Cross-checking in with the Hawks, Bears and more

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Cross-checking in with the Hawks, Bears and more

The WISCH LIST

May 1, 2010

It’s been a busy week up in Hawkeytown, USA, what with Chicago overflowing with chatter about cups good (Lord Stanley’s), goofy (the new BP Crosstown Cup to mark the Cubs-White Sox series) and half-empty (Vinny Del Negro’s).

In honor of it all, I thought today we’d take a quick skate through the sports week that was …

On a (Blackhawk) wing and a prayer

Last Monday afternoon, several hours before the Blackhawks vanquished Nashville in the first round of the NHL playoffs, a clever play on the Lord’s Prayer started making the rounds among Hawks fans on Facebook. It read:

“Our father, who art in Chicago, hockey be thy name. Thy will be done, the Cup will be won, on ice, as well as in the stands. Give us this day, our hockey sticks, and forgive us our penalties, as we forgive those who cross-check against us. Lead us not, into elimination, but deliver us to victory. In the name of the fans, Lord Stanley, and in the name of Da Hawks, Amen.”

What’s a Canuck?

With the Blackhawks set to meet Vancouver in Round 2 of the playoffs tonight, I found myself wondering this week, what exactly is a Canuck anyway?

Turns out, not even the franchise itself seems to know as it’s had a whopping 13 different logo and jersey changes since joining the NHL in 1970. Iterations have included a Flying Skate, an Orca and the current logo: a bearded guy with a stocking cap named Johnny Canuck.

As for the word “Canuck,” it’s a term used to describe Canadians in the same way Americans are called “Yankees.” According to Bart Bandy’s Lexicon of Canadian Etymology, “Canuck” likely evolved from the French word canule around the time of the American Revolution, although it’s unclear exactly how. One popular theory claims it was derived from a mispronunciation among Benedict Arnold’s forces during their siege of Quebec in the winter of 1776.

Bandy writes that the Americans picked up the common French phrase “Quelle canule” (translated: “What a bore”) but were usually shivering so hard when they said it that “canule” came out as “canuck.”

Get loose, Juice

With most Bears fans’ attention focused on the quarterback the team already has (Jay Cutler) and the one it just drafted (Downers Grove native Dan LeFevour of Central Michigan), many might have missed the news that former University of Illinois QB Juice Williams was among the players invited this week to Bears rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.

If Williams makes the Bears’ practice squad – I’d suggest a switch to fullback – he can expect to earn at least $88,400 for 17 weeks of work. That’s well below the NFL rookie minimum salary of $285,000, but still a wage most 2010 college grads would envy, don’t you think?

Speaking of football …

As announced last weekend, Illinois and Northwestern will play a football game at Wrigley Field on Nov. 20, which reminded me of one of my favorite bits of Chicago sports trivia: Wrigley Field – the Bears’ home from 1921 to 1970 – has still hosted more Bears games than Soldier Field.

In fact, Wrigley formerly held the record for the most NFL games played in a single stadium with 365 regular-season contests. In September 2003, Giants Stadium in New Jersey finally broke that record – although it needed the dual-occupancy of both the Giants and the Jets to do it.

… And speaking of the Illini

Last week, I filled you in on the latest twists in the decades-old Chief Illiniwek controversy at the University of Illinois. And now there’s another one.

Last Monday, during its final meeting of the semester, the Urbana-Champaign Senate – a legislative body comprised of 200 faculty and 50 students – voted in favor of a resolution that calls for the assembly of a campus mascot search committee.

The vote, done in response to the similar resolution passed in March by the Illinois Student Senate, called upon interim Chancellor Robert Easter to assemble a “diverse committee of campus community members responsible for proposing a campus mascot not affiliated with American Indian heritage or imagery.”

So diverse, apparently, that it won’t even consider the opinions of Chief supporters.

U of I sophomore Samantha Uher, president of Students for Chief Illiniwek – the school’s largest registered student organization – told the Daily Illini that she thought the resolution was unfair, adding that her organization would only support a committee that includes both pro-Chief and anti-Chief representation.

“It seems like they’re disregarding what the students want,” she said.

When it comes to this issue at U of I, it wouldn’t be the first time.