The City’s Website Has Been Taken Over By Blackhawks Fans

Screenshot via YouTube

Mayor Tom Menino is a man of his word.

After the Bruins took a huge hit in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals back in June, losing to the Chicago Blackhawks, Menino kept his end of the bargain based on a wager he placed with the rival city’s top official.

Anyone checking out the City of Boston homepage on Wednesday might notice something a little different. That’s because Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will greet them, as he details the Bruins Stanley Cup loss, and highlights all the things he adores about his own residents and what Chicago has to offer.

Posting the video to the city’s homepage was part of a larger bet made between the two elected officials prior to the face off in the finals.

The bet included sending Emanuel some of Boston’s best food offerings, handing over tickets to Theo Epstein’s “Hot Stove, Cool Music” concert, allowing Chicago to plant a tree in a schoolyard of their choosing, and, of course, giving them access to Boston’s website for one day, to post a promotional video touting Chicago and “its great attractions.”

The nearly three-minute video is a stark reminder of the last two-minutes of the Stanley Cup Finals where the Blackhawks clinched a win following what seemed like a highly improbable series of lucky plays.

Sure, watching the Blackhawks take a win during a video that’s laced with shots of them repeatedly scoring, and their fans cheering loudly while decked out in the team’s black and red colors, is grueling, but it’s not all bad.

Emanuel manages to be cordial about rubbing the loss in the faces of diehard Bruins fans.

“From one sports town to another, and one set of fans to another, I want to thank the Bruins, and the entire city of Boston, for a really, really great series,” Emanuel says in the opening of the video, before bragging about what makes the “Chicago so incredible.”

And besides, how many people will really be checking the city’s website today?