Playoff Lawn
This is the sign on the lawn of Frank Miller. He has wowed to not cut his lawn until the Blackhawks win the cup. His 'Hawks take on the Bruins in the Stanley Cup final starting on Wednesday. Video Screenshot

So fans and players alike have always engaged in superstitions and/or weird traditions for certain events. In hockey, it’s common for players to not shave during the playoffs. The Kansas City Royals baseball team received a shipment of BBQ sauce and has kept that BBQ sauce in their clubhouse during their recent winning streak.

One Chicago man did something to support his team and the city had to get involved.

Frank Miller of Park Ridge, Ill., decided that he will not cut his lawn during the Chicago Blackhawks playoff run. Think of it as a hockey player not cutting their beard … just instead of a player, it’s a front and sidewalk lawn.

“It makes people laugh,” Miller said on Tuesday. “How often does a Chicago team make the playoffs in any sport?”

The Blackhawks are taking on the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final, which begins on Wednesday. The Blackhawks are the last team to bring the city of Chicago a championship when they won the Stanley Cup in 2010.

The idea of not cutting his grass just came to Miller one day. After a flood in his neighborhood in April, Miller did not cut his grass as he focused on cleaning his basement and crawl space.

The grass continued to grow after the flooding, and as friends and co-workers made fun of him about his swamp-like grass, Miller had an idea. He created a chalkboard sign that read, “Won’t cut until Hawks win cup!”

Miller’s grass grew to an estimated 23 inches until the city of Chicago paid him a visit on May 23.

“I was watching the playoffs one night with my son and hear a lawn mower going off, and I come outside, ‘What are you doing?’ The guy was cutting my lawn with a giant industrial-sized mower, and he said that the city had come and paid him to cut my lawn,” Miller told NBC 5 Chicago.

About a week earlier, a city inspector sent Miller a notice informing him that he needed to comply with the lawn height ordinance of the city. Violators of the ordinance have five to seven days to cut their grass down to an appropriate level or the city of Chicago sends a contractor to do the rigorous job. The homeowner also has to foot the bill of the lawn trimming, which could run anywhere from $65 to $90.

“This was done as a fun-type activity for him … as a sporting ritual,” said Park Ridge environmental health officer Laura Dee. “It just so happens the [ritual] he chose is a pretty big health code violation in the middle of summer.”

Miller has yet to receive a bill from the city but he intends to pay it in full.

While Miller is receiving praise from some in his suburban Chicago neighborhood, others are not so enthused.

“I wanted him to cut it,” said Herman Czapla, Miller’s neighbor from a couple of blocks away. “It looked ugly.”

Watch Miller discuss his lawn below: