An ode to the White Sox

In this summer of our content, let me share this, a run-on ode of joy:

It is a rare delight to enjoy this team. The result of a full and successful renovation over the past three years, from stadium, now nicely done up and most surprisingly pretty and hospitable; to manager - Ozzie how do we love thee, you raw, rude, blunt and non-PC piece of s**t, as Ozzie would say, "homo and child abuser" (to paraphrase Ozzie's unfortunate, affectionate greeting before the NY press - would this have gotten him fired if the team were not 30 games above .500? Who knows, but one can only hope he learned something), and abuser of baseball's and statistics' most common wisdom; to on-field team which traded in an awesome offensive lineup for leg-men like Pods, and Cuban pitching castoffs, honored by the SABRmetrics gurus as "Baseball's luckiest team," with good reason - look at the numbers, our growing latinate lovefest, honoring and respecting the diversity that is our country in a happy way; to the marketing of the team which has reveled in its working class desperation and brought back a recognition of its history. We apologize for the swipes at the Cubs, tho we will maintain that chip on our shoulders.

Admirable, quiet and humble stars, such as Buehrle, Garcia, Garland, neither searching for or basking in the light, just responding as needed, and going out to play.

Perhaps it is kizmet, given the choice to honor the history of the team in the in-stadium marketing, that this team most closely resembles those go-gos of '59, the last Chicago team to make it to the series. The historic montage, the films of '59, and the sweet, quaint reprise of that team jingle from way back then ring so right - the ebullient history of our Venezuelan infielders, Minnie Minoso, the joy and showmanship of Bill Veeck, the sad parable of Shoeless Joe - so many stories to honor and recall (note to Bears: bringing back the Super Bowl shuffle for the 20th anniversary will not work the same magic, though it is inevitable and will, sadly, somehow cheapen the memories - still we will love and cherish Sweetness, Buddy and his boys. Note to Hawks: please do bring back the pitiful 60's jingle "Here come the Hawks" - trust me, it can only help. And if you could redecorate the UC to somehow look and feel more like the Stadium, even better. Also, see below, make peace and honor Bobby Hull, really.).

And I have seen Carlton Fisk return to the Park, throw out a ball, honored with a statue, and almost cry- the stony, perfectionist New England immigrant so badly treated he swore he was done with the team for good, finally given his due, forgiving and rejoining the team. This more surprising and certainly more touching than the success of the team.

Success is sweeter, in that it was surely not anticipated, still is not truly acknowledged, and so becomes a savored and surprising treat each day. Bridgeport hums, the park rocks, and if it creates more excuses to visit that Chicago melting pot of a neighborhood, including the high-falutin' architecture of IIT both new and old, so much the better.

How will this story end? The odds are against it ending the amazingly long string of failure for this city and its baseball teams, of course, much as they are against any one team winning three series in a row against other very good teams (to be a statistician for a moment - the odds in any game are never much better, or worse, than 55 to 45, and in the playoffs it is probably more like 52 to 48, a razor-thin difference). But does that matter?

Thank you, White Sox for a delightful season of success, unexpected, executed with grace, and the hope you have delivered. The fact that it has been done without the brute force of the strikeout, the brutishness of what passes for offense, the binary simplicity of the game as it is most often played today, and with all the subplots of reconciliation, recognition, and celebration of history make it sweeter. Whatever comes from here, I promise not to forget this gift.

So how were the churros?

I call them "The Aristocrats."

stevez wrote:So how were the churros?

Haven't had any this year, but dollar dog Thursdays, with Kosher Dogs a mere $2.50 (much better deal than the $1 franks, per my taste test) can cause trouble.

To be honest, even though the food at US Cellular is pretty good, probably the best in a sports venue in town, the food options around there, now including the Parkway Cafe, 308 W 33rd, for a quick parkside burger, but also Ed's Potsticker, Healthy Foods, numerous places in Pilsen and Chinatown, all within 10 minutes or less of the park and then Barbara Ann's and the iffy(?) Lem's just a bit further, I hardly ever eat in the park. Too many really good options.

That was beautiful

Here's to the Sox and this improbable 2005 team! I'm loving every minute of it...


I'm a sucker for a Kosher dog and an order of Elotes in the part btw.

Churros range from fresh and delicious, to obviously stale, so proceed with caution.

Of course, the 24oz Miller bombers in the bullpen bar are great too

It's truly been an amazing season to watch and be a part of. Of course it can be difficult for us Sox fans to shed disbelief, skepticism, and paranoia and simply enjoy the games and their results, but I hope that everyone's experienced that feeling of knowing that the Sox would come back and win, and having a stupid grin on your face when they prove you correct with the most unlikely hereos and methods. I haven't been able to say it much over the last two weeks, but the months prior allowed me to exclaim: "I love this team!" more times than i can count. No matter the outcome of the playoffs, this is a season that will be remembered as fondly as 1959, 1983, and 1993 in the hearts and minds of Sox fans.

And let's hear it for the kosher dogs (as well as the brats and polishes) fresh from the grill stands...[/i]

As a long suffering White Sox fan, it's been even more depressing to move out of Chicago and 1 year later have to sit here in Tahoe watching coverage of the Giants and A's(who may pose a dangerous threat to the Sox postseason hopes if the regular season meetings were any indication) while the Sox have one of the most exciting seasons of my life. All I can do is pine away while staying informed reading the Tribune online edition. I've been fortunate to be able to attend each of the few playoffs they've participated, rarely seeing a win of course. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my next trip back home(Chicago will always be my home) is to the World Series. Sox in the series, LTH, Katsu, Superdawg, Johnnie's,etc.etc.etc. Oh, how sweet that would be!

Well done Dickson. Perhaps your eloquence might someday result in having the team with the best record in the AL actually selling out their home park, though I suspect so many Sox fans don't have time to actually attend games as it would interfere with their on-air radio rants about how the media give more attention to the Cubs.

I was at Fenway a few weeks ago for a Sox/Sox Friday night game and the 'good guys' made a real game of it in the 9th that caused all the locals to get nervous. While they eventually came up short they did make a good game of it. What I noticed most, though, was that exiting the park all the local Bostonians were incredibly knowledgeable not only about their team but about the visitors and engaged us in great baseball conversation. I wish that it was that way at either of our Chicago parks but it's sadly not.

Anyways this Cubs fan continues to hope the best for the Sox.

I wish I could find the link off salon.com which talks about attendance and baseball, specifically debunking the myth that nobody goes to White Sox games. Basically, it said that the Sox suffer from low attendnace in April as to most other midwestern teams with the exception of the Cubs, which would draw even if there wasn't a game. However, if you throw April the Sox draw quite well. It also went ont to say that the Cubs are outdrawing the White Sox by a whopping 14% for the year (including April). More fans but its not THAT much higher and a 14% isn't exactly cause to say "nobody goes to Sox games."

Lest anybody think I'm coming down on Cub fans I'd like to point out that I've been to 7 different stadiums this year and listened to sports radio in several cities and the general consensus is "you guys are winning and nobody goes to games." Clearly this is about as ridiculous as saying that all Cub fans are idiots or all Sox fans get drunk and run on the field. The Sox are on pace to go well over the two million mark. And I'm guessing they'll outdraw Cleveland and Minnesota--two of the parks where I got the most grief over attendance.

That being said, I don't give a crap how many people show up outside of when it affects payroll. I generally don't care how many people buy a cd by a band I like unless it gets so bad that they have to get real jobs and quit making music. Ditto with movies. And I'd expect everybody reading this would say the same about where they eat. I don't need a throng of people around me enjoying what I enjoy to make me feel better.

This has been a great season. With a pretty darn good top end of the rotation to go along with a good bullpen I don't think this will not be a repeat of 2000 in the playoffs. Are we going to win the World Series? Yes. Ok, I don't know but I get a much better feeling watching this team than I did in 2000 or 1993. I was 10 in 1983 so I was a little too excited to be objective back then.

Yesterday I told my friend I wasn't going to buy first round playoff tickets because I have higher hopes. He just laughed and said "you're driving to Minneapolis to watch 3 games in the middle of the week and you expect me to believe you are going to pass on any playoff games?" Of course he's right, I fully intend on enjoying this ride as much as possible. Who konws when it will happen again (OK, I do, but only if we get a left side of the infield that can hit over 240). [/code]

Attendence has been very good this year, and most games since the All-Star Break have been sellouts or very close. Granted, the Red Sox and Yankees came to town, but the numbers speak for themselves: there's no attendence problem on the South Side.

Mon. 18 Detroit 37,556
Tue. 19 Detroit 31,008
Wed. 20 Detroit 39,146
Thu. 21 Boston 36,784
Fri. 22 Boston 37,511
Sat. 23 Boston 39,408
Sun. 24 Boston 37,168
Tue. 2 Toronto 32,162
Wed. 3 Toronto 28,116
Thu. 4 Toronto 32,027
Fri. 5 Seattle 39,165
Sat. 6 Seattle 37,529
Sun. 7 Seattle 35,706
Mon. 15 Minnesota 39,160
Tue. 16 Minnesota 34,533
Wed. 17 Minnesota 33,158
Fri. 19 NYY 39,496
Sat. 20 NYY 38,938
Sun. 21 NYY 39,480

And here's the Salon.com article link:
http://www.salon.com/news/sports/col/ka ... ex_np.html

CMC wrote::D

Exactly!

2005 Central Division Champs!

The A's were eliminated from the playoffs on Monday.

Go White Sox.

It was Oakland that was wiped away. LAA is leading West.

Buh-bye Oakland (oops...too many As).

In order to fill air time when there is actually no story, reporters frequently report on things that normally wouldn't be important enough to even think about for the general public. Yesterday was such a day. In an attempt to generate "Sox Fever", they even reported on the names of the umpires scheduled to call today's game. One is named Mike Gebert. Could it be??????

This Cubs fan congratulates the White Sox on achieving that rarest of thing for Chicago sports teams - a chance to compete for the championship. 4 straight complete games by the starters and outstanding clutch hitting and darned good fielding (Iguchi's double play and killer relay throw to 3rd were both world class) were just all around great baseball. Go Go White Sox and feel free to set off the sirens Mr. Mayor.

Kman wrote:This Cubs fan congratulates the White Sox on achieving that rarest of thing for Chicago sports teams - a chance to compete for the championship. 4 straight complete games by the starters and outstanding clutch hitting and darned good fielding (Iguchi's double play and killer relay throw to 3rd were both world class) were just all around great baseball. Go Go White Sox and feel free to set off the sirens Mr. Mayor.

Ditto. I feel happy for the Sox, happy for the Pennent, although I do not have that gut reaching elation I would have if it was "my team".

The Sox pitching was amazing, and of course, me as a Cubs fan, all I can think about was how these guys have done it for 8 games, while Wood and Pryor failed when they needed to in 2003. In fact, as I told my wife, if was not for Contraras, I do not even think the Sox would be IN the playoffs. Baseball is a team sport, and a lot of players (well players mostly named Crede and Kornerko beyond pitchers) did it for the Sox, but Contrearas REALLY did it. Although for ALCS MVP, I would have given it to Garland.

Rob

As happy as I'd be had the Red Sox repeated this year, I think I'm all the happier that my new hometown team has a chance to match the achievement of my old hometown team. Ironically, I missed much of the game because my new neighbors downstairs invited me to dinner (if anyone taped it and could deal with my borrowing it just long enough to burn a DVD, I can think of ways I could show my gratitude...) but they were nice enough to have it on in the background, so we caught the key plays and certainly the end. I think the Angels caught a few bad breaks and honestly the umpiring in both championship series has left much to be desired, but there is no question that the Sox earned these wins by playing their hearts out. I'm really looking forward to what I hope is another epic World Series.