It's Gotta Be the Logo, Money

I like Spike Lee from the old days. His movies School Daze and Fight the Power were looked upon as the modern voice of the people in the American Civil Rights movement. His black and white, Marrs Blackmon spots for Nike Air Jordans also represented a tipping point in American sports marketing and advertising, and the "It's gotta be the shoes, money" tagline helped usher in urban-speak as marketing tool. And I ate it all up. God, I loved Air Jordans. I loved the Nike Air Jordan silhouette, and I loved the tagline.

But now, and in an analogy having very little to do with the original reference, I wonder aloud, "It's gotta be the logo, money." What is the logo of which I speak? Well, the Blackhawks' indian head logo of course. How else do you explain the sudden-as-an-explosion demise of the suprisingly hopeful Blackhawks season?

The 4-2 start the Blackhawks skated out to inspired hope for a few of us hockey fans hibernating in Chicago. Whispers were overheard concerning the glorious red sweater, the "fastest game on ice", the NHL scoring leader Martin Havlat. The up-tempo scoring and welcome-to-the-new-NHL style of play garnered a second look from the passing fan. Maybe even a trip to the United Center for something other than a Bulls game was warranted.

But two fateful nights and three critical injuries may have just blown all that hope to hell.

On consecutive nights the Blackhawks lost afore-mentioned Havlat and then C Michal Handzus and G Nikolai Khabibulin -- Handzus for the season with a torn ACL. These players were leading the mini-renaissance the Blackhawks were experiencing, but add to those injuries a stunning 5-4 last minute loss on the road in Dallas and a humiliating 4-3 loss at home to the lowly St. Louis Blues, and we have all the makings of a Greek tragedy.

Our friend over at Ron Karkovice Fan Club blames it on bad Bill Wirtz kharma; I'd like to take his theory one step further. I'd like to postulate that the Blackhawks are in fact the victims of a double set of bad kharma.

The state of Illinois has been in the crosshairs concerning the use of Native American imagery as sports mascots and symbols. The NCAA has banned the University of Illinois at Champaign/ Urbana from hosting any basketball tournament of 64 games as long as they continue to use Chief Illiniwek as their symbol of school spirit even with the support of local Native American groups.

Could the Blackhawks have the Great Spirit doing a raindance against them too? Are the indigenous people's voodoo attempts affecting the pride that once was Chicago hockey? Are there sweat lodge services and peyote war-pipe programs being performed to the demise of a professional sports franchise? Hmmmm. I wonder.

Another question or two should be asked. Has any Native American lamblasted the Blackhawk organization for its taking advantage of the proud Blackhawk name? Has any living relative of Blackhawk himself done so for that matter? Have there been protests outside the UC or the old Chicago Stadium? Hmmmm. I wonder again.

What I do know is that the bad aura that is Wirtz is bad enough without the added religious fervor surrounding the rape and pilaging of the indiginous peoples of Illinois. Or maybe the indiginous people of Illinois just hate Bill Wirtz as much as we do. Maybe they don't want their proud names or symbols being involved with the money-mongering man driving the ship that is the Blackhawks. Maybe a peace-pipe service will be performed once Wicked Wirtz is wompommed from the front office.

Maybe Spike Lee should make a commercial or movie about their plight. He can call it, "It's Gotta Be the Logo, Money." It's gotta be.