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Twenty-four games left for the Blackhawks and counting…

The story and the excitement keep building for the Blackhawks. Halfway through the NHL season, they have yet to register a loss in regulation (21-0-3). Tonight they hope to continue this unbelievable ride with a rematch with the Avalanche in Colorado. A few injuries are a concern, specifically Patrick Sharp. But this team has had different players step in and step up. Last game Danny Carcillo scored the game winner in the final seconds. After the win, coach Joel Quenneville refereed to Carcillo by his nickname, “Car-bomb”. That may offend some, but it was funny just to hear that nickname used by a coach.

As the Hawks keep winning, the Derrick Rose drama for the Bulls is going on and on. It almost feels like the movie Groundhog Day. Twenty one games left on the NBA schedule, still no decision in sight. Now there is daily reporting when he sits with the team on the bench and when he doesn’t. It is just becoming too monotonous for everyone.

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This may be a stretch to some: the Blackhawks may have saved the NHL.  This was a league on the brink of total disaster as the lock-out crept into a long drawn out process.

The season was on thin ice in the sports world until the mighty Chicago Blackhawks put on their famous sweaters and dazzled the world of hockey with an unprecedented start of a season.

With the 5-3 win over Minnesota last night, they have tallied a point in every game this season and maintain a record of 20-0-3.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman can thank his lucky stars (actually, thank the Hawks stars) that one of the oldest franchises of the league has played this game to almost virtuoso heights. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Towes, Marian Hossa and a roster full of better than average players are all contributing to this historical start of this 48-game season. Tonight it will be the half-way point and the Blackhawks are making the sport relevant when it could have disappeared off the panacea of the sports world.

Since the 2009-2010 Championship season, the Blackhawks have been the talk of the town in Chicago and making waves on the national front.

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One of the oldest sports in the world was kicked to the curb a couple of weeks ago. The International Olympic Committee removed wrestling from its list of 25 core sports. Now the wrestling world is in a battle to try to get it restored so it will be part of the Olympic Summer Games in 2020 and beyond.

It was really quite a shock that one of the oldest sports (and one that seems so synonymous with the Olympics) was put on a list of seven sports on the chopping block.

There are two more IOC sessions before the fate of the seven sports is determined. Only one will get a chance to get a stay of execution.

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Are the Bulls troubles on and off the court wearing them down? Yesterday's win  93-82 over Philadelphia quiets those thoughts for a day. But the strife still seems to be there.

The team denies that the swirling talk about Derrick Rose is not a factor. Is he coming back? Is he sitting out the season? Reading comments by Derrick’s brother opened a big can of worms.

While Rose continues to be silent, what the media gets to see and hear is limited. At practice we watch him shoot, just like he does before games. Coach Tom Thibodeau is repeatedly asked about the former NBA MVP's progress. 

No one knows, except Rose and Bulls management, when or if he will be announced in the starting line-up of a game. Reporters are getting tired of asking about it. However, they get orders from their editors to stay on top of the story. 

So when ESPN.com gets quotes from Derrick's brother Reggie, it set off a firestorm. Reggie expressed that the team needed to get better players at the trade deadline to surround Derrick and added it may impact his brother's return the Bulls.

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Weaving watching sports and viewing my favorite non-sports event of the year (the Academy Awards) was like Danica Patrick trying to maneuver the Daytona 500.

Here were the sports winners and losers…

Hawks' streak continues

Topping the winners list is the Blackhawks. It wasn’t pretty, but they beat Columbus 1-0 at the United Center. They are now 15-0-3, extending their NHL record for starting a season. You know things are going well when goalie Corey Crawford earns a shut-out after sitting out two weeks with an injury.

Crawford stopped 28 shots, but credits the work done by his teammates in front of him.

“Everyone's playing hard, making the right plays, not turning pucks over and guys are coming back to help out our ‘D,’ he said. "Our ‘D’ has been so good this year in blocking shots, sticks in lanes. It's just another solid victory for us."

This was the second shut-out for Crawford this season.

The only goal of the night was scored by 21-year-old Andrew Shaw in the waning moments of the second period.

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Does anyone really care who is singing the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley anymore? The Cubs think the fans care. But I have yet to hear one person say they are going to Wrigley for the stretch.

When Harry Caray sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" it was part of the experience at Clark and Addison. Now you get the occasional interesting celebrity, former player or coach to belt out the baseball tune. Sometimes a performance gets national attention. W(ho could forget Mike Ditka’s rendition in 2008?) In between, there are many uninteresting performers.

The club says it is going to be more selective about who gets in the booth for the 81 home games.  The singer will have connections to the city and be more familiar with the Cubs and the Harry Caray tradition.

Will the possible candidates have to take a test, or maybe a Cubs 101 class? (Not because of the 101 losses). Can you imagine if you don't pass the class or fail the test? That would be full humiliation.

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Blackhawk fans have forgotten about the long NHL lock-out and for good reason. They have the best team in the league and have history on their side to prove it.

Last night the Hawks beat their arch rivals, the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 after Andrew Shaw tallied the go-ahead score in the shoot-out.

The Blackhawks record is 13-0-3- tying an NHL record for getting a point in every game to begin the season. Coach Joel Quenneville commented on the accomplishment after the game, “It’s a remarkable start, were very happy and pleased the guys should be proud of this achievement, especially in a 48-game season.”

Hawks win:

It was a wild start in the first period when five breakaway chances were stopped by the two goaltenders for Vancouver and Chicago. Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin managed to tally the only goal in that period.

The Blackhawks came back with more firepower in the second period. Two players considered to be in a slump scored goals. Patrick Sharp tallied the first goal for the Hawks and Marian Hossa scored twice, once on a power play and another unassisted goal as he danced along the goal line and slipped it past Canuck goalie Cory Schneider.

Hossa was on the receiving end of a nasty forearm to the back of his head by Vancouver’s Jannik Hansen in the third period. The Hawks winger had no chance as he was brought down from behind and crumbled to the ice. He left the game and did not return.

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