June 05--In a continuing effort to make myself the Kanye West of the Stanley Cup Final series, I've reached an important conclusion: This is all about me.
Yes, the Chicago Blackhawks players are important, and the Tampa Bay Lightning players are slightly less important, but the real driver behind this series is me and my reputation as a journalist.
Earlier in the week, prior to Game 1 of the series, I wrote a column describing my home state of Florida -- which also happens to be the home state of the Tampa Bay Lightning -- as a humid hellhole populated by an array of undesirables. To quote myself: "Imagine the worst place on Earth, multiply it by 12 and then add an inordinate number of cockroaches."
The overall assertion was that Florida is what you would get if a Jimmy Buffett song mated with a Stephen King novel. That assertion, while welcomed here in Chicago, did not go over particularly well with Floridians, who I was surprised to learn are actually capable of reading.
Some responses via Twitter included a photo of a toddler holding his hand out, middle finger extended, and comments like "this is the most bogus and inaccurate piece of trash I've ever read" and "I think @RexHuppke is a douchebag for this column."
If the Blackhawks had lost Game 1 of the series, I would have faced a tsunami of Twitter insults from smug Floridians. (Smug Floridians, by the way, are the worst kind.)
So I had a lot riding on that first game. Clearly, when the Blackhawks were down 1-0 on Wednesday night, the coaches and players came together and said: We have to win this for Rex.
And win it they did, with two glorious goals in the final period. Thanks, guys! You saved me from an enormous wave of "In your face!" tweets from the 12 remaining Floridians who haven't accidentally blown all their fingers off with firecrackers.
As the series resumes Saturday night in Tampa, I'm hoping Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Corey Crawford and the gang will keep their eyes on the prize: Making me look good.
Winning the Stanley Cup would be nice as well, of course, but let's not make this about other people when we can all agree that my reputation is what matters most.
I encourage all Chicagoans to cheer the Blackhawks on this weekend using the Twitter hashtag #WinItForRex. Because if there's one thing Kanye West has taught me, it's that everything is better when I make it about me.
rhuppke@tribpub.com
