McDonough Looks for Another Marketing Hit

The last hockey player had barely stepped off the temporary ice rink at Wrigley Field Thursday afternoon following the 2009 NHL Winter Classic before Blackhawks team president John McDonough was in front of the reporters' microphones with another big idea.

In a reversal of sorts of the Blackhawks/Red Wings game at Wrigley Field, McDonough is proposing that the Cubs and Cardinals move their July 11th game from Wrigley to the United Center.

"If the Blackhawks and Red Wings playing at Wrigley Field was a grand slam, and I think everyone would agree that it was," said McDonough, "I think the Cubs and Cardinals meeting at the U.C. would be a...a...one of those things where a guy scores three goals in one game. And July can be hot as hell. I think all those moms and dads and boys and girls are really going to enjoy the air conditioning."

McDonough's proposal has yet to be vetted by officials from the Cubs, Major League Baseball, the Major League Players Union, or WGN-TV, which holds broadcast rights to the game, but the former Cubs marketing honcho doesn't forsee any major barriers to staging the event.

"Obviously the dimensions of the floor at the United Center vary a bit from what the baseball teams are used to," McDonough acknowledged, "but I don't think it's anything that can't be worked around. If the left field fence has to be 115 or 120 feet from home plate and 50 or 60 feet high, the players will adapt. Remember, these guys are professionals."

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John McDonough
Submitted by Cubnut on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 5:47pm
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Comments

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 6:20pm

Sounds like a certain marketing guy got a brand new crack pipe in his stocking this year.

Submitted by crunch
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 6:20pm

*EXPLODING SCOREBOARDS*

*EVERY PLAYER GETS THEME MUSIC*

*IN BETWEEN INNING MINI-GAMES*

yeesh...mcD...take a winter off. go home. play with your kids.

Submitted by jacos
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 6:23pm

Went to the game today, great atmosphere.

Here's the national anthem-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JosSFS8AW58

Cubnut-

I sent you some pix, let me know if you got them.

Submitted by crunch
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 6:25pm

that's a surreal sight.

Submitted by Cubnut
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 7:50pm

Yes. I just checked. Thanks. I will get them up shortly.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 7:22pm

me thinks the Cubs Humor/Sarcasm tag has been carefully omitted from this post...

Submitted by crunch
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 7:42pm

i couldn't tell if it was real or not. it's doable...especially considering some of the old parks. some of the old stadiums didn't even go 300' to the line, but went up a lot with the walls...old philly park, especially.

it also doesn't help i could care less about hockey, don't follow hockey, and the blackhawks might as well be some Australian Rules Football team as far as I'm concerned.

still, the use of "hell" talking to reporters about such a thing and the note about the real wall dimensions not being a joke is a little too much to miss...doh.

Submitted by Cubnut
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 7:47pm

I didn't want to give it away. Figured the part where McDonough couldn't think of the phrase "hat trick" would be telling. (By the way, if this really does come to pass, I'll sue the hell out of the United Center for intellectual property infringement and share the proceeds with all TCR readers.)

Submitted by crunch
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 7:58pm

it's more obvious reading it now...it was read badly by me more than it was written badly...that and my lack of hockey understanding and not being surprised by anything that comes outta McD's mouth...

Submitted by John Beasley
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 9:26pm

That was cute. Try again in a few years, girls. Hope you don't fall apart in February again this year so we can have a nice, soft seven or eight seed.

Submitted by Cubster
on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 10:02pm

Sports Headline, dateline July 11th, 2009...

Manager Lou Piniella and his coach Matt Sinatro were missing until the 2nd inning of today's Cub-Cardinal game at Wrigley.

Piniella when he finally arrived told reporters Matt had read that the game was being played at the United Center and so he drove there for the game. I was napping in the passenger seat, I let Matty do most of the driving. "You know, it's one of those 'Classic' games. I heard they had brought Fergie Jenkins, Billy Williams, Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull to town to sing during the 7th inning stretch."

Sinatro said he had read about the venue change somewhere online...

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