Jump to content

Do you still get pleasure out of rooting for a particular sports team?


VAfan

Recommended Posts

53 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

This story really expresses how I feel about things right now. Don't know who this person is but these feelings I can relate to:

https://www.southsidesox.com/2023/4/22/23693637/chicago-white-sox-enuui

W0W, that was pretty much what I would like to say if I could . well done to whoever wrote it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

This story really expresses how I feel about things right now. Don't know who this person is but these feelings I can relate to:

https://www.southsidesox.com/2023/4/22/23693637/chicago-white-sox-enuui


It doesn’t help that there isn’t a single likable person on this team outside of maybe Burger.

 

I agree with the author.  I’ve moved on.  I moved on when they started this rebuild without first cleaning house.  I knew back then what would happen.  I’m amazed they got one division win out of it.

 

Life is too short when your entertainment is no longer entertaining.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, White Sox Park said:

Listening to the Blackhawks, on the radio, back in the 60's, when they were at the stadium, was the closest thing to a religious experience for me back then . my catholic grade school didn't do much for me, but hockey did . especially when they won . Bobby Hull was a god to me . I loved sports, and for me, it was hockey, baseball, and football, in that order . my dad only liked the White Sox, and we went to a lot of games, before he died when I was 10 . I don't remember much now, but I do remember punching holes in my bedroom wall because of the bears, back in the early 70's, but I was passionate about all 3 of those teams . now, since my cognitive abilities are waning, I really don't feel much anymore, but I still watch the games.

Remember Bobby Douglas? A lefty who threw passes, one speed, 100MPH! His throws were almost not catchable. What a great RB he was as IIRC he was as big as a horse. Sorry to digress

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Tony said:

I’m excited about the upcoming Bears season and hopefully the seasons that follow. 
 

Aside from that, there isn’t much in this city to get excited about, and that’s the problem. The last 5-6 years have been dreadful in this city. Our teams suck. All of them. We’ve forgotten what’s it’s like to have a real shot to win something. 
 

Once we have that, the feelings will come back. 

I too am excited about the upcoming Bears draft and season and future seasons. The reason is because of new hope with a new fresh mind in GM Ryan Poles. 

The correlation I will make is at least George McCaskey is trying to get the GM position right. After the 2011 season, Bears GM Jerry Angelo was fired. In 2012 Rick Hahn was promoted to GM of the Sox. Of course the next two GM's for the Bears were disasters, but at least the owner changed GM's two more times in an attempt to get it right. Time will tell if Poles is the right man. I hope he is, but there is not guarantee. However my point is, look at the Sox owner and GM situation. It's 2023 and the same Sox GM is here since 2012. The results have been a debacle and the Sox owner continues to care less and not make any change. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, White Sox Park said:

Listening to the Blackhawks, on the radio, back in the 60's, when they were at the stadium, was the closest thing to a religious experience for me back then . my catholic grade school didn't do much for me, but hockey did . especially when they won . Bobby Hull was a god to me . I loved sports, and for me, it was hockey, baseball, and football, in that order . my dad only liked the White Sox, and we went to a lot of games, before he died when I was 10 . I don't remember much now, but I do remember punching holes in my bedroom wall because of the bears, back in the early 70's, but I was passionate about all 3 of those teams . now, since my cognitive abilities are waning, I really don't feel much anymore, but I still watch the games.

Yep, the Blackhawks of the 1960’s were really something special, original 6 Hockey at its best, the rivalries were intense, we fans knew every player in league as there were no helmets or masks. Every game was like a playoff game.  Blackhawk tickets were like gold but somehow someway we always found a way to get in to a game at the Madhouse on Madison. In 1963 and 64 while still in high school my best buddy and I bought season tickets for the last 7 games of the regular season that insured us playoff tickets of course at 1.5 times the price of regular season games. We always had dates on Friday night as Saturdays nights were reserved for Hawk games on WGN, most of the time from Montreal or Toronto.

Edited by The Mighty Mite
  • Like 3
  • Fire 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still root for my teams - the White Sox, Bears and Blackhawks. My problem is - more often than not my teams seem to be in teardown rebuilds and in a state where I kind of need to root for them to lose for draft positioning. Like the Blackhawks chasing Connor Bedard this past season. Or the Bears getting the #1 pick. And the Sox had their rebuild a few years ago. The ownerships and management of Chicago professinal sports team has been really bad in recent years.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a big sports fan, I was citing numbers and filling out - and winning - my dad's work pick 'em league when I was a kid, that's probably always going to be a big part of my identity. Maybe more specifically I will always be a Chicago sports fan (South side version, of course) regardless of where I live. However, the 2014 Bears season broke something in me and caused an irreversible change in my relationship with the teams and how I spend my energy - I think that's the closest I got to quitting fandom, but that's not what ended up happening, I just grew some emotional distance from them. When the Bears started showing signs of life again I came right back, but there's like a buffer there now, I don't let them get me that upset anymore. Disappointed, sure, but not angry, I'll just move on with my day. At the time we had the Thibodeau-era post-Rose injury try-hard Bulls, and that was a whole other thing that fizzled out, but once the Bulls became an embarrassing shitshow with the Butler/Wade/Rondo situation it was pretty easy to just not care, or at least more than it probably would've been in previous years. I was legitimately excited for the White Sox fully committing to the rebuild (although like others mentioned, I was not happy with the TLR hire and it dampened my enjoyment) and when they appeared to turn a corner, and now that this appears to fizzling out I think I'm more annoyed than anything. Annoyed that it feels like a chore to watch them, I have an mlb.tv subscription (shoutout to T-Mobile) but a lot of time just can't be bothered to load the app because I know there are better things I could be doing with my time. Annoyed that they can't even just tear it down and try another rebuild like the Bears are doing, we are stuck with these mid ass players. Assuming some total reversal in this team's performance isn't coming, I know I can't last to the end of the season, and probably not the All-Star break, I'm wondering if I'll even make it to Memorial Day at this rate.

  • Hawk 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, lostfan said:

I'm a big sports fan, I was citing numbers and filling out - and winning - my dad's work pick 'em league when I was a kid, that's probably always going to be a big part of my identity. Maybe more specifically I will always be a Chicago sports fan (South side version, of course) regardless of where I live. However, the 2014 Bears season broke something in me and caused an irreversible change in my relationship with the teams and how I spend my energy - I think that's the closest I got to quitting fandom, but that's not what ended up happening, I just grew some emotional distance from them. When the Bears started showing signs of life again I came right back, but there's like a buffer there now, I don't let them get me that upset anymore. Disappointed, sure, but not angry, I'll just move on with my day. At the time we had the Thibodeau-era post-Rose injury try-hard Bulls, and that was a whole other thing that fizzled out, but once the Bulls became an embarrassing shitshow with the Butler/Wade/Rondo situation it was pretty easy to just not care, or at least more than it probably would've been in previous years. I was legitimately excited for the White Sox fully committing to the rebuild (although like others mentioned, I was not happy with the TLR hire and it dampened my enjoyment) and when they appeared to turn a corner, and now that this appears to fizzling out I think I'm more annoyed than anything. Annoyed that it feels like a chore to watch them, I have an mlb.tv subscription (shoutout to T-Mobile) but a lot of time just can't be bothered to load the app because I know there are better things I could be doing with my time. Annoyed that they can't even just tear it down and try another rebuild like the Bears are doing, we are stuck with these mid ass players. Assuming some total reversal in this team's performance isn't coming, I know I can't last to the end of the season, and probably not the All-Star break, I'm wondering if I'll even make it to Memorial Day at this rate.

The schedule makers certainly did the Sox no favors this year. 

Multiple warts were hidden or obscured by playing in the AL Central and fattening up on Detroit specifically. 

 

That said... a wake up call for at least the Twins and Guardians that it's going to be a dogfight to the death going into Sept like 2008 with Sox/Twins struggling mightily to outlast each other with Quentin down with the hamate. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Vacheron said:

The White Sox and the Bulls hold a pretty special place for me, as both fandoms are cultural. 

It would really take a Blackhawk size scandal for me to drop either of them (As I did the Blackhawks after the Kyle Beach disaster).

Both teams are ingrained in me too.  I can however control how much emotional energy I waste on them.  Both franchises desperately need change at the very top, and I simply can’t expect anything but the same half-assed BS until that happens.  I’m still a diehard, but the jadedness runs deep.  It will take a lot for me to ever truly believe on them again. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

Both teams are ingrained in me too.  I can however control how much emotional energy I waste on them.  Both franchises desperately need change at the very top, and I simply can’t expect anything but the same half-assed BS until that happens.  I’m still a diehard, but the jadedness runs deep.  It will take a lot for me to ever truly believe on them again. 

Agreed 100%. I moved to Texas 12 years ago and I honestly can't root for anyone else. Baseball is done for me when the White Sox are out. 

  • Like 1
  • Fire 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Vacheron said:

Agreed 100%. I moved to Texas 12 years ago and I honestly can't root for anyone else. Baseball is done for me when the White Sox are out. 

I used to be that way, but while 2022 nearly broke my fandom, I found an escape watching out of town baseball.  I fell in love with the game again watching good teams compete, even if I had no emotional attachment to either side. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

I used to be that way, but while 2022 nearly broke my fandom, I found an escape watching out of town baseball.  I fell in love with the game again watching good teams compete, even if I had no emotional attachment to either side. 


I bought a winter home between Orlando and Tampa and I find it easy to root for the Rays and the Lightning. Also fun to go to Florida Gators home games.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My passionate fandom my entire life has been #1 for the White Sox and #2 for the Bears.

I did enjoy the Michael Jordan years immensely and will forever be grateful I got to watch one the great teams in NBA history and for damn sure the greatest athlete of all time.  However for me to have any interest going forward for the Bulls would mean they would have to be a relevant top tier team again, which obviously they are not.

I did jump on the bandwagon with the Hawks back in 2009-10, but after the GM traded away good players for no good reason and made bad draft choices, the Hawks are completely off my radar. Also watching how Rocky mishandled the Kyle Beach incident put the final nail in the coffin for me.

I do love the Bears and like other fans I have been very frustrated for many years now. I still want that feeling I had in 1985 again. However maybe this time McCaskey got it right and actually finally hired a great GM. The fact we now actually have a real president over him and not the loser Ted Phillips gives me hope. It's just too bad Reinsdorf can't wake up and steal a page from McCaskey, that no matter how many times you fail at finding the right FO, don't stop making changes and eventually you just might get it right. 

Yet the one constant for all my life has been following my favorite team the White Sox no matter how bad they were. I've always known Jerry was a horrible owner. However as he got older it became quite obvious he got less involved, more apathetic and just didn't give a crap. His lack of not making changes on KW and RH has become extremely upsetting to me, as I know it is for the rest of the Sox fans. I will still be a loyal fan, but I will not spend any money going to games this year and future years until Hahn and Williams are gone. I will continue to be negative and constantly criticizing the owner. As I've stated before, the day this team is sold will be the second happiest day in my Sox fandom, only behind the 2005 WS championship. 

Edited by The Kids Can Play
  • Fire 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I sent the link to this story to a friend of mine who works in the front office. Good person. Part of my note was that I urged them to forward it on to the powers-that-be. That unless they turn things around or make drastic changes they are risking a great deal with this fan base.

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is anecdotal but there's a palpable sense of apathy on White Sox Twitter. There was so much fun and enthusiasm there while the rebuild was progressing and they appeared to be a contender until the second half of 2022. Now people barely post or reply to tweets unless it's out of obligation (they run a website, etc) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Season ticket holder to Sox and Bulls. Had a deal with Bears and Hawks season ticket holders to buy some of their games. It was a big deal in my life.  When work sent me to deep Texas I thought I'd be really upset leaving that behind. 

Well in the mid 90s the Bulls were on TV all the time and after attending 41 games plus playoffs for years, I was a little burned out anyway. Later the character of the Spurs won me over. Bye Bulls.

Football season games went from Sunday to Saturday. Now with college becoming semi pro, I stopped really watching any football. Bye Bears (but I still peak and am excited for the next few years)

For the reasons with Spurs won me over with their character the Hawks lost me. Bye Hawks.

Then there is this heaping pile. A couple years ago it was pointed out to me how epically crappy this franchise has been. I use to think we were kind of average and could cheer through most anything. 

Plus now that I am teaching and coaching I'm watching more high school games. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am happily married, but I have divorced friends who are amical with their exes (mostly for the sake of their children). Social events, parties, school functions, etc - watch them interact nicely towards each other. 

This is kinda how I feel about the current iteration of the Chicago White Sox. I've moved on to my other favorite "ball club" and hope the Sox turn out alright. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Donny Lucy's Avocado Farm said:

I am happily married, but I have divorced friends who are amical with their exes (mostly for the sake of their children). Social events, parties, school functions, etc - watch them interact nicely towards each other. 

This is kinda how I feel about the current iteration of the Chicago White Sox. I've moved on to my other favorite "ball club" and hope the Sox turn out alright. 

Sox fans’ relationship with this franchise pretty much the exact, diametrically-opposed version of amicable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This franchise blows chunks and I have very little faith in the players who look like they dont give a s%*# half of the time. Tim Anderson turned into a b**** on the field who complains too much, Robert Jr is the worst good player I've seen in awhile, Moncada the 2nd worst good player, and dont get me started on the fucking pitching. 

Used to be we could rally around the players even when management and ownership pissed us off. Now I kind of despise our players too and who can blame them for being who they are with the blatant lack of accountability in this organization. 

I check highlights every day but that's about it. Was thinking about going to a game when I visit in July but what's the point? None of them care so why should I? White Sox baseball can be very entertaining but I have other avenues of entertainment if these losers decide to be boring. 

  • Like 1
  • Fire 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/22/2023 at 9:11 AM, Tnetennba said:

I’ve reached the point of wanting this to crash and burn so bad they are forced to make change.  I don’t know how much genuine pleasure there has been watching this team since the Yermin debacle.  Perhaps even since the TLR hire.  I reached this point with the Bulls too during the Butler/Wade/Rondo shitshow.  I was much more live and die emotionally with every win or loss in my younger days, but I’m much more compartmentalised for my own health and sanity these days.  I have no control over what the assholes in charge do, but I can control the amount of energy I expend.  I enjoy the wins, detach after the losses, and try to not let fandom ruin the other pleasures of life.  I will always have an allegiance to the Sox and the Bulls, even if the disdain and hatred outshine any love left at any particular moment.  Knowing that the current manifestation of the org will never win a damned thing helps me stay more even keel with them win or lose.  I still love baseball and enjoy watching good teams play, even if it isn’t the local squad.

Unfortunately for you and some of us , your two favorite teams are owned by Jerry Reinsdorf.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...