By Brad Lee
This year's Winter Classic* will pit the Blackhawks against the Red Wings at that dump Wrigley Field on New Year's Day this upcoming season. This sucks.
*What makes this game a classic? They had one last year, the first one, and it was already a classic. This is the second one. It's classic too? Is it even more classic? Couldn't the morons in the NHL office come up with a better name? Don't answer that.
This means the Hawks, the most logical team that would host the Blues in one of these outdoor games, already has one. Because of the iffy winter weather in St. Louis (it's as liable to rain on Jan. 1 and be about 40 degrees as it is anything else that day), the Blues will never host a game. The team, even when it will be good in the coming seasons, won't have a natural rival that would be in a position to host one of these and draw a decent TV rating, which is the only other prerequisite other than having a cold outdoor stadium. The only thing hanging out there is rekindling a rivalry with Boston at Fenway Park. That would kick ass. But it's not very likely.
And what's really frustrating is that the Hawks are just emerging from years of ineptitude and moronic front office decisions. They've got young talent maturing the same time as the Blues. There are bad feelings. It would be great. And instead they set the Hawks up to play the Red Wings. Granted, the Hawks played Detroit as tough as any team during last season, but the defending Cup champions are going to want to put on a show. It could be a blowout.
When this year's outdoor game happened and it looked like a lot of fun, some of us who run St. Louis Game Time said it would be fun to go to a Winter Classic if it ever involved the Blues or wasn't ungodly far away. Well here's the test. Will we attend a game within easy driving distance in Chicago to see a game featuring two teams we hate? And if we do go, how many of us get arrested? Your predictions in the comments, please.