Jordan’s statue gets a makeover from success starved Blackhawk fans

What happens when a hockey franchise on a nearly 50 run of futility starts to sniff a Stanley Cup?  Well, for starters, hockey paraphernalia starts showing up on the statue of the basketball icon who actually did bring championships to the city:

At the end of the day, I don’t think His Airness minds that Jonathan Toews’ jersey is temporarily draped over his likeness. But on the flip side, there’s a little bit of tackiness to it. While the ‘Hawks, Bears, Cubs and White Sox were flailing away in the 90’s and not generating any ticker tape parades, Jordan was bringing plenty of championship hardware back to the city. C’mon people of the Second City, a little respect is in order.

A big reason why it took the ‘Hawks so long to become what is arguably hockey’s most complete team was former owner Bill Wirtz. He was a notoriously frugal guy whose head scratching moves included forbidding his team’s home games to be shown on local TV unless they were picked up by national broadcasters. Huh? Under his watch it got so bad that in 2004, ESPN tabbed the franchise as the worst in all of pro sports.

When he passed away in 2007, ownership of the team shifted to his son Peter, who subsequently passed the baton to his brother Rocky. Now Rocky Wirtz, there’s a guy who knows what the hell he’s doing. He’s welcomed back old Blackhawk icons like Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull, he’s gotten more of his team’s games on Chicago TV sets and he’s hired shrewd marketing people. Most importantly, he’s presided over an impressive assemblage of talent that will generate its own ticker tape parade in coming weeks.