GREAT Article about us sad Cubs fans

By Andrew Buchanan

I'm a lifelong Cubs fan but I strolled over to the White Sox World Series rally during my lunch hour to catch a glimpse of the celebration, knowing it may not happen again for another century or so. The scene was electric and the turnout incredible. Made me wonder where all these people are on Tuesday nights in April when the Sox are in town, because they certainly aren't at the Cell.

Sorry, but I'm feeling a little like Lewis "Scooter" Libby right now, hobbled and in hiding, the target of attacks and derision. I spent the preceding weeks on the defensive about being a Cubs fan and grew increasingly annoyed at the constant slights from Sox fans and the news media, who merrily joined in (lazily regurgitating myths and cliches about Cubdom).

The irony is that I like the Sox, attend a couple of games a summer (no lines for beer or the bathrooms, and the food's much better) and had great appreciation for the way the 2005 team played. And I wanted to cheer for them, I really did. Insufferable Sox fans, however, made it impossible.

On the night the Sox clinched the pennant I was lying in bed watching the post-game celebration when the phone rang, which was odd because it was 11:30 on a Sunday. I answered, and here's how the conversation went:

Me: "Hello."

Caller: "WOO-HOOOO! WHITE SOX, BABY! WE'RE GOIN' TO THE SERIES!"

It didn't sound like anyone I knew or anything one of my Sox fan friends would do.

Then ...

Caller: "BURN WRIGLEY TO THE GROUND, BABY!"

Sox fans' hatred of the Cubs is well-documented, but I was amazed that even during their moment of greatest glory it always seemed to come back to the Cubs. The day after that phone call I was walking by Wrigley Field when I saw a man in a Jeep driving by holding a giant Sox flag out of the sunroof, a huge grin on his face. Couple minutes later and I saw him again. He's doing laps around Wrigley like he's Karl Rove circling the Democratic National Committee office the day after the election.

Unfortunately, it seems the flag-waver and my late-night caller (it was a wrong number) were representative of many Sox fans: happy their team was making history; happier still the Cubs weren't.

And the media eagerly hopped on the Cubs-bashing bandwagon, reporters from far and near writing and blabbering about the supposed differences between the casual Cubs fans and the loyal-to-a-fault Sox followers.

A New York Times writer said people on the North Side were ignoring the Sox, spending their time "indoors making lattes or banking online or whatever it is Cubs fans do in October." In an op-ed piece for the Times, Studs Terkel, who should know better than to make such generalizations, intimated that Cubs fans don't even follow the game and compared attending a game at Wrigley to "going to an air show or `Cats'--something tourists do."

Say it ain't so, Studs.

Another article noted how Sox fandom was passed down from generation to generation, while following the Cubs was something one just picked up on a whim, when the weather was right, I guess. For the record, the Cubs have been around since 1876, 25 years longer than the Sox, and have a fan base that's probably double the Sox.

By the time the confetti had cleared on the Sox celebration ("shredded Cubs season tickets," one hilarious TV news reporter quipped), I had had enough.The irony in most of the arguments was obvious, considering many Sox fans aren't even motivated enough to actually, you know, attend their team's games on a consistent basis. One contention is that Wrigley Field is a "playground" for the young and drunk where no one pays attention to the game. Of course, there is that element at Wrigley, more so than on the South Side, but if you take a look around Wrigley it's easily apparent they are a distinct minority.

In fact, it's the Cell where the distractions abound: exploding scoreboard, idiotic races on the big screen between innings, blaring rock music that makes it virtually impossible to talk baseball even if you want to, doggie day at the park. If you listen to Sox fans and the media you'd think some of those dogs know how to keep score.

Another argument is that Cubs fans are casual in their loyalty, only following the team when the weather is nice and because the park is only a short stroll from their Wrigleyville apartments. This one is probably the most ludicrous. Are the people who pile off those buses--having traveled from Iowa, Wisconsin and Downstate Illinois--casual fans? Yuppies maybe? How about all of the Cubs fans you see in the stands at games in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and Milwaukee? Or for that matter, the Cell during cross-town games, when it seems almost half the fans are cheering for the men in blue? Not true fans, I guess.

So, I invite Studs Terkel, dumb New York Times reporters and Sox fans to attend a Cubs game next summer (we'll return the favor when the Cubs play at the Cell and help you get a rare sellout). Have a seat in the beautiful old ballpark and glance around at fathers and daughters taking in the game together; the 95-year-old ushers and hand-operated scoreboard; Ronnie Woo-Woo and the ballhawks; the decidedly unyuppie fans from points all over the Midwest and just up the block.

And most of all, enjoy yourself ... and don't for a second think about the Sox.

Sign me up!

Timberwolves' second-round pick Bracey Wright had a shot at sticking with the parent club, at least on the inactive list, because the coaches weren't confident that the Florida Flame would use Wright enough at point guard, a position he is trying to learn.

But on Tuesday, Coach Don Casey told both players they would be heading to Fort Myers within days.

"If they're sending me there to play a new position, to learn the ins and outs of it, I don't have any problem with that," Wright said. "I've never been a point guard exclusively, so if I have to go there and learn that, it's only going to make me better."

The players are not thrilled with the move, despite dodging their first Minnesota winter. In the first year of this new "affiliate" system, NBA teams will feed players to the minor league while retaining their rights. The parent clubs, however, will not be allowed to dictate style of play, positions, minutes or other basketball decisions.

Casey said that, while they're gone, Wright (and another rookie) will not be forgotten.

"They'll be members of the team," the coach said. "They'll have all the rights and privileges of our players. The paychecks still keep coming, the per diem still keeps coming [for road games]. . . . We'll send coaches down, and we'll also bring them back to work with us once we get a few days practice. We can do that three times a year."

He Still Gets Paid though, right?

Bracey Wright made the Minnesota Timberwolves but was put on the inactive list.

What exactly does that mean?

Thankfully, no Americans are involved....

This, from the CBC:

Women's curling will be getting more attention in the coming weeks, but not in a way that many expect.

A new international calendar features nude and scantily clad female curlers.

The idea came from Ana Arce, a photographer who skipped three seasons for the Andorran women but has since moved to Spain.

"I think it's going to change the image of the sport which is not so nice," Arce, who also poses in the calendar, told The Canadian Press. "I've been playing for eight years and there are so many beautiful girls playing and nobody knows it. ****LIE ****

"I doubt that anyone is going to be shocked and everybody's going to enjoy that and like it." Curlers who pose in the Ana Arce Team Sponsorship Calendar 2006 will divide the proceeds. Arce invited curlers she knew personally over the years, including Canadians Melanie Robillard of Ottawa and Lynsay Ryan of Kelowna, B.C.

Ryan, 21, is also the daughter of two-time world champion skip and 2006 Olympic hopeful Pat Ryan. Ryan, who attends McMaster University in Hamilton, posed in July in a see-through sarong in the forest of Fussen, Germany.

The 12 models that participated in the calendar represent curling teams from Denmark, Italy, Spain, England, Poland, Germany and Canada.

"Some of the girls showed a little bit more, like breasts, because they wanted to," Arce said of the black-white photos. "But it is very, very tasteful."

Other well-known Canadian female curlers didn't have a problem with the calendar but wouldn't participate.

"I couldn't, I'm too shy," said Jennifer Jones, the defending Scott Tournament of Hearts champion from Winnipeg. "It's very European. "If the right people want to do it I think it's kind of a fun idea and innovative and hopefully it will get curling some publicity."

The calendar will cost roughly $25 Cdn.

Nothing like Jamie Luner on a Friday...

I don't really like the hat, but what can you do...

One win away...and yet... he's gotta talk Cubs

Cubs' manager Dusty Baker isn't showing much hometown-love and that's got White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen upset.

Before the postseason began, Baker was asked by ESPN The Magazine who he would be rooting for in the playoffs.

"I got no one to root for," Baker said. "I sure as heck ain't rooting for the White Sox or Cardinals. But maybe Atlanta since they've won all those divisions but only one championship. The Angels just won it against me, so forget them. Anyway, fishing season starts in November. That's my time."

Guillen, who usually heaps praise on crosstown peer, was perplexed by the comments.
"Dusty, I don't like what he said," Guillen told the Chicago Sun-Times. "I thought we were friends."

"That's OK, we'll see [which team] owns the town now," Guillen told the paper.



My guess is that the Cubs will still own the town.

I stayed up until 130a for this?????

The White Sox will win the World Series, (probably tonight) and I suppose they deserve it.

But, has there been a worse team offensively in the World Series than these jamokes?

Biggio DONE
Bagwell DONE
Ausmus DONE
Ensberg CHOKER

ARRRGH

More of those classy White Sox fans

By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Houston Chronicle

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen issued a public apology on behalf of his organization to Astros second baseman Craig Biggio, whose wife was slapped by a fan in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field.

"I feel like it's our fault, and I talked to (Biggio) about it, and he knows we're sorry," Guillen said. "He knows it was something we couldn't control. It wasn't like a fight. (The fan) hit the lady and left."

The incident occurred on Sunday night during Game 2 of the 101st World Series at Chicago's ballpark, where several members of the Astros' traveling party were harassed.

"He slapped her and ran," Biggio said of the fan who struck his wife, Patty. "She ran after him. My brother-in-law ended up putting him against the wall. That's pretty sorry."

Asked if Patty had been hurt, Biggio said his New Jersey-raised wife held her own.
"You don't slap a New Jersey girl and get away with it," he said. "That happens sometimes. It's terrible. It's over."

Added Guillen: "I wish she would have grabbed something and broken his head. If that happened to my family, it would have been a big problem. ... People should just go to the game and not bother people next to you, or you're not a White Sox fan or a baseball fan. Just enjoy the game. Drink if you want to drink; just respect the people next to you."

No criminal complaint was made against the fan, according to Chicago police.

"The word was that the guy had been gouging her a little bit, pulling her hair and just doing some stupid things, things that are just not necessary," Garner said. "Have your fun. This (World Series) is a great thing for them and a great thing for us. Cheer and be as loud as you want to be and whatever else, but don't do that.

"On behalf of the White Sox organization, I just don't think we could control that," Guillen said. "But I think the family is a big part of my life. I think especially the kids. And when that happened in the ballpark, you feel you need to be supportive.

"When you're a man and you hit a lady, no matter whose wife it is or whose sister it is, you respect them. But it's something that's tough to control. It happened so quick."

Although Patty Biggio was the only Astros wife who was slapped Sunday, she wasn't the only member of the traveling party who was harassed. Ausmus said his wife, Liz, endured some vulgar taunts and a few vulgar hand gestures throughout the night.

"Some of the treatment that the Astros families received at U.S. Cellular Field was a huge black eye for the city of Chicago," Ausmus said. "Now, I understand that's not indicative of all the people in the Chicago area, because I have friends and relatives there.

"I know the people of Chicago are overwhelmingly good people. But if I was from Chicago, I'd be embarrassed by the way the Astros' families were treated by the White Sox fans. My wife didn't get hit or anything, but people flipped her off and were screaming at her."

"I know the security in Chicago is doing a great job," Guillen said. "And when something happens so quick, you can't blame anybody. And the guy that did it, he should be brought to Biggio, and he's the one that can hopefully get him back.

"I told the police, 'Don't put him in jail. Bring him to me in the dugout.' But hopefully, that won't happen again."

Shortstop Adam Everett heard a little bit about the incident, but he knew more than enough to form his opinion.

"That's real weak," he said. "That's bad. I don't care where you're at, to hit a woman is not good."

Ozzie & Sox in Series but cannot ignore the Cubs

From Rozner today: http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/rozner.asp?id=25158

Holding court in the dugout, Ozzie Guillen reminded the media that he hates Wrigley Field.

“Ask the players about Wrigley Field. They have 20,000 rats in the hitting cage,’’ Guillen said. “This is a Cubs town, man. If we win this year, Wrigley Field will be packed for 30 days in a row. They’ll be sold out no matter what.’’

Meow Meow Meow

Quit obsessing over the Cubs and win your fucking World Series.

I Couldn't Have Said It Any Better Myself...

From the Chicago Tribune today, by Brian Hiatt.

Picture two ugly sisters--think Patty and Selma Bouvier from "The Simpsons"--spending their childhood living together, arguing over who was prettier, who was more popular, who did better in school--even though neither has much to brag about.

That's what Chicago Cubs and White Sox fans have been like for the last 46 years. For seasons immemorial, North and South Siders have bickered and brawled over who won more games, who (before the interleague season series era) won the therwise meaningless Crosstown Classic, or who (after interleague play began) won the season series. But we never debated pennants or World Series titles because, well, that never was an issue.

This year, the Sox have a date for the prom. Cub fans don't and haven't in the last 60 years. And we don't know how to feel about it.

Are we happy for them? Please. Are we secretly rooting for them? Doubtful, lthough if they face the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, we will have quite a dilemma on our hands.

Are we jealous? Oh, you better believe it.

Watching the American League Championship Series, I kept waiting for the White Sox to implode, for that sudden Bartman moment to jolt them back to the reality of the fact that they are a Chicago baseball team, and Chicago baseball teams simply don't accomplish anything in the playoffs, let alone advance to the World Series. It never happened. And when Paul Konerko snared that last ground ball Sunday and sprinted to the bag, I watched the Sox celebrate stone-faced, just as I did when the Florida Marlins exulted on the field at Wrigley in 2003. The feelings were almost exactly the same.

That chilly, dreadful October evening seems like yesterday. Ozzie Guillen was there at the time as the Marlins' third-base coach, whooping it up with his players on the field. There he was again Sunday night, as the White Sox manager, accepting hand shakes and kisses. Ugh.

I put the remote in overdrive. But every local TV channel was dominated with gratuitous coverage of the Sox celebration. More ugh. Then the footage cut away to that concrete and glass monstrosity formerly known as "New Comiskey," to show Sox fans reveling in the streets.

That could have been us two years ago. It should have been us. Clark and Addison Streets were swelling with delirious, success-starved Cub fans, ready to storm the ballroom, only to have the doors slammed in our faces.

How can they be going to the dance? Our starting rotation is supposed to be better. Our offense is supposed to be better. Our front office actually spends money in the ff-season and makes bold moves at trade deadline. Our fan base actually fills our ballpark, even if a good percentage of them are there to guzzle beer and sit in the sun. We're, we're better than them! Right? Right?

I would venture to say that most Cub fans don't really mind the Sox. Contrary to what the self-professed "real" baseball fans on the South Side say, most of us actually do know a thing or two about the game, and recognize good baseball when we see it. There is a lot to appreciate about this year's Sox team. The starters have been dominant beyond precedent in the ALCS, the offense has been surprisingly productive and the defense has been top-notch. The White Sox are very, very good. None of us will deny that.

It's Sox fans we can't stand. During any given season, we generally don't care about what the Pale Hose are up to, but Sox fans are always watching us, waiting for our team to implode--as it routinely has in recent years, at various points following the All-Star break--so they can rub salt in the wound when it happens. The picture of a clueless, expressionless Steve Bartman sitting along the Wrigley third-base-line wall is still the preferred online avatar of Sox fans posting their anti-Cub rants on various Internet forums. To hear them talk about it, they hadn't experienced a happier moment in their baseball lives than that 2003 National League Championship Series until, well, Sunday.

Cub fans barely noticed the Sox's playoff failures in 1993 and 2000. But in 1984, when the Cubs squandered a 2-0 National League playoff series lead to the San Diego Padres, Sox fans were elated. They were downright giddy when that ground ball rolled through Leon Durham's legs. I was 11 at the time and, following the last out of Game 5, I rushed outside the house in tears, only to see my friend, one of a family of Sox fans who lived down the street, ride by on his bicycle. This was the same kid whom I had consoled one year earlier after his "Winning Ugly" Sox choked against the Baltimore Orioles in the American League playoffs. His kind words to me? "Go Padres!" he yelled.

That's a Sox fan for you, whether he's 11, 31 or 81. We don't really root against the Sox, but they live for the Cubs to fail. It's like your younger sister jeering you after you've been stood up for the umpteenth time, even though she's never been asked out on a date herself.

Sunday night, I waited patiently for the ax to fall, for fate to intervene, as it has for my Cubs every time they have gotten this close in my lifetime. The only Bartman moment I got was the ground-rule double by Chone Figgins, snared by a fan in the right-field seats, allowing the Los Angeles Angels to tie the game 2-2 in the fifth. No matter. The White Sox efficiently put up four more runs and shut down the Angels in the late innings.

Things aren't looking good, considering the Sox will have home-field advantage against either the most disappointing playoff team in recent memory not named the Atlanta Braves (St. Louis) or a geriatric bunch (Houston) that is hitting something like 3 for 100 with runners in scoring position in the playoffs.Not only is our acne-scarred, mouthy, bratty little sister going to the prom, she just might be crowned queen.

We're so happy for you, Sox fans. Now excuse me. I'm going upstairs to my room to pout.