He’s co-chairman of the Congressional Hockey Caucus and has been in Washington for nearly six years, but that doesn’t mean Chicago Rep. Mike Quigley has any respect for the Washington Capitals, set to play his Chicago Blackhawks in Thursday’s outdoor “Winter Classic.”
“I was surprised the Capitals still had a team. Just haven’t heard from them very much, eh? They have this problem with the ‘P’ word: playoffs,” he sneered to the popular Capitals blog PuckBuddys.
“They’re always a team where, they may get a little streaky, but do they have enough depth? Do they have leadership at that crunch time? Do you win this game, do you win this series, do you move on; do you have people who step up at that time? I never doubted they’ve had enough talent to win the [Stanley] Cup. I’m not sure that’s the case this year,” added the Democrat.
Washington’s PuckBuddys, a gay hockey blog that describes itself as “for boys who like boys who like hockey,” pressed Quigley on whether he had a bet with the District’s congresswoman, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. But not only had she not come through with a bet suggestion, Quigley sounded disinterested in the usual offer of local food as a payoff.
In another dig at his work city, he told the blog, “See, the problem is, normally you trade food. Chicago has great hot dogs, Italian beef, cinnamon rolls from Ann Sathers, the pizza. I’m really not sure what D.C. has to offer. I’ve lived here almost six years.”
He added, “Like even their pizza. It’s like they take their pizza on the street and run a truck over it until the flavor gets beat out of it. You have to really look for good food.”
While President Obama, Washington’s most famous Chicago transplant, is golfing in Hawaii, Quigley suggested that the fellow Democrat would be cheering the Blackhawks in the Winter Classic. Chicago has the most wins in hockey, while the Caps rank 17th.
“[R]emind the president: this is a team universally supported across Chicago with a very diversified base. I took a bike ride a year ago from the Lake to past Wrigley. I went through the Latino section, the Boys Town section, to South Port, which is young professional area. Every street, everyone wearing Blackhawk jerseys. He’s an eight-year resident of D.C., eventually he’ll come home to Chicago,” said the lawmaker.
Quigley doesn’t just talk hockey and the Blackhawks, but he is a player and will join in Tuesday’s VIP game being played at Nationals Park, home to the city’s baseball team.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
