cub fans converting

[HeGone33]

I have a cousin that is a cubs fan and his young kids were cubs fans as well until they started going to the Cell several times a year because he would often get free tickets to games from work. After going to the cell for a few games the children our now Sox fans and the dad is leaning that way as well. All of the things for kids to do at the park is the reason why. Running the bases and the fundamentals were the 2 key factors. No big deal now because the kids are just going into their teens but in 10 years when they have some money to spend it will be spent on the south side not the north side.

 

You have another cousin who has raised 3 little White Sox fans, another cousin who will some day raise 3 more little White Sox fans and a odds are one of them will fill the hole in CF in 2035!

 

[Princess Dye]

another consideration is some cubs fans cant even dream of going to a game ever, cost wise. at least down south you have mondays.

Edited October 8, 2008 by Princess Dye

[greg775]

The Cubs might want to consider adding a big video board like the Cell for nights like those in the playoffs when the place was funeral-like. They don't have any artificial noisemakers like we do, do they? In hallowed Wrigley Field? Those fans should be embarrassed for their zombie like ways in the playoffs.

 

The Cubs will be sold out every game again next year and the year after no matter what they do in the season/postseason. The Sox will always be second fiddle. Who cares?

[lostfan]

The Cubs might want to consider adding a big video board like the Cell for nights like those in the playoffs when the place was funeral-like. They don't have any artificial noisemakers like we do, do they? In hallowed Wrigley Field? Those fans should be embarrassed for their zombie like ways in the playoffs.

Why? Their team deserved it. If our team ever choked like that, we'd be doing it too.

[moneyman6544]

two guys I work with just said that they give up on the Cubs and will probably be looking for another Chicago team to cheer on next year.

[Princess Dye]

two guys I work with just said that they give up on the Cubs and will probably be looking for another Chicago team to cheer on next year.

 

do they realize there's only one other one?

[The Critic]

do they realize there's only one other one?

Maybe they'll cheer for the Cincinnati Reds?

Lots of familiar faces over there for Cubs fans.

[Pants Rowland]

two guys I work with just said that they give up on the Cubs and will probably be looking for another Chicago team to cheer on next year.

 

The Chicago Fire has to be excited about this turn of events.

[Iwritecode]

two guys I work with just said that they give up on the Cubs and will probably be looking for another Chicago team to cheer on next year.

 

A friend of mine who's been a Cubs fan for 25 years said the same thing to me yesterday. He said he packed up all his Cubs memorabila and stuck it in a box.

 

He said this one time before and it didn't last so we'll see how this goes.

[Balta1701]

[Texsox]

What the team's marketing is looking for are the families that go to one or two games a year. They choose when and where based on other factors than history. They need to be assured the venue is "safe" and the experience will be exciting. They want to build a memory for their kids. "remember when you saw Frank Thomas"? Of course watching the home team win is nice as well. But this is the fight over the entertainment dollars. The decision isn't Cubs or Sox, but baseball game (then which one) or Indiana Dunes.

 

Next are the guys that attend a half dozen or dozen games. Again, the game is almost secondary to atmosphere and other intangibles. The drunken Cub (and Sox) fan who we are embarrassed for.

[G&T]

I just saw this article and I laughed, and didn't know where else to put it so:

 

Cubs fans can be obnoxious. White Sox fans can be vengeful. Here is one of those stories.

 

There will be no names or locations given in the telling of this tale. That was the deal-breaker for the Sox prankster, not when you're dealing with such creatively spectacular spite.

 

To begin, we go back to last June when the Cubs hosted the Sox. Two suburban couples, one Cubs, one Sox, went to dinner. The Cubs husband predicted a sweep. The Sox husband said no way. The bet was dinner.

 

Turned out, the Cubs swept. The Cubs couple would collect a meal.

 

Ah, but the Cubs husband couldn't leave it at that. He skulked around the Sox couple's house and placed a broom in the doorway.

 

Ah, but the Cubs husband still couldn't leave it at that. Attached was a note that said something like, "This is just a reminder of who the real team in Chicago is."

 

The Sox wife found the souvenir and the note, and called the Sox husband. Fine, said the Sox husband. Say nothing, he advised.

 

Ah, but the Cubs husband still couldn't leave it at even just that. When he got no response from from the Sox household, he called the next day to ask if anyone found anything unusual in the doorway. Yes, he was told. Let's pay off dinner, he was told. And that was that.

 

Except in the Sox household, where the Sox husband told the Sox wife that plotting revenge would require patience: "When the Cubs lose in the first round of the playoffs -- and you know they will because they're the Cubs -- when it's the most painful, that's when we retaliate."

 

Fast-forward to last weekend. The Cubs are swept out of the first round by the Dodgers on Saturday night.

 

Sunday morning at the Cubs house. A battery-operated CD player with a timer went off at exactly 7:30. A bullhorn is attached to the CD player. The whole contraption is placed right outside the Cubs couple's bedroom. Blasting out of the bullhorn is a very loud and painfully slow version of "Go Cubs Go."

 

"Go."

 

"Cubs."

 

"Go."

 

Ah, but the Sox husband couldn't leave it at that. No, as the Cubs husband sought the source of the noise, he ventured out to his front yard. There he found 100 lawn signs with nothing but a drawing of a billy goat stuck in the ground. Yes, 100 signs. For some reason, that number rings a bell.

 

Ah, but the Sox husband couldn't leave at even just that. No, there on the lawn, supported by two poles sunk into buckets of cement was a massive, blue "L" flag.

 

Ah, but the Sox husband still couldn't leave it at even just that. No, on the garage were dozens of posters that mocked Cub Nation. A Cubs logo with with a red circle and line through it. The Wrigley Field marquee with a nasty saying. One poster explained, "I'd rather have a sister that lived in a whorehouse than a brother that's a Cubs fan."

 

Much admiration from the Cubs husband: "All I could say to my wife was, 'How can you beat this?' "

 

Ah, but the Sox husband still wasn't done, and this was the best because it was the most subtle.

 

The address on the Cubs couple's mailbox was changed. The new number?

 

1908.

 

Rosenblog

 

Notice in the comments, Sox fans are called terrorists.

[Iwritecode]

The Cubs took over the town in 1984 when the Cubs attendance went on an upward trajectory that has lasted ever since. It's largely due to the Cub lovable loser / Harry Caray drinking at a day game vibe that was cemented that season. At the time at Old Comiskey, it was a place where young folks went to drink and get into fights. As a child that was my impression and, quite frankly, the Cubs lured in some of my south suburban friends with it. Bottom line - the Cubs were sold as a product while the Sox were trying to sell themselves as a baseball team during the 80's. They were playing different marketing games and the Cubs won, hands down.

 

Actually, it was a culmination of a number of different things. The Tribune had just bought the Cubs. People could watch the Cubs for free on WGN while the Sox were on Sportsvision which you had to pay for. And of course, Harry leaving the Sox for the Cubs.

 

 

 

 

[Texsox]

Actually, it was a culmination of a number of different things. The Tribune had just bought the Cubs. People could watch the Cubs for free on WGN while the Sox were on Sportsvision which you had to pay for. And of course, Harry leaving the Sox for the Cubs.

 

The Sportsvision vs. WGN was huge. But even going back to the old Channel 44 crappy picture the Cubs always ruled the TV. Remembering the 60s and 70s, the Cubs were the wholesome family team that played in the sunshine and the Sox where the kind of seedy, sleezy, team that played on the Southside (wink wink) to a different (wink) fan base.

[The Critic]

The Sportsvision vs. WGN was huge. But even going back to the old Channel 44 crappy picture the Cubs always ruled the TV. Remembering the 60s and 70s, the Cubs were the wholesome family team that played in the sunshine and the Sox where the kind of seedy, sleezy, team that played on the Southside (wink wink) to a different (wink) fan base.

And Disco Demolition fed right into that line of thinking as well.

...the seedy, sleazy, dangerous part, not the [wink wink] part...

Edited October 8, 2008 by The Critic

[scenario]

I don't think the "Cubs as a wholesome family experience" really took hold until the Trib bought them and amped up the marketing of that message.

 

I grew up in the burbs during the late 60's and 70's. Both parks were ghost-towns when the teams played poorly... and attendance at both parks was pretty similar.

 

IMO, it was a combination of 1980's (and early 90's) factors that lead to the "Chicago is a Cub-town" myth...

- Trib acquisition and marketing

- WGNs growth as a superstation in the early years of cable-TV

- the popularity of Harry and his move from south to north

- Reinsdorf's failed attempt to control the Sox TV rights

- the deterioration of Comiskey and the surrounding neighborhood

- all of the issues related to getting a new ballpark... potentially moving to Florida etc.

- rehabbing in the Wrigleyville area becoming chic

- the Cubs dramatic growth in attendance during the 90's fueled by the steroid Sammy era

- and others

 

It added up to alienating alot of people toward the Sox while Cub-love became the "in-thing"... and the impact has affected almost an entire generation of sports fans in the Chicago area.

 

But Sox success and Cub frustration could result in turning it around. The failure of the Cubs to win a World Series has shifted from being lovable to loathe-able. Boston and the WhiteSox got the monkies off their backs. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out over the next few years as fans patience with the "lovable losers" wanes now that they're alone at the bottom of the loser pile.

Edited October 8, 2008 by scenario

[WhiteSoxfan1986]

The Cubs will always be the more popular team in Chicago, always. We could win the next three World Series, and it will still be the same. When pitchers and catchers report they hype for the Cubs will be as big as ever.

[LVSoxFan]

We won over 90 games in 2006.

 

I've purged the 2007 team from my memory.

 

You missed the point. We had record attendance in 2006 due to '05. And all that extra money bought us... 2007?

 

[jenksycat]

You missed the point. We had record attendance in 2006 due to '05. And all that extra money bought us... 2007?

 

It was essentially the same team + injuries + career lows for everyone. Nothing to do with the money.

[BlackBetsy]

I don't think the "Cubs as a wholesome family experience" really took hold until the Trib bought them and amped up the marketing of that message.

Definitely. Remember the rant by Lee Elia circa 1982?

 

"They're really, really behind you around here... my f***in' ass. What the f*** am I supposed to do, go out there and let my f***in' players get destroyed every day and be quiet about it? For the f***in' nickel-dime people who turn up? The motherf***ers don't even work. That's why they're out at the f***in' game. They oughta go out and get a f***in' job and find out what it's like to go out and earn a f***in' living. Eighty-five percent of the f***in' world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here."

[scenario]

It was essentially the same team + injuries + career lows for everyone. Nothing to do with the money.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Yes.