MADHOUSE MADNESS: The Ultimate Chicago Blackhawks Bracket Challenge

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It's March, and we're going to do something

that no podcast has ever done before.

A tournament-style bracket, madhouse madness.

Ah, ah, ah.

All right, very good, very good.

The guy who looks like me 20 years ago is Patrick Norton.

He's going to join us because we're going to need a tiebreaker.

So here's how we're going to do it.

We've got four regions.

We've got the legends region, the dynasty region.

We've got the traditions region, the Jersey region.

Let's start with the legends region.

And here's where a little bit of a trouble comes in.

We need a play-in game here.

Oh, boy.

There are eight Jersey numbers retired for nine players.

The play-in game is Marion Hosa versus Keith Magnison.

Listen, I respect the legacy of Keith Magnison.

Everything he did for the Black Hawks as a player

as a just a builder of the organization.

But this is Marion Hosa.

This is an easy Marion Hosa pick for me.

Me too.

I'm going with Marion Hosa.

I think that's a very simple one.

Never saw Keith Magnison play, which plays a role.

Yeah, I didn't like it.

But from what I understand, heart and soul guy,

dropped the gloves, did everything you needed to do.

Huge ambassador for the team.

But it was more of a post-hockey career

and vibes thing with Keith Magnison.

Then it was a hockey merits thing.

So I'm going to go with Marion Hosa, Patrick.

Great start.

You don't even need the tiebreaker.

Yes, Marion Hosa.

Three cups is three cups.

OK, so Marion Hosa advances.

And he will face Black Hawks' legend,

Mr. Black Hawk, Stan Makita.

I mean, you just said it, Mr. Black Hawk.

That's an easy one as much as I love Marion Hosa

a friend of the show.

Yeah, that's a friend, that's you.

I don't know how you vote against Stan Makita in this matchup.

I'll jump into the game.

Yeah, it's going to be, I think I feel like Stan Makita

might go far in this here in this jump.

Yeah, right.

I think you automatically move on if you have a statue.

That helps.

Speaking of statues, the number two seed, Bobby Hull,

up against the seven seed peer plot.

I mean, the father of Bort.

That's a million points right there.

That's a big one.

Yeah, I think, you know, speaking to the hockey player

and the hockey legacy of Bobby Hull

has the statue right next to Stan Makita.

Peer Palat, I mean, again, two guys

that I didn't see play live, but you hear the stories

and you see the old footage and everything like that

and you know the significance of them with Palat,

like back, you know, part of the 61 cup team,

one of the best defensemen of his time.

But I got to go with Bobby Hull.

Yeah, Peer Plot, definitely an innovator,

a guy that changed the game,

probably overshadowed by Bobby Orr, which is appropriate.

But Bobby Hull is still talked about,

is one of the all-time greats to ever play the game,

as we said, statue to ever score 50 goals in a season.

Yeah, there's so many things that Bobby Hull

did for this organization.

So yeah, definitely Bobby Hull moves on past Peer Plot.

If you agree.

Not that it matters.

No, it doesn't matter.

Keep, keep, keep, keep judging.

All right, the three seed, Glenn Hall

up against the six seed Dennis Savard.

I had a little bit of trouble putting Savard or Celios

five or six.

I went with Savard six, just because I saw

more of Celios' career as a hawk.

So Hall versus Savard.

I think for me, I'm gonna go with Dennis Savard.

I'm gonna go with Dennis Savard.

That's a personal choice.

And a Glenn Hall, Mr. Goldie,

one with the hawks back in 1961.

Again, like one of the craziest stats

of starting, what was it, 500 some games in a row?

502.

Insane, we'll never, that, we talk about hockey records

that'll never be touched for you know.

Gretzky's points and that Goldie streak is insane.

But personally, I think, I think for me,

I'm gonna go with Savard, just because it's closer

to a time that I can relate to.

I'm going with Glenn Hall, just because of what you said,

502 consecutive starts, will never be beaten.

I just think when you look at

some of the most meaningful sports statistics,

that's definitely one of them.

And now, you know, Goldie doesn't go five games

consecutively, let alone 500 games consecutively.

So, and also an unbelievable player.

So I'm gonna give it to Glenn Hall.

I think without that record,

I'd probably would have leaned savvy

for the same reasons you said, affection

without that record, he wouldn't be ranked third.

Probably, and for that reason,

I think the duration of the streak is really impressive.

Glenn Hall gets it for doing it without a mask.

Yes, also psycho behavior.

So I think we move on with Glenn Hall.

Sorry, it's completely fine.

And then the four or five matchup,

Tony Esposito versus Chris Cholio.

It was Tony Esposito.

Yeah.

He's on the desk.

There he is.

Yeah, I mean, it's, again, like I feel closer

to Cholio's as a Black Hawk, then Esposito,

but I don't know, I feel like Esposito

might have done just a little bit more when he was here,

so I'll give him the edge.

I'm gonna go with Chris Cholio's

for the same reason you went with Savard,

closest to my heart.

Yeah.

And it's a guy who, for a long time,

I stopped cheering for him

because I hated his behavior when he went to Detroit.

But when you go back and learn about

what the hawks put him through towards the end of his deal,

you understand it, and you understand why he,

to me, it felt like he was rubbing the cup

in the face of hawks fans,

but he was rubbing in the face of billboards.

So I'm, I have forgiven Chris Cholio's

and I'm gonna go with Cholio's.

No upsets in the round.

I think we're going chalk,

and I think we have to go with Tony L.

All right, so next match up on that round

goes Makita versus Esposito.

Staying Makita.

Makita for me too.

Yeah, same.

And then hall and hole.

Very simple.

Bobby Hull or Glen Hall?

I'll go with Bobby Hull because I, again,

like I think that impact with, you know,

as that impact in Chicago Hockey is undeniable.

I am also going with Bobby Hull.

Then you don't need my tie breaker vote,

which would have been for Glen Hall.

All right, and then the final is Makita versus Hull,

and I know we are picking Stan Makita.

Stan Makita.

All right, so Stan Makita wins the legends bracket.

Now we move on to the dynasty.

One versus eight, Cain and Boland,

the two Taves versus seven Sharp,

the three Keith versus Six Crawford,

the four Seabrook versus five,

Jamerson.

It's just like, I love Dave Boland.

It does like picking your favorite child.

I know.

It was hard to come up with the eighth

because post is already in.

Post is already in there.

So I gave the eighth to Boland.

It's more of a, I think that that's right.

Yeah, this is, yeah, this is Santa Duke.

So we're all taking Patrick Cain, I know.

Yep, where I assume we're all taking Jonathan Taves

over Patrick Sharp.

Yes, because it's not a looks contest.

Sorry, Jonathan, you'd lose that one heartily.

Patrick Sharp, your number one seed in that forever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I assume we're all taking Duncan Keith

over Cory Crawford.

Yes, three times.

And Seabrook over Jamerson.

I kind of have to, I think I think so, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

If we were to run this online though,

I feel like that would be the closest race for sure.

Right.

It might be flipped if Jamerson's goal against Detroit

in 2013 doesn't get overturned.

Great point.

Because that's a big legacy marker for Brent Seabrook.

Yeah.

So my single favorite moment of the dynasty.

Because it's an F Detroit for outside of a,

it's always F Detroit outside of a cut moment.

Yeah, that for me, that's the biggest one.

All right, so now we have Cain and Seabrook

and Taves and Keith.

I think we're all safely going with Cain.

I'll go Cain.

Now Taves and Keith is a tough one.

Duncan Keith is my all time favorite Black Hawk.

So he gets my vote.

Jonathan Taves gets mine.

I was supposed to be the tiebreaker.

Jonathan Taves is probably my favorite hawk of the dynasty.

But I don't know if they win a cup without Keith.

I don't know if they win a single cup without Duncan Keith.

Okay.

So I'm going Duncan Keith.

Okay.

And then Patrick Cain will be Duncan Keith, correct?

Yes.

Well, two votes.

No, go ahead.

Yeah, but two votes for Cain.

It doesn't matter.

But I just said Duncan Keith is my favorite all time Black Hawk.

Fair.

I would vote for him, but two to one.

All right.

So Patrick Cain advances, Stan McKeat advances.

Next category is traditions.

The one seed, the national anthem versus the eight seed.

Let's go Hawks.

The second seed goal horn versus the seven seed sweet home

Chicago played after every win.

The three seed Chelsea dagger versus the six seed shoot the puck.

And the four seed Detroit sucks versus number five, the organ.

Let's go with the one versus eight anthem versus let's go Hawks.

And I'm teaming you up Mario to grind to grind your gears on let's go Hawks.

We need we're losing the ancient texts too many.

Let's go Black Hawks chance going on at games.

Recently, it's let's go Hawks.

One, two, three very simple, very simple.

That's the chant.

You'll hear it many times throughout the game.

That's the one you go with.

Please fans.

I know a lot of you probably are new, but that's the chant.

And it juxtaposes really well against.

Let's go red wings, which is right sucks.

And it's where it came for us during the days.

I'd never said let's go red wings.

Please strike that for the record.

Yeah, so just bleep it.

One, two, three, let's go Hawks.

It doesn't beat the anthem, but keep that in mind.

All right, noted anthem wins.

Next up we have for an anthem win.

Right next up we have the goalhorn versus sweet home Chicago.

For me, this one's easy.

The goalhorn Hawks invented it.

Very, very cool iconic.

Still get excited about it.

Yes, I like to see when they pull it now before the game.

Yeah, I like that the horn guy holds it as long as they pull the cord.

If I ever get the chance to pull the cord, I'm going to test that.

Maybe that maybe I'm just going to hang on to it.

Pull the cord and test the horn for about 45 seconds.

Still a game begins.

I want the ref to look up at me like we're waiting on the hill.

Let go of the horn.

They're going to run out of smoke.

Yeah, I'll go go horn to.

Yeah.

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146 of our dogs needed homes fast.

We asked for help on Facebook.

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I assume you agree?

Yes.

All right.

Next up, Chelsea Dagger versus the Shoot the Puck contest.

I mean, everybody does shoot the pucks.

No one does Chelsea Dagger like the hawks.

It really has evolved though.

Shoot the puck used to be a different thing that they had to because of woke.

They had to change it.

But it was so bad.

I used to play shoot the puck in my driveway.

Just I would put cardboard.

I would put empty Diet Coke boxes in front of a net and at the stand in the street.

And do you wear still lettuce and a mini skirt too?

And I would play the song and your dad fired up the strippers or yes.

But no, I my vote is honestly for Shoot the Puck.

Okay, interesting, interesting.

I am I have tired of Chelsea Dagger.

I know I'm alone in that.

I know it's it reminds us of the good old days.

But I felt for a while that it's time to move on from Chelsea Dagger.

I'm not mad about it.

If it happened, I would welcome it.

That's all I say.

I'm not mad.

Like, oh, this sucks.

I don't I'm not passionate enough about it to get worked up about it.

That wouldn't be sincere.

But if they were to say that's the thing of the past, we've got a new era, new goal

song or everyone gets their own song, I'd be all for that.

So I'm going to go with the Shoot the Puck.

I know shocking.

I just I outnumbered Mario.

Yeah.

So, so the Shoot the Puck, which 32 NHL teams do is going to be Chelsea Dagger, the anthem

of the three cup runs.

Apparently, this is a democracy.

That's how it works.

Two is more than one.

Wow.

All right.

Well, just I want the record to show that I voted for Chelsea Dagger because holy smokes.

All right.

Now we've got Detroit sucks versus the organ.

Man, it's really tough.

Organ in the plays music, Mario.

It's tough.

The organ music is very iconic.

It just feels very hockey.

But I think I got to go with Detroit sucks because it's it's unique to Chicago.

It's unique to the black hocks.

It's unique and it's yeah, I go with that.

I'm very much on the fence with this one, but I agree with you.

And it does always make me chuckle when it's the middle of the second period against

the Seattle Kraken and some guy in the 300 level starts chanting Detroit sucks.

It warms my heart a little bit.

It's a little silly, a little stupid, but I'm going to take Detroit sucks too.

I'll take that any day of the week.

Agreed.

All right.

Now we've got the anthem versus Shoot the Puck.

We know where that one's going.

Anthem.

And we've got the goalhorn versus Detroit sucks.

Anthem.

Detroit sucks.

Detroit sucks.

Oh, interesting.

I mean, I'm also going to say Detroit sucks.

All right.

I want to go.

Again, the uniqueness to the black hocks is there.

I know the goalhorn, the history of it and all that stuff.

But for me, the goalhorn is what's what I love about the Hawks goalhorn is the pairing

of the goalhorn and Chelsea Dagger and how that again, like I feel like that cadence

of it is special.

But if we're going one versus the other, I'll go Detroit sucks.

All right.

I like that.

So now our final match up here.

Anthem versus Detroit sucks.

Anthem.

Anthem.

I'm going to Anthem too.

All right.

So so far.

Very chalk.

It is very chalk so far.

This one might change things.

Now we're going jerseys.

This is the home reds, the one seed versus the eight seed, the 2017 winter classic.

That's the white jersey they wore against St. Louis with the elderly warrior head.

That's what I call it.

The two seed, the red road whites versus the seven black alternates that were brought back

this year.

The three seed, the 2009 winter classic at Riggly versus the six seed, the barber pole

jerseys and the four seed, the 2025 winter classic at Riggly versus the five seed, the 2019

winter classic at Notre Dame.

This is going to be, I think, the most highly contested.

Yes.

All right.

I'm going to go with the home reds and the one versus eight home reds.

Agreed.

All right.

Clean sweep for that one.

Road whites versus black alternates.

Road whites.

I am a champion for the black alternates.

Okay.

I call myself that.

You are.

I am.

I believe the strongest jersey is the road white.

Yes.

Period.

The road whites are better.

Yes.

Okay.

Are.

Beautiful.

2009 Riggly versus the barber pole.

Riggly.

I'm going barber pole because it reminds me of Jeremy Ronic to the player.

I'm going Riggly because that was, that's my earliest hockey memory.

I think it's the best outdoor jersey they've done.

And then they foresee the 2025 Riggly winter classic versus the 2019 Notre Dame winter classic.

I like the 2019 one.

The black and white, I wish that they would have at one of their outdoor games reversed

it to where it was white with the black pinstripes like they had back in the 30s.

That would have been cool.

But yeah, that Notre Dame winter classic one is really good for me.

You got Notre Dame too?

I'm in on Notre Dame.

All right.

This is a very hard one for me, but I feel like had they had more success in last year's

winter classic jersey that jersey was intended from that awful game.

Right.

I think that that is my favorite of the outdoor game jerseys.

Okay.

Okay.

But we'll advance Notre Dame.

All right.

There's Notre Dame.

Reds.

Okay.

I'm going to go reds too.

Reds.

And then we've got the road whites versus Riggly oh nine whites.

I'll give a vote to the the Riggly ones.

I know it's not going to win.

All right.

I'm going road whites.

So the road whites versus the red whites, whites, whites, whites.

All right.

So here is the final four.

We've got the we've got Samakita, Patrick Kane, the anthem and the road whites.

Let's do Patrick Kane versus road whites.

I'm going to take Patrick Kane.

He's the most iconic player of my lifetime.

Okay.

Mario bigger than the jersey.

I mean, the if if I'm going to force J to be the tiebreaker, that the jersey is across

the league historically regarded as one of the if not the best of all time.

I'm going to give it a vote.

I'm taking a road whites too.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

I love them.

They pop what you when you said the colors burst on it.

I love the road.

The road whites.

They're my favorite thing.

And then we've got Samakita versus the national anthem, Canada versus the U.S.

I'm taking the Czechoslovakia.

So what are you taking?

What are you taking?

You first.

Oh, I am going to go with Mr. Blackhawk, Stan Mekita.

I'm going with Stan Mekita too.

All right.

Well, I was going with the anthem.

So it doesn't matter.

Cursey vote.

You don't hate America.

Good for you.

So now the championship, the road whites versus Stan Mekita, Stan Mekita.

I can't go against Stan.

I feel like if I go against Stan, I'll get struck by lightning.

I like how I didn't vote for the road whites last round, but now I'm voting for the

Cursey vote.

Cursey vote.

Stan Mekita wins.

Deservantly so.

Absolutely.

I think that that, when you talk about from inception to untimely death of Stan Mekita gone

way too soon, just a flawless record is a Blackhawk.

Just only played for them was the best player to ever do it, carried on post-career, founding

hockey school for the deaf, being an icon, being it around in the community, setting an

example for every Blackhawk to follow him, I think there's no one more iconic to this

franchise than Stan Mekita.

Well said.

Absolutely.

That was fun.

That was fun.

I hope other podcasts now start doing madness style things, tournament in March.

That was Madhouse Madness.

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