CHICAGO-NO LONGER THE SECOND CITY WHEN IT COMES TO HOCKEY SUPREMACY

Congratulations Chicago, you finally got Stanley to visit after 49 long years. The Chicago Black Hawks have won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961, so it's been a long time since the Second City bumped up to first class in hockey.

A lot of things were different in 1961. John Kennedy was still learning the Presidential game in the heat of a Cold War invasion of Cuba that failed miserably in the Bay of Pigs.

Del Shannon was at number one on the pop charts with 'Runaway'. Bobby Hull still had his own hair, and his Chicago Black Hawks had the Stanley Cup.

It was a long time ago.

The Black Hawks have been good enough to win the Cup since then, but the gods of good fortune never seemed to like Chicago. I feel a pang of regret for harassing my buddy Stew with a bad 70s song called 'The Night Chicago Died' over the years. Stew has always been a diehard Hawks fan and he didn't deserve the abuse.

A couple of years ago, I had the rare privilege to meet Glenn (Mr. Goalie) Hall. Glenn was the winning goalie for the 1961 Chicago Black Hawks Stanley Cup team. He is one of the best goalies to ever play the game and he is also a very gracious man. I was happy that Stew also got to meet this hockey legend and I wondered if Chicago could ever win another Cup for these two guys.

But it all changed for Stew, Mr. Goalie and all of the long suffering fans in the Windy City when the Hawks achieved the seemingly impossible and won the Stanley Cup in overtime. These days 'Chelsea Dagger' by the Fratellis is a cult song for Black Hawks fans and they played it after every goal and victory. It will get played a lot over the next few days in Chicago.

I guess what I like about the Chicago Black Hawks as NHL hockey's championship team is how much fun the team and its fans had along the road to the Stanley Cup. When you hear an entire arena of 20,000 plus fans singing along with the Fratellis and their frat boy song, you can't help but think festive thoughts. Very festive thoughts.

Chicago has a lot of nicknames like the Windy City, Second City (to New York) and the "City with the Big Shoulders". You have to possess big shoulders to bear the weight of disappointment as a city with the Cubbies. But that is part of the character found in Chicagoans. They are just as "in your face" as their more famous New York cousins. They just have a different accent and better pizza.

So have fun Chicago-you've definitely earned a reason for a good party with the Fratellis as the house band.