It seems a Detroit blogger has questioned the Blackhawks' long-standing tradition of cheering during the National Anthem.

Rob Otto of mlive.com cites patriotism and such as to why the cheering needs to stop. In fairness, he does make some valid points.

However, one needs to look at the origin of all this. No, it did not start in 1985 in a series against Edmonton. It actually began earlier in the decade. And, the intentions then, as they are now, were never to be disrespectful or derisive to our country's Anthem. In fact, as you will read in this 1989 Sun-Times article about the tradition, some might argue it's even MORE patriotic:

The anthem pandemonium started during the 1982 season, when the Hawks had 47 victories and 104 points. It also was the year attendance began to recover from the lean years of the late 1970s, say longtime Hawk followers.

At first, the cheering would start in the final few bars of the song's last stanza. But over the years, the cheering moved closer and closer to the beginning. Some say this was encouraged when certain Hawk players would start skating around well before the end of the song.

"Now it starts before we even start to play it," says organist Nancy Faust, who says she can barely hear the Stadium's big Barton organ during the anthem.

The cheering reached its peak at the fourth game of the 1985 playoff series against Edmonton, said Jim DeMaria, the Hawks' director of public relations. The Hawks had dropped the series' first two games in Edmonton, but came home and won their first home game. The next night the Stadium was in a frenzy, and the anthem madness was consummated.

Wayne Messmer, who has sung the anthem for the Hawks for eight years, said he enjoys the noise when it's borne out of crowd enthusiasm, but dislikes it if fans scream just to drown him out.

"It's a manly sport, and you're singing a war song to a very macho crowd," said Messmer. "I've often said they ought to set up a Marine recruitment table in the building."

A few years after this story was published, Messmer delivered one of the most stirring Anthem renditions EVER during the 1991 NHL All-Star Game at Chicago Stadium, just days after U.S. troops went into Iraq.

So, before we start trashing other city's sports traditions, we might want to do a little homework.

Speaking of which, what are some of Detroit's great sports traditions?

The Octopi on the ice is pretty original. Wonder how PETA likes that one.

Burning cars after a championship seemed to be another long-time Motown tradition.

And, what was with playing "Bennie and the Jets" at the Cobo Arena?


Oh, and didn't "the wave" have Michigan origins?