McDonough and Bowmans have a summer wedding

Get me rewrite. Make it ChicagoNow On Second Thought. It became an issue for Tallon Tuesday when he was fired by McDonough and replaced by Stan Bowman, who arguably wouldn't have the job if he wasn't Scotty's son and a bloodline heir to the genuis throne.

In other words, thoroughbred replaces nag.

Bowman (Stan) has been in the Hawks organization for years and ascended before now to assistant GM, but it was McDonough--who was no more than a hockey fan like you and me--that hired the legendary Scotty to help him behind the scenes with hockey decisions because he needed cover on not being a blueblooded hockey genius. Duh!

Get it. McDonough, marketing genius, marries the Bowmans, hockey geniuses on ice and off. My, God, this is the wedding of the summer. This is the NHL's version of Brad and Angelina and the McBowmans plan to adopt more talent for the family regularly.

Most bloggers (excluding me, I know) understood from the outset that this meant son, Stan, would be in and hanger-on, Dale, would be out. Hell, Denis Savard knew it, too, and wouldn't let loose with the news. Just a matter of when Dale forgot to empty the waste baskets on time or refill the office water cooler.

This scenario has played out for many months on blogs and won't be a surprise to these experts who characterized it as a done deal long ago. They had the good sense never to take McDonough at his word.

Let's play amateur shrink and look at McDonough deconstructing the relationship he had with Tallon.

"Maybe my reputation of being very aggressive and very assertive added to it," he said of reported front office clashes with Tallon. "Dale's approach is a little different, but he gets the job done."

By different, McDonough explained that he meant "Dale's laid-back and an easy-going guy. So I think some misrepresented it as a rift in the organization when there wasn't. My coming to the Blackhawks was a shock to some."

Especially a shock to Savard and Tallon, both fired under McDonough's watch as he obviously was told by advisers such as Scotty that they weren't up to genius mode.

They weren't aggressive and assertive and impatient. Like most hockey people, they were nice guys. Well, to hell with that. No more nice guys around here.

Speaking of that, interesting to see that Daily Herald columnist Barry Rozner is out with an argument that Tallon was bad-mouthing McDonough around hockey as a nightmare to work for in recent months and it got back to McDonough, creating tension between them.

Interesting only because it was well known when I covered the Cubs for 11 years that McDonough was a well-placed source for Rozner. That is, when Rozner wasn't just making it up with no sources at all. You can't blame McDonough for all the rot.

But read Rozner with care. McDonough might have planted some land mines there.

Myself, I can't blame McDonough for doing what he sees fit, even if Scotty is whispering sweet nothings in his ear. Rocky Wirtz hired him to shape up a chaotic situation and there is no way to argue with the success that McDonough has had so far.

It's jarring to see Tallon jettisoned just weeks after the euphoria of a Western Conference finals appearance by the Hawks. But McDonough will use that as proof nothing can be a substitute for a championship and more heads will roll if need be. Full speed ahead. Fire the slackers.

It would be advisable on the way to a title not to mislead fans and reporters by supporting Tallon weeks before he fires him, but that is a sporting tradition, too. The story is seldom, really never, told of what's happening behind closed doors, because it would reveal one hell of a mess of egos and jealousies and pettiness. All that real life stuff.

This is McDonough's baby. It might not be a baby you can love. More like Rosemary's baby from hell. But if he has to get to the Stanley Cup by burying a few bodies along the way, so be it.

As an executive, McDonough has Mike Keenan traits, and that's both a compliment and a curse.