A blend of novelty, curiosity and absurdity
We aren't accustomed to the NHL getting things right, but this time it recorded both a hat trick and grand slam.
Today's 2009 Winter Classic in Wrigley Field manufactures an event out of a regular-season hockey game between the Blackhawks and Red Wings.
As we speak, Jerry Reinsdorf is trying figure out how to glamorize a Bulls-Pistons game in February and a White Sox-Tigers game in June.
I know the Winter Classic is special because via a couple months of e-mails, an NHL psychological operations campaign hammered into me that it is.
Update: Hawks winger Patrick Kane chills his Snapple with three ice cubes. Update: Hockey legends hold clinic to teach local fifth-graders how to spell NHL. Update: Imported chip of hockey ice proposes marriage to domestic blade of baseball grass.
Anyway, you're probably wondering whether I'm going to Wrigley this afternoon. No, not unless you're going crazy this morning.
The entire Winter Classic concept is fun but insane. To paraphrase Billy Joel, it just might be some lunatics the NHL is looking for.
Personally, I saw enough Chicago athletes slip, slide and skid around Wrigley Field in October. My plan for today is to stay home, tune in NBC-Channel 5 at noon and watch the coolest game in town try to justify being the hottest ticket in town.
Of course, residing on the inside looking out has me on the outside looking in again.
More than 40,000 hockey fans paid as much as hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, for the privilege of sitting on cold, hard seats for three hours.
NHL chief operating officer John Collins said this week, "240,000 people registered to have a chance to purchase tickets to this event."
Who knew there were that many fans of frostbite? Temperatures are supposed to be in the balmy 30s, but that isn't balmy enough. I'm not going outdoors again until it's warm enough to play golf in a thong.
Seriously, winter in general should be a four-letter word. If autumn is fall, maybe winter should be fell.
Any event with winter in its title should be avoided. Winter Wonderland? No such thing. Winter Fest? Not so festive. Wintergreen? More gray than green.
Still, I have to admit that on both paper and ice, the NHL Winter Classic inspires an intriguing blend of novelty, curiosity and absurdity.
A couple days ago I took a look at the Wrigley Wrink, which is right about where Cubs infielders kick-saved groundballs during a playoff loss to the Dodgers.
The rink looks as out of place as a beach ball rolling across the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field on New Year's Day.
Wrigley's ice might be a little choppy today, the sun might be blinding and the wind might determine the winner.
But a spectacle doesn't have to make perfect sense. It only has to be perfectly spectacular, and this frozen game between two smokin' NHL teams should be.
Fortunately for me, the Winter Classic will be broadcast from baseball's best TV studio.
The only thing better would be the PGA Tour reviving the Western Open and scheduling it for Comiskey Park during Christmas week.
Outdoor hockey on New Year's Day is the icing on the cake, so to speak, of Chicago's winter sports schedule.
Especially when it's served at room temperature in my living room.
mimrem@dailyherald.com