Sox in Alabama

[BamaDoc]

To my new friends at Soxtalk and the additional fans I met in Aneheim, a writer in my town of Gadsden Alabama is also a long suffering Sox fan. He wrote an article today about the life of a Sox fan and included some stuff about my trip. To Hi8is and Wsoxmanager again thanks. Sorry I cant link it but its at

 

Gadsdentimes.com on the first page click "Sox it to me". Someone more computer savy may be able to more easily link and avoid the registration.

[bmags]

you wouldn't have thought randy johnson was a white sox fan when he was declining trades left and right

[hi8is]

good times indeed

your son will forever be a sox fan =D

[knightni]

Sox it to me: Series win brings joy

 

The Chicago White Sox's World Series triumph was a combination of blood, sweat and tears. Not necessarily for the players, but for some of the team's fans, especially the one writing this column.

 

Blood. Well, there was a minor incident involving a (now deceased) plastic clipboard I used to hold my scorebook during the games I watch on TV and a particularly frustrating loss during the final weeks of the regular season. If you follow baseball, you know this was when the Sox appeared to be in the process of blowing a once 151Ú2-game lead in the American League's Central Division. In its death throes, the clipboard exacted a measure of revenge by pricking my finger.

 

Sweat. The 15-game lead dropped to 11Ú2 games in the final week. Was I sweating? Silly question. I think my wife had me under suicide watch.

 

Tears. Perhaps I was a little misty-eyed Wednesday night when the Sox finally ended their 88-year championship drought, but everybody knows there is no crying in baseball.

 

Being a Sox fan since the late '50s, I wondered if I would ever live to see a Sox championship. They lost the '59 World Series in six games. When I was in high school and it appeared the Sox were headed to the World Series in 1967, I sort of, kind of, think I had persuaded my parents to let me stay home and watch the games and miss school on those days (for those of you who don't remember, World Series games were played during the day back then). But, the Sox - locked in a four-team race for the American League title - lost their last five games against two of the worst teams in the league and, as a result, the pennant. At that point, I learned never to "plan" on anything good happening to the Sox. Oh, there were a few division titles, in '83, '93 and 2000, but the Sox never reached the World Series. Just years of unfulfilled hopes.

 

For years when I would attend seminars and be asked for biographical information, I would always list under hobbies: "long-suffering Chicago White Sox fan."

 

Being a Sox fan has always been a case of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Our editor, Ron Reaves, described me as a "fatalist" a few weeks ago when I was saying it looked like the Sox were going to let the lead slip away.

 

My wife has endured a lot because of my Sox addiction. On the day we were married, the Sox had an afternoon nationally televised game. I watched the game. Diana handled a lot of the last-minute preparations. The Sox lost 5-0 that day. The day was a winner for me, though, because of the wonderful woman I married.

 

Diana has actually brought a lot of the problem on herself. For Christmas in 1996, she bought me a satellite dish so I could get the MLB Extra Innings package. That meant a hundred or more Sox games on television each season. That also meant Diana listening to my rants during and after Sox losses.

 

But, until Al Gore invented the Internet, being a Sox fan in Alabama (No, I have never lived any farther north than Marshall County, Ala. I just adopted the Sox as my team.) was pretty much a lonely experience. There are at least a couple of other local Sox fans I know. Retired Times editorial page editor Arthur Shaw has been a lifelong Sox fan, and Dr. Steve Gross, a Gadsden anesthesiologist, and his family are Sox fans.

 

When I talked to Arthur Ray on Thursday morning, he was understandably excited. He felt the "baseball gods" were smiling on the Sox this year because of the way everything fell into place.

 

Gross, who said he has been a Sox fan for about 35 years, said this year was "unbelievable." He, like I was, said he was concerned until the last out of Game 4. I guess we both could envision the worst - a Game 4 loss and then three more losses.

 

Steve's wife, Kathy, said for her husband's birthday, she bought him and son, Matt, 12, plane tickets to Anaheim to see two of the Sox's victories over the Angels in the American League Championship Series.

 

The Gross family has lived in Gadsden since 1992. Steve is a lifelong Sox fan who was born in Springfield, Ill.

 

Until the Internet and e-mail lists, I never had much of a way to share the suffering.

 

But thanks to Brian Crawford's Sox e-mail list, I have become "friends" with many other Sox addicts I have never met who live in far-flung places. Fans like Mike Ward in Alaska, Don Kosin in the Washington, D.C., area, Doug Gribben in Texas, Mike Wilkins and Dennis Burke in the Chicago area and many others around the country. The list has made the suffering bearable. The old "misery loves company" routine. But, it also provided a forum for celebration this season and especially Wednesday night and into the wee hours of Thursday.

 

Gross mentioned that one of the neat things about the trip to Anaheim was getting to meet some of the Sox fans he communicates with on Soxtalk.com.

 

In the past couple of weeks, I have gotten many e-mails and phone calls from people I haven't communicated with in years. Their messages usually started with: "Since you are the only White Sox fan I have ever known ..." Sort of like, "You know that weird uncle of mine ..." Actually, though, most seemed happy for me, offering to try to get me Chicago papers or telling me they were cheering for the Sox. Co-workers downloaded Sox playoff celebration photos onto my desktop and printed out newspaper covers for me while I was away at a seminar in Tampa. Our son, Britt, a student at Auburn, taped games and celebrations off TV for me while I was gone.

 

The most-asked question of me Thursday was: How does it feel?

 

My answer: I'm not sure yet. These are uncharted waters for White Sox fans.

 

Before Wednesday night's game, I sort of jokingly mentioned to Diana about buying a bottle of champagne. Not to drink, but to spray - like the big boys do after a championship. My wife quickly nixed that idea, saying she knew who would wind up having to clean up the mess.

 

Instead, the victory celebration at the Johnson household was more one of relief. Sox flag flying in front of the house. A phone call from Britt. A long embrace with my wife. Shared e-mails with other list members. And maybe, a misty eye or two. But certainly, no crying. After all, this is baseball. And this year, it was Sox baseball. White Sox baseball.

 

Randy Johnson is the city editor for The Gadsden Times and the hardest-working fan in baseball.

Edited October 31, 2005 by knightni

[Drew]

you wouldn't have thought randy johnson was a white sox fan when he was declining trades left and right