Some JR luvin'

[southsider2k5]

 

I can't wait to see the reponses to this one.

 

With the Chicago Bulls succeeding beyond anyone's imagination and the Chicago White Sox streaking away from the starting line, it could mean...

 

Uh-oh. It could mean that Jerry Reinsdorf is the best professional sports team owner in Chicago, not just now, but perhaps ever.

 

There, I've said it.

 

Well, maybe not as good as George Halas, at least in his earlier days. Halas, after all, didn't just run a legendary team, he created a successful league. Still, name me another owner who has done as much for professional sports here as Reinsdorf. This is odd because perhaps no other owner is the target of such loathing as Reinsdorf, at least in the eyes of some current fans and the sports commentariat.

 

Just the Bulls' six championships earn Reinsdorf the right to claim the best-ever title. He gets consideration also because he was willing to take a huge financial risk by buying two of the most dismal franchises in Chicago--the White Sox and Bulls--from owners who had nearly destroyed the teams. Now, his stature is reinforced by the spectacular achievements of the Bulls and the Chicago White Sox.

 

Sure, this success can plunge suddenly into mediocrity or failure. And it's true that the players, coaches and general managers have had at least as much to do with winning as the owner. Yet, when a team does lousy, it's always the owners' fault; when it succeeds, the owner gets no credit. Some folks even felt Reinsdorf had no right to take part in the post-championship celebrations of the Michael Jordan era.

 

But what other owners deserve such acclaim? The Wrigleys, William Jr. and P.K., who gave us loser after loser? The innovative P.K., who took out newspaper ads criticizing his own players? Who came up with maybe the loopiest idea in pro sports--the college of coaches? The lovable Bill Veeck, who split up the 1959 Sox after it became the first Sox team in 40 years to enter the World Series? The immortal Allyn brothers, Arthur Jr. and John? Tribune Co. (sorry, boss)? Father and son Wirtz, whose National Hockey League franchise might end up playing second fiddle to a "minor league" franchise, the Wolves? Chuck Comiskey? Michael McCaskey? You get the idea.

 

Not that we didn't have our share of owners who really tried. Among them was Dick Klein, who birthed and kept a struggling infant, the Bulls, alive. (By the way, the playoff team the Bulls are playing tonight, the Washington Wizards, started out in Chicago in 1961, as the Chicago Packers--no kidding--and then the Chicago Zephyrs. Many thanks to owner Dave Trager for selling the team so it could get out of town and make way for Reinsdorf.)

 

My mental state, of course, will be questioned by some of the newcomers to the press box. At least, they're newcomers to me. Because some haven't been around long enough to remember the hope that stirred in the hearts of Sox fans when he and Eddie Einhorn brought in Carlton Fisk soon after buying the club in 1981. Nor do they remember the empty seats during basketball games at the old International Amphitheater or the Coliseum. (Hell, they don't even remember those places.) Or when the White Sox became the first Chicago team to draw two consecutive seasons of more than 2 million fans. See, you have to earn your right to be cynical about Chicago sports. Or to think that you could do better, if someone would only lag you a hundred million or so to try it yourself. (Unlike Reinsdorf, who made his own money, in real estate.)

 

The idea that Reinsdorf should get any credit at all for today's Bulls and the Sox will drive these guys crazy. Truth? That's partly why I'm writing this.

 

But even some fans prefer to dwell on how Reinsdorf was instrumental in shutting down the 1994 baseball season, when the Sox were an acknowledged playoff team. They won't forgive him closing Comiskey Park and building the "ball mall" (which is better than the old park and Wrigley combined). For threatening to move the team to Florida and prying a stadium subsidy out of taxpayers.

 

Know what? I don't care. It's the results that count. Millions of fans, including me, are enjoying two quality teams, assembled under the ownership of Jerry Reinsdorf, playing as teams, winning games and making us proud. All the rest is baloney.

[CanOfCorn]

Wow...it's really sad that whoever wrote this is right. Besides Halas, there hasn't been a better owner. But let's put this into perspective...if Halas is the standard (Halas = 100), JR still doesn't come anywhere close...I would give him a VERY generous 70.

 

I see what this reporter is saying, but the best of worst still doesn't cut it.

[RockRaines]

I wish Wirtz would sell.

[Chisoxfn]

JR is a tremendous basketball owner and honestly he isn't near as bad as some say in regards to baseball.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

i do find it funny that JR gets credit when teams are going well and blame when things are going bad, YET-people on the other side of each debate always cite that he has less control than people think. It's kind of funny.

[Steff]

i do find it funny that JR gets credit when teams are going well and blame when things are going bad, YET-people on the other side of each debate always cite that he has less control than people think. It's kind of funny.

 

 

He get's all the publicity because that's the way the investors want it. They don't want their names out there.. many of them go to great lengths to keep their holdings private. Smart, IMO. Then they don't get hassled when the Sox do crappy.

[CanOfCorn]

Well then, JR gets the Thick Skin Award!!!

 

[sox-r-us]

Who wrote this? Can someone send this to Kotex boy? Hell, all of us should send it to him....

[southsider2k5]

More JR love, this time from the Sun Times.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-reins04.html