NBC Sports Chicago White Sox anchor and sideline reporter Chuck Garfien interviewed 2005 World Series champ Paul Konerko on the latest episode of the White Sox Talk podcast.
Of several hockey-related topics discussed, Konerko made some interesting points when comparing the 2010 Blackhawks to the '05 Sox with Tuesday being the 10-year anniversary of Chicago's 2010 Stanley Cup championship.
For what the teams had in common, the 2005 ALCS MVP pointed to how each club ended long championship droughts, the Hawks' lasted 49 years and the Sox, 88.
"Just that excitement and anticipation of, 'What's it going to look like if we win?', kind of thing. Because everybody hadn't seen it in so long," said Konerko, who skated as a center and right wing before playing baseball. "For us, it was forever, there were a lot of people that weren't even alive [the last time] and the Blackhawks it was a ways [too].
"Just that anticipation of, 'What's the city going to look like? What's the new world going to look like with the Blackhawks winning it?' [It was] just like for us because you had to go back so far."
For the six-time MLB All-Star, the squads differed in how they were each structured.
"Their team was different because I think they were built, and they knew it, like, 'This team's going to be good for a while,' and they were better than good for a while," Konerko said. "Their team was sustainable with all the stars and that kind of stuff. You could tell that they were going to be good because of the four or five kind of core players they had [and that] they were going to be good for a long time."
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