Rozner columns unfair to Hawks
I am an avid reader of Chicago area newspaper sports sections and I generally look forward to Barry Rozner's columns.
He tends to dig a little deeper than most columnists yet typically provides fair and balanced commentary. He also adds some humor to his columns.
That being said, I am having a hard time reading his columns lately due to his continued bias against the Blackhawks.
What used to be subtle digs at the Blackhawks now just comes across as someone who has a vendetta against a team. Even with the Hawks season over for almost two weeks, he continues to throw digs at the franchise with his off-handed comments that are embedded in Chicago Wolves stories.
Or he references obscure coaching decisions around the league in trying to paint a picture that Denis Savard is not qualified for the job without coming out and actually saying that.
Whatever the case, he seems to have passed the level of biased writing that Jay Mariotti exhibits against the White Sox.
Case in point: In a recent column, he tried to portray that the Blackhawks success this past year was strictly related to off-ice activities, such as front-office changes, home TV, attendance and public relations. He made it seem as if the Blackhawks did not have any on-ice success.
In fact, the Blackhawks improved from 71 points last season to 88 points this season. That is a 24 percent improvement in point total. They also moved up the ladder from 13th place in the conference to 10th place, only 3 points out of the last playoffs spot.
In 2006-2007, the Hawks scored 201 goals and gave up 258. This past season, they increased their goals scored by 19 percent (239) and decreased their goals allowed by 9 percent (235).
Those are significant improvements.
Hopefully, he will take a step back and figure out how to gain his credibility back. That doesn't mean becoming the Hawks PR arm or just printing positive, fluff stories about the team.
But it does mean striving to achieve some balance in his columns.
Eric Willuweit
Hoffman Estates