Is someone else leaving the north side?

[Illini Iceman]

NO!!! NOT JAY BLUNK!!! SAY IT ISN'T TRUE!!!!

 

All I can say is that if Carrie Muskat leaves to be the beat writer for http://www.blackhawks.nhl.com someone is going to pay.

[imb]

Hey Carrie,

Everyone says that we need a new shortstop, but what about Theriot? We won more games than we lost when he was in the lineup. I think he really adds a spark. Sort of like our Eckstein. Has Cubs management mentioned anything?

[jiml60]

So I'm assuming Blunk reported directly to McDonough for the majority of the latter part of his career with the Cubs. RedIvy is that a fair assumption? Man, the Hawks are making waves.

 

As part of the Hawks Alumni Association, I'm going to a dinner/meeting next week that McDonough is going to be the speaker at. I'll post in social if he has anything interesting to say.

 

That he did. Didn't make a move without talking to McD. He reported to McD for his entire Cubs career. Not understanding making Blunk head of Business Operations as he has been a marketing type his entire career. Now Hawks have two guys who know little about the business side of running a franchise. Pretty scary stuff.

 

He won't have anything interesting to say as it will all be in marketing speak. Just watch your back on that event and not a word of what I have told you here to McD.

 

Not sure if any of you saw how he pretty much dissed Woody, Prior and Cubs fans in a quote mid last month at an autograph signing the Hawks had downtown.

 

Who, Blunk or McDonough? What did he say?

[RedIvyCub]

[quote name="jiml60

Who' date=' Blunk or McDonough? What did he say?[/quote]

 

McD and Marriotti lifted it for his column yesterday.

 

McDonough reveals fest plans

 

December 27, 2007

Coming next for the Blackhawks: a fan convention that apparently will be called HawksFest.

 

That shouldn't be much of a surprise, considering new Hawks president John McDonough created the concept when he was with the Cubs and it turned into such a success that the White Sox and Bears created similar events.

 

McDonough revealed convention plans for the Hawks during a WSCR-AM (670) call-in show in which McDonough, chairman Rocky Wirtz and general manager Dale Tallon took questions for 1 hour, 20 minutes before the Hawks' game Wednesday against the Nashville Predators. McDonough said convention details would be announced in mid-January.

 

''We're looking at dates, and we're considering having it at a downtown hotel or the United Center,'' McDonough said. ''We want to market this team 12 months a year, and a convention will help us.''

 

Plans for the convention escalated after McDonough saw the turnout for an autograph signing by Hawks rookies Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on Dec. 8. About 3,000 attended, most of them waiting in a line that stretched far outside of HawkQuarters on Michigan Avenue.

 

''I don't know if we could have had 3,000 to see [Cubs pitchers Mark] Prior and [Kerry] Wood four, five years ago if they had to stand out in the cold,'' McDonough said.

 

McDonough also said he's ''very much in favor'' of moving weeknight game times from 7:35 to 7:05 next season.

 

Wirtz said it was his decision to nix Hawks games on the NHL's Centre Ice TV package for fear it might hamper attempts to schedule games on free TV next season.

 

Len Ziehm

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

That really isn't a diss.

[CUBZ99]

That really isn't a diss.

 

I could see where it could be construed as a diss to Cub fans. But, the guy's job is to make the Blackhawks look good and build some hype.

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

That really isn't a diss.

 

I could see where it could be construed as a diss to Cub fans. But, the guy's job is to make the Blackhawks look good and build some hype.

I guess the "meathead" fans. Personally, I take no offense.

[jersey cubs fan]

That really isn't a diss.

 

I could see where it could be construed as a diss to Cub fans. But, the guy's job is to make the Blackhawks look good and build some hype.

I guess the "meathead" fans. Personally, I take no offense.

 

I don't know if the perceived diss is supposed to be that Cubs fans wouldn't stand out in the cold for Prior or Wood's autograph, even when they were at the height of their popularity, or if it's saying Prior and Wood wouldn't lower themselves to signing autographs out in the cold. Nevermind that hockey is a cold weather sport played in the winter, which invariably means public appearances are going to involve cold weather, whereas baseball is a warm weather summer sport and players are going to be in demand for appearances during the warmer weather. Either way, it's a meaningless statement. It's a marketing man doing what he does best blowing smoke and BS. It's inconsequential, just like this exec who moved to the Blackhawks. Cubs fans shouldn't think twice about it. It's nice for the Blackhawks to move into the 20th century and actually try to sell their product (where marketing people have some value), but the Cubs are way beyond that stage of the game.

[jiml60]

'I don't know if we could have had 3,000 to see [Cubs pitchers Mark] Prior and [Kerry] Wood four, five years ago if they had to stand out in the cold,'' McDonough said.

 

I agree that's more of a slap at Cub fans. Who, in their right mind, would want to stand outside in the middle of January anyway?

[nilodnayr]

So I'm assuming Blunk reported directly to McDonough for the majority of the latter part of his career with the Cubs. RedIvy is that a fair assumption? Man, the Hawks are making waves.

 

As part of the Hawks Alumni Association, I'm going to a dinner/meeting next week that McDonough is going to be the speaker at. I'll post in social if he has anything interesting to say.

 

That he did. Didn't make a move without talking to McD. He reported to McD for his entire Cubs career. Not understanding making Blunk head of Business Operations as he has been a marketing type his entire career. Now Hawks have two guys who know little about the business side of running a franchise. Pretty scary stuff.

 

He won't have anything interesting to say as it will all be in marketing speak. Just watch your back on that event and not a word of what I have told you here to McD.

 

Not sure if any of you saw how he pretty much dissed Woody, Prior and Cubs fans in a quote mid last month at an autograph signing the Hawks had downtown.

 

The hawks didn't have guys who knew anything about running the franchise before McD and Blunk.

[mdwilla]

I'm not that upset about losing either of these guys to the Blackhawks , we might get a few new promotions this season. I want a sleepover event like other ballparks have.

[nilodnayr]

Move this to social as mods see fit.

 

So, I got back from the Blackhawks Alumni Association meeting tonight and boy oh boy is McD a marketing man. He kept referring to the Hawks as a "brand" and then would correct himself and say organization or team or whatever. He said things like this all night, mentioned the actual team well after the "business" and the "brand".

 

The entire front office was there, including Blunk.

 

Things of note that are probably already out or coming out in press releases.

 

The Hawks convention is going to be sometime in July. They haven't finalized a date.

McD and Blunk are meeting with Gary Bettman in the next few weeks and topic #1 is trying to get the outdoor game. He flippantly said the he new a venue that could give him a good rate. :D

April 7th (I think that was the date) is going to be a special tribute night to Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. He said it was difficult getting Hull on board, there was a lot of bad blood between him and the org, but that he made it very clear to Hull that this was a very important thing for the organization.

 

Other notes:

He told the story about how he got hired. It was kinda interesting. Rocky pursued him extremely heavily. Just before the winter meetings, he got a call from someone representing Rocky saying all these nice things and that Rocky wanted to meet with him, etc, etc. He said that he was getting ready to go to Florida that week and he'd call him when he got back but he was very happy with the job he currently held. Well about 5 minutes later he got a call back saying that if possibly Rocky wanted to meet with him before he went to Florida. They had a 1 hour lunch at the Shaumburg Champps that turned into a 4 hour discussion. Rocky flatly came out and said, I want you to be the person to run this organization. After a couple more meetings, he accepted the job.

 

Also, Pat Foley was there and McD had nothing but great things to say about him. Foley has always been heavily involved in Alumni Association anyway and everyone there (well everyone in the world) loves him.

[Lefty]

Are you a former player?

[Derwood]

Can they take the 7th inning stretch with them to the UC?

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

I wonder if there will be a attempt to get the Hawks on the SuperStation?

[jersey cubs fan]

I wonder if there will be a attempt to get the Hawks on the SuperStation?

 

They want some games on free tv.

[daske17]

I wonder if there will be a attempt to get the Hawks on the SuperStation?

 

I think there's a better chance that Comcast Sports Net will significantly bump up the number of games they cover next year. And I can see WCIU getting involved before WGN just because of their commitment to the CW.

[RedIvyCub]

'I don't know if we could have had 3,000 to see [Cubs pitchers Mark] Prior and [Kerry] Wood four, five years ago if they had to stand out in the cold,'' McDonough said.

 

I agree that's more of a slap at Cub fans. Who, in their right mind, would want to stand outside in the middle of January anyway?

 

That is exactly how I felt about the quote. But I guess you have to know McD to understand.

[RedIvyCub]

So I'm assuming Blunk reported directly to McDonough for the majority of the latter part of his career with the Cubs. RedIvy is that a fair assumption? Man, the Hawks are making waves.

 

As part of the Hawks Alumni Association, I'm going to a dinner/meeting next week that McDonough is going to be the speaker at. I'll post in social if he has anything interesting to say.

 

That he did. Didn't make a move without talking to McD. He reported to McD for his entire Cubs career. Not understanding making Blunk head of Business Operations as he has been a marketing type his entire career. Now Hawks have two guys who know little about the business side of running a franchise. Pretty scary stuff.

 

He won't have anything interesting to say as it will all be in marketing speak. Just watch your back on that event and not a word of what I have told you here to McD.

 

Not sure if any of you saw how he pretty much dissed Woody, Prior and Cubs fans in a quote mid last month at an autograph signing the Hawks had downtown.

 

The hawks didn't have guys who knew anything about running the franchise before McD and Blunk.

 

And guess what, they still don't have guys who know anything about running the franchise.

[UMFan83]

For the record, I feel like having an outdoor hockey game at Wrigley would be a horrible idea.

 

But it would be cool to go into the ballpark in the dead of winter.

[RedIvyCub]

Move this to social as mods see fit.

 

So, I got back from the Blackhawks Alumni Association meeting tonight and boy oh boy is McD a marketing man. He kept referring to the Hawks as a "brand" and then would correct himself and say organization or team or whatever. He said things like this all night, mentioned the actual team well after the "business" and the "brand".

 

The entire front office was there, including Blunk.

 

Things of note that are probably already out or coming out in press releases.

 

The Hawks convention is going to be sometime in July. They haven't finalized a date.

McD and Blunk are meeting with Gary Bettman in the next few weeks and topic #1 is trying to get the outdoor game. He flippantly said the he new a venue that could give him a good rate. :D

April 7th (I think that was the date) is going to be a special tribute night to Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. He said it was difficult getting Hull on board, there was a lot of bad blood between him and the org, but that he made it very clear to Hull that this was a very important thing for the organization.

 

Other notes:

He told the story about how he got hired. It was kinda interesting. Rocky pursued him extremely heavily. Just before the winter meetings, he got a call from someone representing Rocky saying all these nice things and that Rocky wanted to meet with him, etc, etc. He said that he was getting ready to go to Florida that week and he'd call him when he got back but he was very happy with the job he currently held. Well about 5 minutes later he got a call back saying that if possibly Rocky wanted to meet with him before he went to Florida. They had a 1 hour lunch at the Shaumburg Champps that turned into a 4 hour discussion. Rocky flatly came out and said, I want you to be the person to run this organization. After a couple more meetings, he accepted the job.

 

Also, Pat Foley was there and McD had nothing but great things to say about him. Foley has always been heavily involved in Alumni Association anyway and everyone there (well everyone in the world) loves him.

 

Glad you saw that McD is nothing but a marketing man. Get used to the Hawks referred to as a brand.

 

Whole front office was there because they were probably required to attend with no excuses accepted.

 

Very doubtful Cubs would allow Wrigley to be used for an outdoor game after the money they put into the field this offseason. People don't think of that.

 

Well, his story of how he got hired is proof of his active imagination. Little more to that I am afraid but it isn't for public consumption, sorry. I know, most won't believe me with no story but...

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

Glad you saw that McD is nothing but a marketing man.

Ha, thats laughable. He did more in his short stint as interim team president, then sweater vest did in his entire tenure.

[seanimal]

Very doubtful Cubs would allow Wrigley to be used for an outdoor game after the money they put into the field this offseason. People don't think of that.

 

I'm sure they could find a way to comfort themselves over the loss of a few blades of grass with the money they would be getting as part of the deal.

[UMFan83]

Very doubtful Cubs would allow Wrigley to be used for an outdoor game after the money they put into the field this offseason. People don't think of that.

 

I'm sure they could find a way to comfort themselves over the loss of a few blades of grass with the money they would be getting as part of the deal.

 

Probably not considering the money they already committed to completely resodding the field.

[daske17]

Very doubtful Cubs would allow Wrigley to be used for an outdoor game after the money they put into the field this offseason. People don't think of that.

 

I'm sure they could find a way to comfort themselves over the loss of a few blades of grass with the money they would be getting as part of the deal.

 

Probably not considering the money they already committed to completely resodding the field.

 

Not just the resodding, but the entire revamp and leveling of the field. If I'm the Cubs, I set up shop outside the dugout with a shotgun, yelling at those punks to get off my lawn!