SI Picks Strasburg Over Cup Champs

Strasburg claims the cover of next week's SI

Stephen Strasburg 1, Chicago Blackhawks 0.

Less than a week after Chicago ended a 49-year Stanley Cup drought, Sports Illustrated announced that the Blackhawks won’t be gracing the magazine’s next cover when it hits news stands across America.
The NHL champs, freshly removed from a parade in downtown Chicago, were good enough to make guest appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and SportsCenter. But being the last hockey team standing this June wasn’t enough to earn the Blackhawks a spot on the cover of the nation’s premiere sports publication.
So who knocked off the Hawks?    
A guy with a 100 mph fastball and a robotic right arm.
That’s right, rather than paying homage to the NHL champs, the SI cover will honor the first two starts of Strasburg’s Major League career.  But don't worry, Chicago.  You'll get your very own Hawks cover in the Chicagoland area -- a slight consolation for a national snub.
Just like the 22 batters who struck out against Strasburg, the Hawks fell victim to the flame-throwing right-hander’s unexplainably brilliant repertoire.
Strasburg’s won two games this season. The Blackhawks won a Western Conference-best 52. And that was before the playoffs even started.
But SI thinks the Nationals’ new ace is the better story.  He’s spent the last week turning more heads in the Majors than Salma Hayek could at your local high school.
What’s interesting is that the Blackhawks aren’t without star power.  Patrick Kane, an American who scored the overtime winner, would have fit nicely on the cover, and he’s even rocking an epic mullet.
But the cabbie-loving Olympian couldn't out-shine Washington’s new mega-star.
Just imagine what will happen the first time he flirts with a no-hitter...
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