I have long held that Chicago sports fans are some of the most passionate and intelligent fans in the country.  I still stand by that and last night helped to prove my thoughts.  Here is how the crowd reacted to the different personalities that turned out to support the Hawks at last night’s playoff contest:

Sports figures from other Chicago teams offered good-luck messages to the Hawks throughout the evening on the video board. Mixed reaction to Hawk Harrelson. Cheers for Ryan Dempster, a Canadian and an acknowledged hockey fan. A mixture of cheers, boos and “Lous” for Lou Piniella. Indifference toward Kirk Hinrich and Israel Idonije. And a huge roar for Ozzie Guillen.

I’m fairly confident that the “boos” for Lou were in fact all “Lous”, since that is the common cheer for him and there would be no reason to boo him.  While most of these would seem obvious, like Ozzie and Lou being fan favorites and Kirk and Idonije being non-factors on their respective teams, you would be surprised at how ignorant fans in other cities are.  Also, this may be more of a testament to the intelligence of Hawks fans, who are known for being great fans.  Either way I thought it was interesting that someone documented the reactions.  You have to think Kirk will be gone soon and if Hawk wasn’t a part owner of the Sox he would be on the way out as well.

h/t: Reader Andrew Jay for bringing this bit of information to my attention.