Greatest Show On Earth Moving Dates?

As fans of the Bulls and Blackhawks know, there are two occasions every year that force their teams to take extended road trips, usually out West. The Ringling Brothers Circus in November and Disney on Ice in February always take up stake in the United Center for a couple of weeks, costing the arenas inhabitants the luxury of a home crowd for an extended period. It's nothing new. This is how it's been for years. In fact, my first trip ever to the United Center consisted of that very circus the year the place opened (I was five). I remember it happened in late November, so I've known the time of year the circus visits for most of my life.

What's the point of all this? Well apparently, Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz is currently talking with the circus about changing the dates they can inhabit his building and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is all for it. They might even get Disney on Ice to change their dates too, something they like to accomplish. For now though, let's focus on the circus aspect and why dumping it would be beneficial to the Bulls.

During the championship years, the Bulls would breeze through that part of their schedule just like any other, losing only a couple of those games at most. Afterwards however, there would be seasons where the young and inexperienced team would fail to win even once on that trip. With the trip being scheduled so early in the season, guys were still getting used to each other and losing all those games couldn't have done very much for team morale. Even last year, the 62-win Bulls could only manage a 4-3 record. And that was their best mark on the trip in years. See what I'm getting at here?

I would not be sad to see the circus trip go. Having to go on the road for a couple of weeks is one thing, but doing it when the team is still finding their groove is quite another. I certainly respect what the circus has done over the course of its long history, but there has to be another time of year that they can come to Chicago so as not to do a disservice to the teams that play in town. Disney on Ice actually comes to town twice a year, the other time being the end of summer, but they should get ready to receive a call from Wirtz pretty soon too. Dump the trips, let the teams have their arena throughout the season and give us, the fans, those two weeks to spend our money to watch dunks and goals, not elephants and Mickey.