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The Turncoat Thu Sep 23 2010
The Turncoat: Retrospecticus
What will treasonous sports fandom get you? In my case it got me a team that (at the time of this post) cobbled together 11 more wins than the team I abandoned. While this season could have gone a lot better (or a lot worse), I was never naive enough to think cheering for the Sox would be an endless trail of sunshine and RBIs. As a wise commenter on one of my earlier posts said, I "would bleed and taste blood" as a Chicago White Sox fan. That was certainly the case this summer as I spent my first season on the South Side as a friend rather than a foe. The 2010 White Sox produced some of the streakiest baseball possible. Their extended runs of one extreme or the other made it very difficult to judge if this was an under-performing squad of excellence that should have taken the division or an incredibly lucky group of trade fodder that never had any business contending with the Twins in the first place.*
In my case it was never about rooting for a team that won more games. It was about not wanting to waste time rooting for a team that didn't have a reason to win at all. At U.S. Cellular, like it or not, the fans are smarter. They are wiser with their baseball dollar. Kenny Williams has to put a winning team on the field or people stay home. The White Sox have several parking lots surrounding their stadium, not a bar district. For a lot of Sox fans, the games are only enticing when the team is doing well. This of course arouses suspicions of fair-weather fandom, but it's not. Cubs games may be more fun to go to regardless of the level of baseball being played, but for fans of the game of actual baseball this is amusement for the wrong reasons. If anyone thinks Wrigley would maintain its attendance figures if it were rebuilt in an area less accommodating to Big Ten grads looking for a place to booze, they face a sad reality when that place finally finishes crumbling to dust. For every respectable diehard like my dad or Brian Livingston, there are 25 tourists along for the nostalgia, beer and trixies.
The Ricketts may change all this, but I see a lot of the same in the Cubs future. Their hopeful but silly "Year One" campaign was marred by an early retirement by one of this era's best known skippers and a gratuitous display of emotion by one this era's best known powder kegs. Their accomplishments included getting a nice chunk of change for a controversial Toyota sign and some slightly better bathrooms. The Year One team was one of the first eliminated from the playoffs.
Let's say none of that matters. Let's say the Cubs win the World Series in the near future, would I come crawling back? (I was asked this question recently in an interview with Timeout Chicago.) The answer is no. Let me try to add some credibility to that. While I have grown tired of Red Sox Nation, there was a time when I really identified with their fans. I lived in Massachusetts for a couple years and have been lucky to have attended games at Fenway post '04 championship and and post '07 championship. Each time, the place got a little less bearable. Boston, it seems, is also host to a generous amount of fair weather fans. The excitement of seeing a formerly futile team go all the way captured the imaginations of countless people. It is also home to a small, ancient stadium not unlike everyone's favorite urine shrine on the North Side. As the demand for winning baseball went up, the supply of available seating diminished. The cost of seeing a game is now significantly higher, and unfortunately for the old school fans, so are the odds of being surrounded by people who are more interested in their cell phone than the play at the plate.
Apply that same scenario to Wrigley Field, and keep in mind, many Fenway grandstand sections do not have beer vendors. The Cubs might be the only team in the MLB who would be better off never winning the World Series at all. Games are crowded now, but at least tickets are obtainable. So while I concede being a curmudgeon, I find it unlikely that baseball on the North Side will ever appeal to me again. The bridge has been burnt. I am stuck with the Sox from here on out regardless of how many former heroes go on to help the Twins take the division, regardless if Ryne Sandberg** blossoms into a five-time World Series winning manager.
"Hi! I am impossible to hate! Like my hat? I get to wear it in October!"
I spent a lot of time at U.S. Cellular this summer. I would be lying profusely if I denied the existence of idiot fans there as well. I was reminded of Wrigley more than a couple times throughout the summer. The obnoxious are everywhere, only at the Cell they are more diluted amongst the earnest. More often than not I got to meet fans who were fully engaged with the stories of the season and would be happy to give an educated assessment of the situation. The Cell is an easy place to get along provided you're not wearing a Cubs jersey.
When it comes to the baseball the Sox played this summer, it was about what I anticipated in terms of where they finished in the division and their win/loss record. The season was just full of more continuous surprises than I expected. The second I braced myself for an early exit to the season, the Good Guys decided they were going to spend the next month and a half as the hottest team in baseball. When I got used to them winning and expected them to maintain a nice lead over Minnesota, they played haplessly against the Baltimore Orioles and fell off their throne. When I hoped they could regain some ground in their final set against the Twins, they began a nine an eight game, season-ending losing streak. At the end of the day, Chicago baseball is Chicago baseball.
As I pointed out, my bed is made. I am no longer a turncoat, I am simply a Sox fan. With all the grumblings and rumors of either Kenny's or Ozzie's exit, and the likely departure of Paul Konerko or A.J. Pierzynski, the Sox could very well be a much different team next year. I am glad that I got to catch the Ozzie-era Sox for one last wild season but future of this club is truly uncertain. It is entirely possible the Cubs fans will see better fortunes than I do next year. Regardless, I stand by my choice. It was a hell of a fun summer, and I can't wait for more. Here is to the home opener in 2011!
*Clearly it was the former.
**I am of the opinion that if they don't go with Sandberg, they will be making a mistake.
A few random thoughts:
Unsung Hero of the Season: Gapers Block's own Brian Livingston. The anti-Cubs sentiment here at Tailgate was omni-present this summer. Even site founder Andrew Huff got in on the fun. Meanwhile, Brian kept quietly posting his Cubs articles with faith and diligence. He had every reason to rub it in our faces when Manny Ramirez went game after game without an RBI or an extra base hit or when Thome hit his walk-off homer weeks ago. But he never did. He never took any shots at anyone; he just wrote about baseball. He is a good guy and he is on the list of people I hope the Cubs win it all for.
Single Indecent That Contradicts My Romanticizing the South Side: While attending last Friday's contest against the Tigers with my brother in law (a huge detroit fan), we sat in front of an astonishingly wasted couple. I cannot tell you how impressively drunk these people were even before "Thunderstruck" started to play. Towards the end of the game, after the Tigers had made it clear the Sox losing streak would continue, the gentleman of the couple assured my brother-in-law that he shouldn't cheer so loudly. "We beat up umpires here!" he bragged. And my heart died a little.
Fun Fact: I am not a teetotaler. I am very far from it. I love beer and drink at ball games. It was never my intention to be baseball's Ian McKay, I just don't like when the party is the main attraction of a ballgame; baseball is a fantastic sport on its own merits.
Biggest Personal Surprise of the Summer: While I love heavy music, I hate, and have hated for a very long time, AC/DC. Most bands that are part of 97.9 The Loop's bludgeoningly small rotation make me sick to my stomach at this point and the Aussie rockers are no exception. So when I feel my arm hairs start to raise from excitement when I hear the intro to "Thunderstruck," it is confounding.
Twitter People You Should Follow for Live White Sox Banter: If you're like me, more often than not you're watching the game with your poor, bored girlfriend at your side. When her threshold is reached and she bails, it's good to have some imaginary friends to turn to. @SoxYak, @WhiteSoxski, and of course, the ever insightful @SoxMachine made the season far more entertaining than it would have been otherwise. Go Sox.
Brian L. / September 23, 2010 11:37 AM
Excellent Simpsons ref. in the headline. "You taught us about nature and why we shouldn't seawater."