Kill Bill (Wirtz), Vol. 1

As far as utilizing the databases of the Census and such, I wasn't able to dig up anything I found particularly startling. I did manage to find a few "business patterns" for the area around the United Center, which could be broken up by zip code or county, but I'm not sure what you could really conclude from the numbers I found.

The Cook County report for 2001 said there were 23,573 total "Accomodation & Food Services" establishments. That's up from 2000's 23,423 total establishments, but still just lower than 1999's 23,579 establishments in the county. The total number of employees in the county for Accomodation & Food Services in 2001 was 416,554, which is yet another increase from the 406,601 in 2000 and the 405,927 in 1999.

Looking at the same group by ZIP code (60612), I found that there were 759 total establishments within the area. That total is lower than both 2000's 771 and 1999's 762. The number of people employed in these establishments in 2001 was also at a low for the three-year time frame with 33,292 employees compared to 33,666 in 2000 and 33,544 in 1999.

The Verizon site offered a little more help via their yellow pages but, again, nothing much.

The Blackhawks ranked 27th out of the 30 NHL teams in home attendance, which makes one wonder exactly how much local businesses are missing the NHL - especially when it is noted that the Bulls (who also play an equal 41 home games at the U.C.) draw the NBA's third highest average home attendance.

While some of the cheaper eats and drinks around the area like Kentucky Fried Chicken (1606 W. Madison St.) and Church's Fried Chicken (1755 W. Jackson Blvd.) are not as likely to take an Eddy Curry punch to the sack, spots like Billy Goat Inn (1535 W. Madison St.), Moretti's (1645 W. Jackson Blvd.), Cafe Penelope (230 S. Ashland Ave.), and Palace Grill (1408 W. Madison St.) have all benefitted from home games in the past.

With the Bulls' home opener on Friday, it should be interesting to see if the establishments in the area are really all that bothered by the lack of NHL action or if, as long as there's still NBA ball, nobody really misses the biscuit after all.

Oh, and by popular demand - Let's all watch as Derek once again gets to "Eat His Words!"