don't dwell on cubs games

[IlliniKrush]

Don't dwell on Cubs, Sox fans

 

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September 11, 2003

 

 

"Forget about the Cubs!" doesn't sound like much of a rallying cry in a town that seems obsessed with anything blue and cuddly these days.

 

But White Sox general manager Ken Williams said something very much like that the other day, and it should become the mantra of anybody who feels like a second-class citizen in the Second City.

 

Forget about the Cubs, Sox fans. Pretend they don't exist. Don't let them intrude on your experience. Don't dwell on why the Cubs seem to be America's team and yours, on most days, seems to be 35th and Shields' team.

 

I know this is hard for Sox fans. I know that some of what fuels your ardor for the Sox is your hatred for the Cubs. I know it's impossible to take a step in this town without tripping over Ozzy Osbourne's tongue or Sammy Sosa's on-cue smile or the ghost of Harry Caray's goggles. I know that stinks. You deserve better than that.

 

Then again, if you went out to Comiskey Park more often and increased attendance, maybe this wouldn't be so much of an issue.

 

But let's not dwell on what's wrong or why the Sox can't fill the ballpark or who's to blame for any of it. This isn't the time for that. It's Sept. 11, and your team now has a one-game lead over the Twins and a 31/2-game lead over the Royals in the American League Central Division.

 

Forget what the Cubs have and what you don't have. Enjoy the wonderful story that is unfolding on the South Side. Root for your own story. Root for the perfect ending, too, though that would have to include an outbreak of bubonic plague at Wrigley Field for many of you. You might just find the ride a little more enjoyable, unencumbered as you will be by the anger you once carried around.

 

The attention on the Cubs both locally and nationally is overwhelming, and at times so sugary it can cause cavities—and this from someone who doesn't have an emotional stake in either team. If you didn't know any better, you would think the Cubs are gourmet food and the Sox are chewing gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe on a hot day.

 

(There is nothing I can do to convince some of you that a newspaper owned by Tribune Co. doesn't favor the Cubs, a team owned by Tribune Co. That's a discussion for another day, but the short-version answer is that it's true, we don't favor the Cubs over the Sox.)

 

I know what you're thinking: You have something good going here and you don't understand how it can be that a franchise as historically inept as the Cubs franchise and a group of fans as wimpy as Cub fans can grab this much attention. But this is how it is and this is how it probably will be for years to come.

 

It's also not important. Look, if the Sox keep playing good baseball, the world will come to your doorstep. Knowledgeable baseball fans already know what this team has. They know the Sox have three strong pitchers in Esteban Loaiza, Bartolo Colon and Mark Buehrle and a killer lineup of hitters. The secret you would love to share is out.

 

I know what you're saying: You've waited a long time too. You haven't won a World Series in 86 years, but nobody seems to want to hear about that, what with the Cubs having gone 95 years without one and building an entire lovable-loser industry around it.

 

You have passion many Cubs fans can't touch. There are fewer of you, true. Sometimes you feel like an army of one. But on Tuesday night at Comiskey, Buehrle picked off the Twins' A.J. Pierzynski at first base and afterward said it was the loudest roar he had ever heard in a ballpark. Do you know how many there were of you in the stands? There were 27,623 of you in a park that seats more than 47,000. You pack a lot of power in a small package.

 

Enjoy your status of being fans who really care and have cared for a lot longer than many of the people still getting comfortable on the Cubs' bandwagon.

 

You would like some recognition for what is happening here. That's understandable. Your team is going this well, you would like some general affirmation, preferably at the expense of the Cubs. Again, get over the Cubs.

 

It was refreshing to see Williams quoted as saying the Sox should spend less time worrying about the Cubs or the relative lack of attention and more time concentrating on the task at hand: winning a division. But as part of an advertising campaign for Viagra, a replay of Kerry Robinson's walk-off home run to lead the Cardinals over the Cubs two weeks ago continues to be shown on the Comiskey JumboTron screen. And the crowd roars in approval every time.

 

Get the Cubs off your screen, Ken. They don't exist in your world anymore. Who would you rather have been last year, the world champion Anaheim Angels or the more popular Los Angeles Dodgers? I thought so.

 

Now repeat after me, Sox fans: Sammy who?

[Queen Prawn]

Can a reporter ever write a f***ing (pardon my phraseology) story without bringing up attendence?!

[CubKilla]

Can a reporter ever write a f***ing (pardon my phraseology) story without bringing up attendence?!

In Chicago? No. Attendance seems to be all that matters.

[The Critic]

But on Tuesday night at Comiskey, Buehrle picked off the Twins' A.J. Pierzynski at first base and afterward said it was the loudest roar he had ever heard in a ballpark.

 

He must have never heard the ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAR when SamME takes his "love me" trot past his adoring "fons"...............

[Yossarian]

There was a time when the Trib was pretty even handed when it came to Chicagos two baseball teams but I'm not sure that is the case anymore. Locally and nationally its a sugary lovefest for the cubs. It's even worse among the casual non Chicago area sports fan. The White Sox aren't even on most folks radar screens. If they are mentioned its usually in a negative light. You know lousy ballpark, lousy neighborhood, umpires get attacked, etc. The best remedy would be for the Sox to actually win something before the Cubs do. If the opposite happens you might as well pack the moving vans.