The Hawks were a pretty sad sack outfit under the old man Bill Wirtz. Rocky brought the franchise back into respectability, though not without controversies of his own.
No tears here. I reserve my sadness for when true heroes die. Like Wade Boggs. May he rest in peace.
Wut?
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From HFBoard oiler fan, in analyzing MacT's management:
O.K. there has been a lot of talk on whether or not MacTavish has actually done a good job for us, most fans on this board are very basic in their analysis and I feel would change their opinion entirely if the team was successful.
Wade Boggs is very much alive. He lives in Tampa Florida, he's in his mid 60s.
Also, don't care. The man was an prick over his organization ruining a young man's career and mental and emotional well being. Sorry to his family, I guess
I am reminded of the interview that Hitchens gave after Jerry Falwell died.
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I'm not defending anyone or anything, just commenting on how deeply people cement themselves on one side or another of a story they (at best) have third-hand knowledge of.
I mean, we don't even know the guy or were in any of the rooms when any of what happened in the story went down, but some of you are like, "100% f that guy, glad he's dead."
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The issue isn't if he was in the room when it happened. The issue is when he found out he did nothing and acted as if he and his organization was the victim after the fact.
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I'm not defending anyone or anything, just commenting on how deeply people cement themselves on one side or another of a story they (at best) have third-hand knowledge of.
I mean, we don't even know the guy or were in any of the rooms when any of what happened in the story went down, but some of you are like, "100% f that guy, glad he's dead."
Well, we have first hand knowledge of how he treated people who asked about it and what he thought of them:
Quote:
“I think the report speaks for itself. The people who were involved are no longer here. We’re not looking back on 2010, we’re looking forward. And we’re not going to talk about 2010,” Wirtz said, referencing the Jenner & Block report published last fall that highlighted a number of failures made by the Blackhawks after a former player — Beach — reported that he was sexually assaulted by then video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup.
After a brief follow-up from the reporter, Wirtz repeated himself, saying “We’re moving forward, that is my answer. Now, what’s your next question?”
Wirtz’s son Danny, who is the Blackhawks’ CEO and was also part of the panel, then spoke up saying “I can pick up to what we are doing today” but he was interrupted by his father, who said, “no, that’s none of your business” while pointing out to the crowd.
“What we’re going to do today is our business, I don’t think it’s any of your business,” the senior Wirtz said back to the reporter. When asked why, Wirtz responded “Because I don’t think it’s any of your business. You don’t work for the company.”
“If someone in the company asks that question, we’ll answer it,” Wirtz continued. “And I think you should get on to the next subject. We’re not going to talk about Kyle Beach, we’re not going to talk about anything that happened. Now we’re moving on, what more do I have to say? Do you want to keep asking the same question, and hear the same answer?”
A few minutes later, Phil Thompson, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune, attempted to ask the same question The Athletic reporter asked.
“I told you to get off the subject,” Wirtz replied. “We’re not going to bring up the report… I told you, we’re moving on. I think you’re out of line to ask that line of questions. Why don’t you ask about something else? Why don’t you ask about the GM search? Why don’t you do something else? Why do you bring up old business?”
The Tribune reporter then attempted to ask a question about season ticket holders and the ticket resale market, but Wirtz interrupted him before he completed his question.
“I didn’t realize you were in our ticket department,” Wirtz said. “Come on, come on. Let’s talk about all the negative stuff. Do you want to talk about your paper? And what the sports page looks like. Can I do that?”
As much good as he did for the franchise, he presided over something truly awful, and when confronted with the opportunity to actually answer for it himself, his answers was “it’s none of your business, we’ve moved on.”
I think trying to reduce people’s thoughts and feelings on the subject to nothing more than cementing themselves on one side of a story is pretty silly. You should give people more credit that that. You’re giving Wirtz more credit than that, anyway.
Blackhawks owner and chairman Rocky Wirtz dies
