Blackhawks, Stuck in the Middle of Chicago Sports Franchises

Despite an unbelievable 9 year run that saw the Blackhawks win 3 Stanley Cups in 6 years, it seems that Chicago has spoken on their loyalty. I was curious, given the last 15 years of sports in the city, where fans were at given these parameters:

1. Would support the team whether they are winning or losing (or mediocre)

2. Continue to purchase merchandise / jerseys

3. Attend games or watch them otherwise despite consistent losing / average seasons

After running a baseball poll to determine which MLB franchise would have the most loyal fans (Cubs dominated 2 to 1) I started a poll with the 4 most popular franchises in the city. Before hand I thought the Bears, given that it is the NFL, would win going away. Not so fast.

Approaching a 1,000 votes, it is quite close between the Bears and Cubs for city supremacy. At the moment the Bears have a slight lead on the Cubs at 37% to 35%. The Bulls on the other hand have almost less than 2% of the votes which tells me the Jordan era fans with over 20 years of losing has finally taken its toll on the city and they have moved on from the team.

It is our Blackhawks however that have my attention. They sit at 26% between the 4 main franchises. They seem destined to be in the middle of this little experiement, one I assumed would go Bears - Cubs and then I wasn't sure which of the final 3 would prevail.

My biggest take away is this: Where would a poll like this sit if the Hawks take 5-7 years of bad to average seasons to start winning again? Will the loyalty stay the same or will the shine of the Toews-Kane-Keith era wear off before the next era of Blackhawk greats emerges? We shall see.... One thing I'm sure of though: I'm not going anywhere because as Kyle Davidson said, "Hop on the ride now, because in the end, it will be worth it."