What Am I Doing Here?

Ok, well, it's not only that.

Obviously, I've been sitting on the sidelines for a while now, and it's gone on too long. And it feels right to "come back home," as it were, and start again based where I started it all, talking and writing about the Hawks.

It will be different this time, though. I'm not the guy you might remember standing outside Gate 3, freezing his nards, chain-smoking, unshaven, and living out his dream (man, I really needed better dreams). I've quit smoking, and I keep the temperature in my apartment pretty reasonable, so my nards are safe. My perspective on the Hawks has changed, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

But that doesn't mean I'm not still a fan, and that I don't yearn for the way the night feels when the Hawks have an important game to play. Or the way the spring can be defined by not just the start of the playoffs, but the start of the playoffs for the team you care about most. It's been a while around here since we've felt that, you may have forgotten, I may have forgotten, but I know it's around here somewhere. I still remember the sound of the Old Stadium, or our souls shaking at the sound of Duncan Keith's goal in Game 6, or the look on my brother's face when we figured out what was going on at the end of that Game 6 (always Game 6!), or the guy who put his then-girlfriend down in the wrong row after he thought Hjalmarsson had won Game 7. That guy is still a part of me, too.

And I'm not here to just shit on the Hawks and whatever they do, despite what you might hear. I'm here to be honest about what I see and hear, and I'd like to think I've always been. Which is why I feel like there's still room for my voice in that sphere. Whatever. you will eventually accuse me of, and I'll be guilty of most of it, I assure you I'll be honest.

I also don't want to just do Hawks stuff. In my travels I came to love writing about other things, and I'm going to do that here too. Chicago sports, soccer, maybe tennis, whatever else, that will be included here too, mostly every day. How's it all going to look? I have no idea! This is going to be a living thing for a while, and I'm hoping you and I together can feel out how this should look, what it should be, and how it can be best. Which is why it'll be free through at least Thanksgiving, maybe longer. I wouldn't dare ask anyone to pay anything while I'm still putting it all together, figuring it out, or even seeing if I'm up to this challenge, or if anyone gives a flying fuck. It'll be a shared ride, possibly straight to hell, but possibly not.

Oh, and I'm going to attempt to have something for you Monday-Friday, every morning. Let's see how long it takes for me to have a psychotic episode.

So let's see where it goes, let's kick this pig, and wherever we end up at least I tried.