Never Again...

As I read TSN's coverage of the Blackhawks return to Chicago after winning the Stanley Cup, I couldn't help but reflect on how different things were forty-some years ago. The reporter wrote about the "crowd" cheering as the players disembarked from the aircraft - Michael Handzus first; hoisting the Cup over his head in celebration.

The "crowd" consisted of police officers, firemen, airport staff and invited guests.

That's it; security rules prohibited the common fan from being anywhere near the celebration.

While I would certainly love to write a "Never Again" blog about how the Blackhawks will never again win the prized Cup; that's not what this is about.

This one's a never again for the fans.

I remember when the Blues returned home after being swept out of the Stanley Cup Finals by the Montreal Canadiens after the 1967-1968 season. We went to the airport; along with thousands of other Blues' fans. The crowd was released to rush toward the aircraft once it was safely stopped and shut down. Cheers of "Let's Go Blues" filled the air. The crowd grew restless as the crew had difficulties opening the main door until, finally, they decided to have the players disembark through the short stairs that dropped down below the aircraft's tail.

Dad put me on his shoulders so I could see over the crowds in front of me. I remember reaching up and touching the wing; still hot from its flight.

The crowd cheered and screamed and sang, "When The Blues Go Marching In!!"

And this was after we lost!

In any event, the players came off the airplane into the loving throngs of fans - cheering, singing, adoring fans. We were there - by the thousands - welcoming our boys home. We were there - by the thousands - standing on the tarmac; touching the aircraft, touching our players!

The Blues' players getting off that aircraft in 1968 were genuinely thrilled to see the fans who came to show their love and support after losing. They hadn't stepped off the aircraft hoisting the Stanley Cup. They returned home having lost despite giving their all as a ragtag bunch of players thrown together on an expansion team. The players shook hands, signed autographs and posed for pictures. The fans ever-pressing to be closer to our team.

Never again.

While we can blame the security rules for keeping us away from the players' triumphant exit from the plane; the separation between fan and star started much earlier than that. Somewhere along the way, the players went from being people who sold insurance during the off season to support their families to multi-millionaires who had to be protected from the ones footing the bill.

Fans will never again get to experience that celebration; relegated, instead, to staged events and parades. Normal fans can't get anywhere near an aircraft on the tarmac. Players often come and go through private entrances; protected from the very fan base that has made them stars - the chasm between the adoring and the adored growing with each passing year.