by Joseph Aaron Friedman

Created on: June 01, 2008

Resurrection: Easter at a Hawks game

During a March 23, 2008 Chicago Blackhawk home game, Kelsey Conway sits in the upper deck of the United Center with her father and three sisters. It is Kelsey's 10th birthday, and this game was her birthday wish. Kelsey's three sisters, 12 year-old-twins Mandy and Emily, and Coleen the oldest at 14, all with long blond hair resembling a cheer-leading squad, are dressed in their own white Blackhawk jerseys complete with their heroes' names and numbers on the back.

Kelsey, however, wears a white tee-shirt over her jersey, the number 88 drawn on the back, and a crude rendition of the Blackhawk logo drawn on the front in black dry-mark pen. "She wanted Havlat at the beginning of the season, but now she's in love with Kane," says Bob, the girl's father referring to the jersey she wears under the tee-shirt with Hawk star Martin Havlat's name, on it.

"I can't afford to buy another sweater every time these girls get another crush." Bob says as Kelsey breaks in, "I am not in love with him, he's our best player." Emily and Coleen start to chant, "Kelsey loves Kane," as Kelsey stomps her foot yelling, "I do not," as she turns her back on her sisters and focuses her attention on her over-sized soft drink and shakes the strands of long blond hair from her eyes.

With her eyes focused on the ice Kelsey jumps from her seat every time she sees number 88 skate past yelling, "Patrick, Patrick," with a peculiar familiarity, considering the age of the young fan.

The first period ends in a scoreless tie, although with nine penalties and a fight; not uneventful. The Conway clan seems pleased with their teams' performance as they shuffle off single file, uniformed, and standing out amongst the crowd en-route to the concession stand.

For the past 20 years professional sports has had no greater example of futility than the Chicago Blackhawk hockey team. The Blackhawks were to the National Hockey League, what the Washington Generals are to basketball's Harlem Globetrotters... a joke. But, while the Globetrotters would barnstorm the country with the paid-to play-patsy Generals, the NHL, a serious business with image problems of its own (due to the sports detractor's claims of its "violent nature") could only look upon the once proud Blackhawk franchise with an incredulous aversion.

Poor management, tight pockets, and lackluster marketing have forced the Hawks to play second string to the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, the affiliate of the NHL's

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