Sox Fans Feel 'Like Benedict Arnold' But Cheer Cubs

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | October 13, 2003 | Gary Wisby

[Lady In Blue]

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Sox fans feel 'like Benedict Arnold' but cheer Cubs

October 13, 2003

BY GARY WISBY Staff Reporter

In Bridgeport five blocks from U.S. Cellular Field, Puffer's is a White Sox bar -- but an informal table-to-table-to-stool survey Sunday turned up only two patrons who were rooting against the Cubs.

One was Jim Hurley, who when asked if he was a Sox fan said, "Tonight, I'm a Marlins fan."

Hurley explained, "I hate the Cubs. You don't understand, I hate 'em."

For him it goes back to the 1969 season, when Hurley was 17 and the Cubs led the league only to fold ignominiously in September.

"I think this is a fluke year," he added.

The other anti-Cubbie in the crowd was Vic DiGiovanni of Rockford, who said, "I wanted to be with my own to cheer against the Cubs." Girlfriend Kathleen Anderson, a Cubs fan, pouted, "I went to a Sox game with him, but he wouldn't go to a Cubs game with me."

Many were at Puffer's for a going-away party for a guy who is leaving Tuesday for federal prison. The honoree, who asked that his name not be used, is bound for a minimum-security pen in West Virginia.

Sentenced to 30 months on a drug conviction, he said, "I've been a Cubs fan and Sox fan since I can remember."

Pete Zagoski is such a big Sox devotee that he was thrown out of the park one day this season. A season ticket holder with a seat near the opponents' bullpen, Zagoski was ejected after repeatedly calling Detroit Tigers pitcher Chris Spurling "mayonnaise arm."

"I do want the Cubs to win, but [Cubs] marketing won't let it happen," he said. "They like that 'lovable loser' thing too much."

Some of the Puffer's crowd were recent converts. Doffing a Cubs cap purchased earlier Sunday, Joey Bova Jr. said, "I just crossed over. I put this on and I felt like there was no turning back. I feel like Benedict Arnold. My dad may shoot me."

Former Sox fan Patti Madigan said, "I jumped the fence last week." Miffed at her boyfriend for going golfing, she informed him she had switched loyalties. Looking around, she added, "I'm surprised so many Cubs fans are here."

One of them, Jeff Gerald, said, "We were going to the Cubby Bear, but the parking is a lot easier here."

Said bar owner Mike Puffer, "This is a real good Sox bar, but you gotta root for the Cubs. A World Series win is great for Chicago."

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[Lady In Blue]

President Bush: Cubs have great young pitching

President Bush talks about the Cubs Oct 13, 2003 (RealVideo)

October 13, 2003, 1:32 PM CDT

President Bush on Monday discussed a variety of subjects in an exclusive interview with Tribune Broadcasting reporter Grant Rampy—including the Cubs.

Q: Do you think the Cubs have what it takes to go the distance?

Bush: You know I'm a baseball fan, I watch a lot of baseball. Yeah, I do. They've got great young pitching. And, we'll see. I'm excited for the Chicago fans.

Q: But to get in the Series and win it?

Bush: You know a lot of times if your pitchers get hot you can do it. We'll see. I'm not a very good forecaster of wins and losses when it comes to the World Series. But I will tell you they've got two good young arms. Got a good bullpen. They've got just as good a shot as anyone. What impresses me is the fact that the Cubs fans are incredibly loyal. Packing the stadiums on the road. It's exciting for the town. I'm excited for the Cubs fans.

Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune

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[M-cubed]

A Cubs and Red Sox World Series means the World is comming to the end!...(at least as we know it!)....Bet with your money...not with your heart!

[jocon307]

"A Cubs and Red Sox World Series means the World is comming to the end!"

Aw heck! A lot of us have been thinking it's the End Times for a couple of years now. A least we can have some fun before the real trouble starts.

GO CUBBIES & RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Charles Henrickson]

Keep in mind, when this article--from the Chicago Sun-Times--says, "Sox," it is referring to the White Sox, not the Red Sox.

[MrJingles]

(DISCLAIMER: The author is loyal White Sox and and is, yes, bitter.)

No real Chicago baseball fan could ever root for the other team. Some Chicagoans say they like both the Sox and the Cubs. These people are morons; they are the type of people who call themseles politically "moderate", and I hate them more than I hate the plain old Cubs fans.

If you truly love the Cubs, you must hate the White Sox, and vice verse. If you love the White Sox, you must harbor ill will toward the other side, and wish eternal misery upon them.

I hate Dusty Baker. I hate his toothpick. I hate Sammy So-so. I hate the Cubs pitching staff. I hate Aramis Ramirez and the other Pirates. I hate the drafty and crumbling stadium they play in. I hate Pat and Ron Santo. I hate Chip and Steve. I hate WGN and the Chicago Tribune. But most of all, I hate the fans.

I hate the yuppies with their cell phones. I hate the teenagers that sit behind me, talking about everything but baseball. I hate the endless convoy of busses full of elderly women from Iowa, wearing blue hats over their blue hair. I hate the drunks, which includes pretty much all of them. And I hate the fact that none of them actually know or like anything about the game of baseball. A mention of "Ernie Banks" will get me a hesitant nod, and "Hack Wilson" will get me a blank stare.

I hate the fact that they claim Harry Carry for their own, envoking his name willy-nilly, fogetting that it was the White Sox that brought him to Chicago. They've made a mockery of the Seventh-inning stretch, a tradition started, not at Wrigley Feild, but at Comiskey Park.

And what the I hate the most about the Cubs? The fact that everyone else is a fan.

For the next few weeks, I'm opting for the lesser of two evils. Go Yankees!

[Charles Henrickson]

I grew up on the north side of the city in the '50s and '60s. Back then, you were either a Cubs fan or a Sox fan, and that was it. North was north and south was south, and ne'er the twain shall meet.

[Malcolm]

LOL, I have to say that I do not understand the either/or stance of Cubs/Sox fans. Why do you have to pick sides when both teams are in the same city? Why can't a Sox fan also be a Cubs fan? Is it a turf thing, or a National League vs American League thing? I just don't get it.

I rooted for my Braves, but after they got knocked out of the post season, I began to root for a Cubs/BoSox series, with no hangups about it. You White Sox fans, live a little! Who else are you going to pull for, the Yanks???

[bicycle thug]

"Keep in mind, when this article--from the Chicago Sun-Times--says, "Sox," it is referring to the White Sox, not the Red Sox."

Sounds like they got the right team in mind. The Red Sox are the only 'Sox' still running around the ball field this year. GO RED SOX! ;-)

[general_re]

Why do you have to pick sides when both teams are in the same city?

Because the distance between North Side and South Side is about a million miles when it comes to certain things, baseball being one. ;)

[carlo3b]

I really understand the delema of the Sox fans, because I am one of them.. still! After growing up in Bridgeport, what else could you have been?.. But like these guys in the bar, you have to pull for the hometown boys.. It's their turn.. finally!

[#3Fan]

I grew up on the north side of the city in the '50s and '60s. Back then, you were either a Cubs fan or a Sox fan, and that was it. North was north and south was south, and ne'er the twain shall meet.

The modern Mason-Dixon line must run right through Chicago. :^)

[lizma]

I grew up on the south side in the '60's and '70's and I didn't know Sox fans existed!

Seems we both should have gotten out more.

[MrJingles]

I do not understand the either/or stance of Cubs/Sox fans.

If you're not from Chi-town, you can't understand. It's not really an AL/NL thing. I think it has alot to do with the fact that we hammer the other fans when their team screws-up, and they do the same to us. If the Sox lose a big game, I can expect my phone to ring for the rest of the night, Cub-ites looking to rub it in my face. (Yes, we do that kind of thing here.)

How would you react if someone insulted a family member? That's how we feel about our teams.

Who else are you going to pull for, the Yanks???

I hate the Yanks, but I hate the Cubs more.

[Charles Henrickson]

If you love the White Sox, you must harbor ill will toward the other side, and wish eternal misery upon them.

Spoken like a true White Sox fan. At least you are consistent, I give you credit for that.

You see, there's one thing you non-Chicagoans out there need to understand: The #1 thing about White Sox fans is their enormous inferiority complex and envy of the Cubs. And now, on top of that, starting sometime in the next 48 hours, we can add this: Pennant envy.

I hate the drafty and crumbling stadium they play in.

You kiddin' me? The Friendly Confines of Beautiful Wrigley Field? It's is a baseball paradise! Much better than that sterile, lifeless place you guys play in. What's it called this year? "U.S. Sell-your-soul Stadium"? "U.S. Cell Block Stadium"? And then there was that stinkin' old place you used to play in--Kaminsky Park, with the aromatic smell of the Stockyards wafting in.

I hate the yuppies with their cell phones.

Hey, your stadium is named after a cell phone! You got no room to talk!

I hate the drunks, which includes pretty much all of them.

Hah! That's what I think of most when I think of Sox fans! Drunks getting into fistfights in the stands. Or the last couple years, getting into fistfights on the field!

And I hate the fact that none of them actually know or like anything about the game of baseball.

I challenge you or any Sox fan to a battle of baseball knowledge.

I hate the fact that they claim Harry Carry for their own, envoking his name willy-nilly, fogetting that it was the White Sox that brought him to Chicago.

I never did accept Harry Caray as a Cubs announcer. To me, he was a Sox announcer--and a Cardinals announcer, fer cryin' out loud! The real, true Cubs announcer was Jack Brickhouse. (Hey, Brickhouse did Sox games in his spare time for a bunch of years. Now what about dat?)

[general_re]

And then there was that stinkin' old place you used to play in--Kaminsky Park, with the aromatic smell of the Stockyards wafting in.

Every time I thought about taking in a game at Comiskey - to see how the other half lives, so to speak - I always had to scrap the idea when I realized I don't own a bulletproof vest or body armor or anything...

:^)

[Lady In Blue]

LOL! Thanks for the best laughs I've had all day!

[Charles Henrickson]

It goes to the heart of the city. It's cultural. It's ethnic, it's religious, it's political, it's economic. It's a city thing, more so than a suburb thing. And it's an era thing. In the '50s and '60s (and earlier), it was hot. In the '90s and '00s, it's less so.

The rivalry has faded, at least among Cubs fans, since the mid-'80s. More North Siders moved out to the suburbs, another generation came along, and the old urban passions cooled. But among hardcore Sox fans, the fire still burns. They are intensely jealous of how popular the Cubs are, due in part to when WGN went "superstation" in the mid-'80s, and the Cubs became "America's team," the "lovable losers."

To be fair, Wrigley Field now does attract a certain number of "fair-weather," "non-baseball," casual fans. But there still is a large, true-blue, baseball-lovin' Cub following, and we still love our Cubbies!

[jocon307]

"...it is referring to the White Sox, not the Red Sox."

LOL, silly me, thanks for explaining that. But I don't think I messed up my previous post, even in ignorance. Hubby was laughing at me tonight, rooting for Boston as I am. But you know, I got my dear dead Daddy-ama on the Red Sox side, she LOVED them, and I gotta root for them for her, if nothing else. And I gotta root for Chicago too, please we need some satisfaction here.


SOX & CUBBIES, LET THE END TIMES FALL AS THEY MAY!!!!!!!!!

[MrJingles]

I make no excuses for the Sox ownership and their lack of respct for history. NOBODY calls it U.S. Cellular; it's either "Comiskey" or "Sox Park", or possibly "the Cell." Besides, I console myself with the fact that the real Comiskey Park was not dishonored with such a sanitized, corporate title. Besides, WHEEGAM Feild (originally built for the Chicago Whales of the Federal League) now bears the name of a brand of gum. So who has no right to talk?

New Comiskey is not that bad. The upper-deck is dizzying, true, but the facilities are clean, and pleniful. Plus, no urinal-trough! My biggest complaint is that the desgners didn't rotate the park 90-degrees, so as to display beautiful Chicago skyline.

Also, I'd wager that your baseball "paradise" has been the sight of more alcohol-related sheneagins than Sox Park. That's why the outfeild fence at our park isn't lined with a specialized "homerun/fan catcher." Perhaps you and your friends were too busy stealing the caps of LA Dodgers to notice this particualr feature.

I hear that Harry used to check the Cardinal's box score everyday. There's no way anybody can grow-up as a St. Louis fan, then make that kind of trasition. I reckon he was phoning it in.