smoked. Fuck them.

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'91 might well have something to do with it, but nothing makes you dig in your heels deeper than some sneering troll all but declaring you a Klansman for preferring the NHL to Glistening Black Studdz Theatre.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

There are hockey fans who say terrible things about the NBA and black people, but they're probably all dying of lung cancer by now, so good riddance.

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And this line is chock full of bad.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Mac and Spiegs are really the only show that talks about hockey, so it evens out. They have Mark Schanowski do a weekly segment so Mac at least acknowledges the sport. Just like B&B refuse to talk hockey, outside of generalizing hockey fans as idiots/racists, I don't see how it's any different than Mac lacking interest in the NBA.

I thought this was going to be about Mac's idea to extend the end of a game so the team on the powerplay gets a full two minutes instead of how much time is left on the clock. That doesn't make any sense.

No, that's a pretty good idea. It'd be a better idea if Chicago's power play didn't suck so damn much.

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Well, Mac is certainly atavistic. In all seriousness

(Damn you, I had to look it up... )

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Mac's views on hockey are kind of funny and kind of sad. The sad part being that despite holding a radio mic for 20 years he still has the same envy for the NBA that he had when the Score started. The funny part is that the 90-91 Hawks team won the President's cup and got bounced in the first round 4-2 by the Stars (8th seed). That May, it was the Blackhawks that were expected to go on to great things and the Bulls to come up short. Kind of funny, kind of sad.

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