Non-American White Sox Fans

[Feeky Magee]

Thought it'd be fun to have a thread for the non-American Sox fans, to share experiences of following the Pale Hose outside of the States.

 

I got into baseball and the White Sox through a mixture of insomnia and football (soccer). I always found myself awake at 4am when there was nothing happening in my time zone. Baseball had a reputation of being boring from what little I had discussed of it with friends and the couple of times I'd seen it I'd been fairly perplexed by the rules. However my nocturnalism forced my hand and I started watching more of it, not regularly though, and without a team there was no hook. This was in 2011 and my football team, Manchester United, were on a pre-season tour of America. I was watching MUTV and they showed club captain Gary Neville throwing the first pitch at the Cell (

). I watched the game that night and the Sox beat the A's 9-4 behind Mark Buehrle, with home-runs from Adam Dunn (hitting .178 at the time) and Paul Konerko (.318). I loved the way Buehrle pitched, and I was hooked.

 

Living in Ireland, there wasn't many places selling baseball stuff. My first Sox purchase was from eBay, a baseball signed by Adam Dunn. This was a mixture of economics (I was a poorly student and for aforementioned reasons Dunn stuff was dirt cheap) and feelings of pity for Dunn, who was getting booed at the time. I was actually a little disappointed when Dunn fell something like 4 plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title and therefore officially the worst offensive season in modern baseball, it would have been a kind of morbidly cool tribute! I later got a second-hand Sox pinstripe jersey, on eBay too. Next on my wishlist for when I have a bit more money is this bad-boy: http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=23867366

 

Watching the Sox is 99% internet streams, I used to get the odd game (usually versus the Yankees or Red Sox) on ESPN America, which came free with our TV package at home at the time, but not anymore. Very occasionally now when there's a Sox game on ESPN America and I'm in a bar which has it and nobody else is watching anything, I can get them to put it on. Unlike American football, there is little or no baseball following in Ireland. I'd say about 10-15% of my friends have an American football team, but the only baseball fans I know here were either born in America or have family there.

 

I keep in touch with baseball through the internet and podcasts (Baseball America, White Sox Weekly, Up And In (Baseball Prospectus, sadly discontinued), Effectively Wild (also Baseball Prospectus)). I've gotten really into the world of the draft, which doesn't happen in sports over here, and prospects, which is a much more interesting area in baseball than in sports over here. I'm also fascinated by concepts like service time, arbitration, free agency etc. which also don't apply. For example, my two main sports are football (soccer) and hurling (brilliant Irish game involving sticks, a small ball, and carnage). In football, straight swaps of players are rare and sides usually buy players for cash. Although players are frequently accused of greed, it'd be funny to see what it'd be if it was like it is in baseball, where as far as I can see the player usually takes the biggest contract, regardless of how close the team are to winning. In football, the best players aspire to be on the teams who can win soon, although often (but not always) they'll also be the teams paying most. In hurling, every player is amateur and plays for the county (equivalent of state) they are from. So Mike Trout would play for New Jersey for his whole career and also not be paid.

 

I haven't been to a game yet but I'll be starting a new college course in September, allowing me to get a student visa to the US for the summer of 2015 where hopefully I'll be able to get to a game or ten for the pennant-contending White Sox!

 

So, foreign White Sox fans, how did you get into baseball/the White Sox?

How do you follow the sport/watch the games?

Have you attended a game/do you hope to?

What's your experience like in general of following the Sox from abroad?

 

P.S. This board has also been a great help in following the White Sox, between this, Twitter and the excellent writing on SouthSideSox, all my needs are covered, and I'm grateful.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Feeky Magee

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Very cool stuff. I love hearing about how people from non-baseball areas come to find our sport, and ESPECIALLY our team, since we are not even big in our own country (or city, really).

 

I think we now have 2 Irish lads here, the other being Jolly. Or Joxer? I can't remember exact right now, but he's been around here over the past year.

 

Not to go off topic, but my heritage is very Irish, I had family living there, and I've visited before, so it's extra cool to see fans from Ireland on these boards.

 

Anyway, carry on.

[Feeky Magee]

Very cool stuff. I love hearing about how people from non-baseball areas come to find our sport, and ESPECIALLY our team, since we are not even big in our own country (or city, really).

 

I think we now have 2 Irish lads here, the other being Jolly. Or Joxer? I can't remember exact right now, but he's been around here over the past year.

 

Not to go off topic, but my heritage is very Irish, I had family living there, and I've visited before, so it's extra cool to see fans from Ireland on these boards.

 

Anyway, carry on.

Nice, what part?

[jamesdiego]

Good read. Like hearing about foreign fans and their take on our sports. Not sure if you'll get alot of replies from other foreigners as I'm not sure there are a ton of white sox fans.

 

Interesting that 10-15% of your friends like our Football. And very interesting that Hurling over there is completely amateur. That they play for their home areas is pretty cool and must make rivalries crazy with pride. Saw some videos on youtube, looks intense. My grandpa was a fan, he was born in Ireland. From the southwest, I think Galway

[Leonard Washington]

So, foreign White Sox fans, how did you get into baseball/the White Sox?

 

I've loved baseball since I was a little kid. It was always my Dad's sport, so I just naturally followed suit. Being from Toronto, he was/is a Jays fan (he grew up a Brooklyn/LA fan, but adopted the Jays when they became a team), but I remember having a really cool 1991 Bobby Thigpen Upper Deck baseball card, and from there I started to follow him and the Sox. Kind of funny how one stupid little thing like a baseball card can turn into what will be a lifetime obsession.

 

 

How do you follow the sport/watch the games?

Well I don't live overseas, obviously, so it's not as difficult as living in Ireland. Toronto has their own MLB team, so the league gets a fair amount of coverage here in the mainstream news. There's also the internet, which is obviously a big one. I also am a MLB.tv subscriber, so I stream the games through Apple TV and it works pretty fantastic, I have to say. If I'm not home while the game is on, I just follow along via Gameday using my phone. I know I could just watch it when I get home, but I have a weird thing about not wanting to watch a game that's already happened. I need to follow it live.

 

 

Have you attended a game/do you hope to?

I've actually only ever been to one game, which was when it was still called New Comiskey. It was a great game, though. Frank Thomas, who had become my favourite player (I actually managed to book my Cooperstown trip to see him inducted!) hit what was the longest home run in the park's history (at the time) off of Johan Santana and the Sox won. I have the recap and boxscore from the next day's newspaper framed. When the Sox are in Toronto, I try to go to as many of the games as I can. I made it to three last year.

 

 

What's your experience like in general of following the Sox from abroad?

For the most part it's good. I've never met another Sox fan here, but there's a surprising number of people that know their share of baseball. The Sox aren't really a rival of any kind for Jays fans, so they're more of an afterthought in people's minds here. People have taken a shine to Buehrle, though, so it's easy to have that in common with them. I saw him and a few of his buddies out at the place called The Underground last season, and I swear he rolls with a crew straight out of Duck Dynasty. Anyways, the only real downside is Jays fans can be pretty belligerent to opposing fans at games, but it doesn't really bother me. The only other downside is that hockey takes up the majority of all sports coverage, even in the offseason.

[Jake]

A line of my family traces its roots back to Newmarket in County Cork where they farmed about 100 acres of land it seems until the 1860s. From what we can tell, they had lived in Garrison (now on the border to N. Ireland) until somebody in the family stole a horse and the rest of the family got the hell out of there. After Newmarket, most of the family moved to Cappamore near Limerick.

 

From there, my great-great-grandfather moved to Chicago to become a lightweight prize fighter. There are some official records of how he did, but they are bafflingly contradictory. Two newspapers would report opposite results. We have a picture of him wearing a belt, but we are unsure of the significance. We don't think, at least by the time he finished, that he very far over .500. He did it to make a living. His son played for the White Sox's farm teams for a while back in the 1930s. We have a picture of him playing for the big club's Spring Training team somewhere. He had been invited to stay on as the big league backup, but the time in Pasadena made him very homesick and he came back to Chicago and played in local leagues before quitting entirely. Sadly, I'm told, this part of the family was entirely Cubs-oriented.

[Feeky Magee]

Good read. Like hearing about foreign fans and their take on our sports. Not sure if you'll get alot of replies from other foreigners as I'm not sure there are a ton of white sox fans.

 

Interesting that 10-15% of your friends like our Football. And very interesting that Hurling over there is completely amateur. That they play for their home areas is pretty cool and must make rivalries crazy with pride. Saw some videos on youtube, looks intense. My grandpa was a fan, he was born in Ireland. From the southwest, I think Galway

Yeah I'm heading to a Superbowl party tomorrow night, should be about 20 people there.

 

Hurling is an incredible sport. If anyone is looking for footage to initiate them, last year's All-Ireland final is a good place to start, considered one of the greatest of all-time, between my Clare and the county I'm living in now, Cork. The first match was dramatic enough (brilliant finish for a draw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-UiOnVMCC8) but the replay was something else, here it is in its entirety in HD for anyone who's interested:

It was a privilege to be there.

 

Galway had a bad year.

 

A line of my family traces its roots back to Newmarket in County Cork where they farmed about 100 acres of land it seems until the 1860s. From what we can tell, they had lived in Garrison (now on the border to N. Ireland) until somebody in the family stole a horse and the rest of the family got the hell out of there. After Newmarket, most of the family moved to Cappamore near Limerick.

 

From there, my great-great-grandfather moved to Chicago to become a lightweight prize fighter. There are some official records of how he did, but they are bafflingly contradictory. Two newspapers would report opposite results. We have a picture of him wearing a belt, but we are unsure of the significance. We don't think, at least by the time he finished, that he very far over .500. He did it to make a living. His son played for the White Sox's farm teams for a while back in the 1930s. We have a picture of him playing for the big club's Spring Training team somewhere. He had been invited to stay on as the big league backup, but the time in Pasadena made him very homesick and he came back to Chicago and played in local leagues before quitting entirely. Sadly, I'm told, this part of the family was entirely Cubs-oriented.

Newmarket is less than an hour from me. A fine town. Used to go out with a girl from there. You'll be proud to know that the fine tradition of horse-stealing continues to this day in Limerick!

Edited February 1, 2014 by Feeky Magee

[JoshPR]

This thread is cool, good job, i don't consider myself forein, but good reading about others

[rowand's rowdies]

I wonder how the most famous non American White Sox fan became one, Barack Obama

[Kyyle23]

I wonder how the most famous non American White Sox fan became one, Barack Obama

 

Terrible

[Buehrle>Wood]

We had a poster from England. Deploderer I think. He's gone now though. I think Joxer Daly is Irish.

[Feeky Magee]

Cool stuff Feeky. My mom's family is from County Kerry and I feel they would be hard pressed to find a White Sox fan up there. Amazing that you can still show dedication to the team with everything being against you in terms of time zones.

 

I am sure this thread will attract the eyes of all of the White Sox fans outside of Chicagoland (And mods if this is inappropriate my apologies and obviously feel free to delete my post) so I should say, I have been using this site when I am away from home. It's called vipbox. tv but no spaces in the URL. It's a foreign server that hosts just about every sports game it can. The feeds are not always perfect but it's surely better than nothing. I watch UFCs, NFL Redzone and Sox games when I am at class during a game. Makes watching game a lot easier when TV is not an option. I hope some of you can reap the benefits from this wonderful site.

Whereabouts? My father's family are from Kerry.

 

Yep, vipbox is exactly what I use. There's other ones that have better streams but vip is reliable to have the Sox on 9 times out of 10.

[ScottyDo]

Yeah I'm heading to a Superbowl party tomorrow night, should be about 20 people there.

 

Hurling is an incredible sport. If anyone is looking for footage to initiate them, last year's All-Ireland final is a good place to start, considered one of the greatest of all-time, between my Clare and the county I'm living in now, Cork. The first match was dramatic enough (brilliant finish for a draw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-UiOnVMCC8) but the replay was something else, here it is in its entirety in HD for anyone who's interested:

It was a privilege to be there.

 

Galway had a bad year.

 

 

Newmarket is less than an hour from me. A fine town. Used to go out with a girl from there. You'll be proud to know that the fine tradition of horse-stealing continues to this day in Limerick!

Woah I am really digging Hurling all of the sudden. That is one awesome-seeming sport. Keep posting, man!

[Joxer_Daly]

Woah I am really digging Hurling all of the sudden. That is one awesome-seeming sport. Keep posting, man!

 

 

It was only made compulsory to wear helmets a few years ago. Great sport - I played it as a young fella.

 

I am, as some posters have already pointed out, also Irish; from Dublin. I support Dublin in Gaelic Football (another great sport) and Hurling. In soccer, I support Celtic Football Club in Glasgow. I have season tickets for both Dublin and Celtic.

 

I got into baseball entirely randomly a few years ago when I started watching it out of the blue one evening.

 

I subscribed to MLB.tv last year but, to be honest, the amount of games I was able to watch live due to the time difference, work and family commitments really doesn't justify the cost, so I'd say I'll probably cancel that for this year. Soxtalk is a great help and a good way of keeping up to speed, although I've found it's been difficult to find the time over the past few months. I haven't really been around here as much as I would have liked for quite a while. SouthsideSox and podcasts are a good help as well. I hope to get the time to check in here a bit more regularly for the new season - can't wait for it to be up and running again.

 

I haven't attended a game - I've never been to the U.S. - but would really love to at some stage.

 

My experience of following the Sox from Ireland is 'Thank Jaysus for the internet!!' I do know a couple of guys that are into the baseball - indeed, one is also a Sox fan, one a Red Sox, one a Cubs man from a summer he spent in Chicago, and my uncle is a Yankees man. Funnily, I only became aware of their interest after I had developed my own. The time difference is the worst thing in terms of actually being able to watch games as well as balancing work, family life, and my other sporting interests.

 

It's been really great so far, I'm glad I joined Soxtalk, and I'm glad that I chose the White Sox as my team.

 

Let's Go, Go Go White Sox!!!

[The Ultimate Champion]

I wonder how the most famous non American White Sox fan became one, Barack Obama

lol

 

best post ever

 

btw football sucks, otoh the kitten bowl so far has been pretty entertaining

[zenryan]

Terrible

 

 

yes, your sense of humor is terrible.

[LittleHurt05]

I've loved baseball since I was a little kid. It was always my Dad's sport, so I just naturally followed suit. Being from Toronto, he was/is a Jays fan (he grew up a Brooklyn/LA fan, but adopted the Jays when they became a team), but I remember having a really cool 1991 Bobby Thigpen Upper Deck baseball card, and from there I started to follow him and the Sox. Kind of funny how one stupid little thing like a baseball card can turn into what will be a lifetime obsession. Well I don't live overseas, obviously, so it's not as difficult as living in Ireland. Toronto has their own MLB team, so the league gets a fair amount of coverage here in the mainstream news. There's also the internet, which is obviously a big one. I also am a MLB.tv subscriber, so I stream the games through Apple TV and it works pretty fantastic, I have to say. If I'm not home while the game is on, I just follow along via Gameday using my phone. I know I could just watch it when I get home, but I have a weird thing about not wanting to watch a game that's already happened. I need to follow it live. I've actually only ever been to one game, which was when it was still called New Comiskey. It was a great game, though. Frank Thomas, who had become my favourite player (I actually managed to book my Cooperstown trip to see him inducted!) hit what was the longest home run in the park's history (at the time) off of Johan Santana and the Sox won. I have the recap and boxscore from the next day's newspaper framed. When the Sox are in Toronto, I try to go to as many of the games as I can. I made it to three last year. For the most part it's good. I've never met another Sox fan here, but there's a surprising number of people that know their share of baseball. The Sox aren't really a rival of any kind for Jays fans, so they're more of an afterthought in people's minds here. People have taken a shine to Buehrle, though, so it's easy to have that in common with them. I saw him and a few of his buddies out at the place called The Underground last season, and I swear he rolls with a crew straight out of Duck Dynasty. Anyways, the only real downside is Jays fans can be pretty belligerent to opposing fans at games, but it doesn't really bother me. The only other downside is that hockey takes up the majority of all sports coverage, even in the offseason.

 

I was there in April for a bachelor party, everybody we asked about where to go said "Go to the Underground, it's where the Blue Jays hang out!". They were on a road trip, but we still hit it up, your comment just reminded me of that.

 

 

[Kyyle23]

yes, your sense of humor is terrible.

 

Pffft

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Nice, what part?

 

Well, my family lived in Dublin. Ballsbridge, to be exact. But when we visited we traveled all around the outside of the country. Went to counties Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Waterford, Gallway, Limerick, all over. We saw Cliffs of Mohr, Blarney Stone, Ring of Kerry, Guinness Factory (although I stayed home for some reason that day), and a bunch of ruined castles.

[Joxer_Daly]

Well, my family lived in Dublin. Ballsbridge, to be exact. But when we visited we traveled all around the outside of the country. Went to counties Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Waterford, Gallway, Limerick, all over. We saw Cliffs of Mohr, Blarney Stone, Ring of Kerry, Guinness Factory (although I stayed home for some reason that day), and a bunch of ruined castles.

 

Ballsbridge? I know it well. Quite a salubrious part of the city. I'm a bit further out past there.

[NorthSideSox72]

There is a Mod on this site who is from Australia (DBAH0). There is also another mod and FutureSox writer in the UK (ozzie ball).

 

[NorthSideSox72]

There is also at least one poster from Spain, can't remember his handle.

 

ETA: I found this site while I was overseas myself. I was in India on business for nearly a month, and bored out of my mind in the evenings, so I stumbled upon this one during the White Sox pennant run in 2005. Was a great way to connect to the community when far away from it.

 

[witesoxfan]

I wonder how the most famous non American White Sox fan became one, Barack Obama

 

This is hilarious.

[Joxer_Daly]

There is also at least one poster from Spain, can't remember his handle.

 

ETA: I found this site while I was overseas myself. I was in India on business for nearly a month, and bored out of my mind in the evenings, so I stumbled upon this one during the White Sox pennant run in 2005. Was a great way to connect to the community when far away from it.

 

 

And, what a year to make the connection too.

[Feeky Magee]

Well, my family lived in Dublin. Ballsbridge, to be exact. But when we visited we traveled all around the outside of the country. Went to counties Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Waterford, Gallway, Limerick, all over. We saw Cliffs of Mohr, Blarney Stone, Ring of Kerry, Guinness Factory (although I stayed home for some reason that day), and a bunch of ruined castles.

I've lived in exactly half of those counties. And if you were at the Cliffs of Moher, that makes it over half, because they're in Clare! West Cork and Kerry are stunning parts of the world.