By Paul M. Banks
As the Chicago Blackhawks took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Vancouver Canucks Friday night, all eyes were on “Captain Serious” Jonathan Toews. “Taser” had 3 goals and 2 assists Friday night, leading the Hawks to a HUGE 7-4 win over Vancouver. So as everyone in the second city deems Toews the new local deity, you’ll hear a lot of people using the phrase “Don’t Toews me bro.” Therefore, I need to remind everyone who first published these four words.
Toews had the second hat trick in as many games for the Chi. Two days prior, it was Dustin Byfuglien’s Roberto Luongo-intruding performance that led to three goals and a Game 3 win. Prior to Byfuglien and Toews, the Hawks last road hat trick was accomplished in 1972 by Bobby Hull.
Toews’ five-point outing now gives him a postseason-leading 18, more than Detroit’s Johan Franzen and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby. The five points also tied a Blackhawks record for a single playoff game; also accomplished by Stan Mikita in 1973 and Steve Larmer in 1990.
Patrick Sharp added a goal and 3 assists for Chicago, which will look to wrap up this series at the United Center on Sunday night.
But back to the main point at hand, I started saying “Don’t Toews me Bro” back in early ’08, check out this NBC 5 street Team blog with that exact title- dated December 3rd, 2008. You’ll also see I brought the phrase back for the playoffs in this article on NBC Chicago.com dated April 22nd, 2009 entitled “Don’t Toews Calgary, Bro.”
Now if you Google the phrase that pays, you’ll see a couple of my blogs on the first page of Google, but the first entry actually mentions Comcast Sports Net’s Pat Boyle saying it on the air. I’ve noticed he uses the phrase about as liberally as any television commentator these days, but he wasn’t using it in late 08/early 09. Now I’m sure he didn’t actually “steal it” from me, he just picked it up somewhere along the way.
Also on the first page of Google are t-shirts with this phrase printed on it (can I get a free one? I think if anyone deserves a free one it’s me) and a Facebook group with the same name.
Now I’m not asking for much, no royalties or lawsuit settlements or anything like that. I just want credit where credit is due; especially during this era when people are avidly discussing tasers. You know that whole Phillies fan incident.
While we’re at it, why don’t we re-live the event that started this whole thing.