I am the definition of a bandwagon jumper when it comes to hockey. I would like to claim otherwise, but it would be a lie. As a young man I used to listen to the Blackhawks on the radio, I had posters of Ed Belfour and Jeremy Roenick on my wall, and I would watch the road games on TV. My Dad would take us to more Hawks games than any other sport. I have very fond memories of being 7-10 years old and going to the old stadium.

About the time I hit High School I grew very bitter towards the Organization. They traded ALL my favorite players and replaced them with cheap under performing chumps. My only hockey exposure would come from the 1 or 2 times a year that someone would throw their unused tickets at us since they did not want to go.

Then about 10 years ago that even stopped. Until last year.

Last year the Hawks became relevant again. Suddenly ALL the games were on TV, they had young talent, and a new owner and president who respected the team and the fans. I, like many other Chicagoans, jumped back on the bandwagon.

This leads me to last night. I took my kids to the Hawks-Sharks game. It was our second game of the year. We were running a little late so we made an executive decision to eat dinner at the first intermission instead of before the game. And this lead us to THE MADHOUSE BURGER!

At the first intermission we hit the food stand just outside our section. My youngest daughter wanted a hot dog and the old one wanted a cheeseburger. I on the other hand was a little hungrier. There was an offering on the menu of a Madhouse burger, it was about $2 more and next to it was a picture of a large cheeseburger. My assumption was this was a larger offering of the standard burger. As I said, I was a little famished so I decided to invest the extra.

The gentleman taking my order game me an odd look at the request for the Madhouse burger and confirmed this is what I wanted. He even asked me if I knew what a Madhouse Burger was. I felt a little like Chevy Chase ordering Lamb Fries in Funny Farm but I did not want to seem like a total idiot so I said “yes, I knew what it was”. Turns out I ordered right off the THIS IS WHY YOU’RE FAT menu.

A MADHOUSE burger consists of the following:

-Bottom bun

-Burger Patty

-2 Slices of cheddar cheese

-Grilled Onions

-Dijon Mustard

-1 Polish Sausage

-Top Bun

The second to last item is not a typo. I can confirm even this morning as I type this that I at a cheeseburger topped with a Polish Sausage last night.

The only thing worse than how I felt this morning was the result of the game. Despite holding the Sharks to 13 shots and taking nearly 50 the Hawks lost 3-2. The Hawks have lost 4 home games this year and 2 of them were the games I attended. I am going again this Sunday and then the following Sunday. If this trend continues I will be forced to watch the remainder of the season at home.