It’s been a solid week-or-so for charmingly guileless displays by hockey figures at Chicago MLB games.
First, there was Don Cherry flubbing (or editorializing, if he was going pro-Blue Jays?) “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at a Chicago Cubs game. Then, on Wednesday, Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville biffed the first pitch at a Chicago White Sox game. To his credit, he handled the poor pitch with good humor, as NBC Chicago reports.
“I’m a little embarassed; I haven’t thrown a baseball in a while,” Quenneville said. “That was brutal, that was awful. You could say that was a bad, bad shot or like a fan on a (hockey) shot.”
Here’s footage of the throw:
.@NHLBlackhawks coach Joel Quenneville threw out the 1st pitch before tonight's White Sox game, it was just a biiiiiiit outside. pic.twitter.com/pgVuobK4dZ
— Stadium (@Stadium) August 24, 2017
Yeah, that’s bad.
Then again, “brutal” might be overstating it, or at least highlighting how jaded bad first pitches and mangled national anthems have become.
Honestly, you can only give Coach Q so much guff when you compare it to Carly Rae Jepsen’s effort:
And, really, any moment of singing at a sports game sounds angelic compared to Carl Lewis’ unforgettable anthem:
(Actually, it seems like Lewis is the Bo Jackson of these things, as his first pitch was Jepsen-esque, and at a White Sox game to boot.)
Anyway, it’s been a tough off-season for the Blackhawks, with Niklas Hjalmarsson now in Arizona and Coach Q assistant Mike Kitchen canned. Quenneville probably prefers the “brutal” of a bad first pitch, all things considered.
And for the rest of us, we’ll all have that wonderful Getty Image of Quenneville’s first pitch. Good stuff.