Sadly, Wirtz never did correct error of his ways

This could have been the obituary's opening paragraph.

"Bill Wirtz, the grinch who stole big-time hockey in Chicago, died Wednesday at age 77."

This might be his enduring, though not endearing, legacy as the longtime Blackhawks owner.

"He refused to allow Hawks home games to be televised locally."

This wouldn't be totally inappropriate to etch into his tombstone.

"Dollar Bill Wirtz … R.I.P."

Perhaps it's insensitive to speak of the deceased in unflattering terms, but I always defer to Mike Royko in these matters.

The late Chicago newspaper columnist once wrote that when a mobster dies, he isn't a better person than when he was alive.

In other words, just because a man is dead doesn't mean we have to alter history to accommodate his place in it.

I can't mourn Wirtz as a brother, son or cousin would. The closest I came to being related was crying "uncle" several years ago when he prompted me to surrender my interest in the Hawks.

Bill Wirtz was no mobster or monster. By many accounts he was a compassionate, charitable, civic-minded member of the community.

MORE COVERAGESTORIESWirtz had a good side that people never sawWho will run the team now?Those who knew him say Wirtz will be missedWirtz's ties to Lake CountyBarry Rozner: Let's hope Rocky Wirtz fights for what's rightMike Imrem: Sadly, Wirtz never did correct error of his waysAUDIOLegendary player Stan MikitaHead coach Denis SavardGeneral Manager Dale TallonPlayer Martin LapointeThese are the sports pages, however. Here we judge a man by what he did in the trivial world of games and how he treated the fans who support his team.So, please, keep in mind as we speak that we're talking about remembering someone in the world of sports, which means very little in the world at large.Anyway, Dollar Bill's method of running the business of hockey in Chicago -- some might say running it into the ground -- drove many like me away from enjoying the sport on the NHL level.Wirtz took a fan base of 16,666 in the old Chicago Stadium and squandered it into somewhere around 10,000 in the United Center.We should point out that was no small chore.Blackhawks fans in this town were as rabid as any, more rabid than Bulls fans are, as rabid as Bears and White Sox fans are, even as rabid as Cubs fans are today in a pennant race.I was hooked on the Hawks even before Bobby Hull put on the once-proud Indian head sweater. I remained a fan even after Wirtz allowed Hull to leave for a new league in the early 1970s.For nearly a half-century, I have been amazed that hockey players could do on ice skates what other world-class athletes do in ground grippers.Yet I haven't attended a Blackhawks game in years.It wasn't just that they didn't win a Stanley Cup after Wirtz became club president in 1966. Nor was it that the Hawks stopped making the playoffs in a league where it's nearly impossible to not make the playoffs.It was more that Wirtz operated the Hawks with such arrogance, that he gouged fans for everything from tickets to beer, that he blamed everything but himself for the sorry state of his franchise.The hope here always was that Wirtz would understand, correct his errors and win a Stanley Cup before he died.Sad to say he never did and it never happened.Now a higher power will have to judge Bill Wirtz as a person. I'll just judge him as the owner of a sports team I used to admire.To me he's the grinch who stole hockey.