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Cubs Fri Jun 22 2012
Counterpoint: Why Hate Thy Neighbor?
As a baseball fan, I pay attention to what happens around the league on a daily basis. But speaking as a Cubs fan only, I could absolutely care less about the White Sox outside of the six games a year the teams play one another. And I don't think they're more important than the rest of the season.
I don't celebrate the South Siders' failures. I don't get distraught when they succeed. One crappy baseball team is more than enough to worry about. It's clear however, that I'm in the minority when it comes to the "Crosstown Classic."
The Facebook status Mike wrote about Wednesday is right in line with what I see on my news feed as well, and is quite common amongst Cubs/Sox fans. I simply can't figure out why.
The Cubs and Sox have only been battling each other for 16 years, which barely scratches the surface when comparing it with other rivalries. And to be true rivals in a team sport, don't the organizations involved have to either be in the same division, or have competed in a large quantity of high stakes games?
Bears/Packers, Yankees/Red Sox, Michigan/Ohio State, even Celtics/Lakers; those are rivalries. Sox/Cubs? Not even close.
Maybe the Michael Barrett/A.J. Pierzynski fight in 2006 could be considered the start of it all, but I barely hear that incident discussed these days. Does it all come back to each fan base hating the other for obscene reasons then? Cubs fans hate U.S. Cellular because it has no character, while Sox fans hate Wrigley because more people go to drink than to watch baseball. Cubs fans hate Hawk, Sox fans hate Len and Bob. It all seems forced to me.
What it boils down to is where you grew up, and who your family rooted for. That's Hatfield vs. McCoy, but people act like it's Bulls/Pistons. It's not the same thing.
What's worse is that the teams don't even play by the same rules for the majority of the season. With the American League benefiting from a full-fledged DH in the lineup for every home game, it's like asking the Bears to play the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL (where they use 12 guys), and calling it a cold-weather rivalry.
The Cubs get more press because they're more popular, win or lose. Get over it Sox fans. And for you Cubs fans, stop whining about the lack of a championship in a century, and don't pout when a Sox fan touts their 2005 title. They earned that right.
When one team is out of the race, there is absolutely nothing wrong with pulling for the team on the other side of town. Winning is good for the city, regardless if it's the Cubs or White Sox. Everyone eats the same pizza, drinks 312, and rides the El. We sweat out the summers together, and brave the winters together.
And in the grand scheme of things, baseball doesn't really matter. We're all Bears fans here anyway, right?
Scott / June 22, 2012 9:57 AM
Well said. I've always hated the meatball fans who hate the 'wrong' side for no real reason. I've never had a beef with the team itself. Blame it on our ancestors, who ingrained it in our heads to hate thy neighbor at a very young age.