Miles from Fenway: Another Sox Championship

Whenever I read the paper I start with the Sports section. I don’t know what this says about me but I do. So today when the New York Times was delivered to my apartment and my roommate (who’s name is on the subscription because she, well, PAYS for it) dove into the front page I made a grab for section D “Sports Saturday”.

There, in the upper left-hand corner was a picture of the White Sox victory parade. I smiled to myself remembering the delirium that was my 2004 experience and felt a rush of warmth toward all White Sox fans. “I know how you feel,” I thought.

The feeling continued as I began to read the column the picture accompanied (not linked to because you need to pay to read it online). The title of the piece was “Windy? Sure. Second? Not Anymore.” By William C. Rhoden. And it started out like this:

The operative word in Chicago these days is stunned. I’m speaking for myself, but I am also speaking for fellow South Siders and fans who are stunned that the Chicago White Sox-the Hitless Wonder White Sox of 1906, the Go-Go Sox of 1959 – won the World Series.

Ah how I, and inevitable all of Red Sox Nation, remember the feeling. It took months for it to really sink in with me. And every time I was reminded, whether when it was when I had my picture taken with the World Series trophy or wore the World Series ring (which happened on multiple occasions thanks to friendly Fenway staff members and the Twin’s sister) the immediate thought was “My God it really is true, the Red Sox are the World Champions”.

Now granted, we can’t say that anymore. Sure the words “The Sox are the World Champions” is still applicable, but it’s now a sock of a different color (come on I couldn’t pass that one up). So as I continued reading Mr. Rhoden’s column I was reminded of all of those moments and had a nice warm fuzzy feeling going on for the fans of Chicago. And then I read the following about a quarter of the way into the column:

The boys and girls don’t yet understand the scope of what they witnessed, though they mat as the decades inevitably pass without a repeat World Series performance.

Excuse me, what? I’m not even a White Sox fan and that line pissed me off. Why is this columnist already dismissing next season? For a moment I thought I had misread the beginning of the column and that this guy wasn’t actually a Sox fan. Nope, reread it again, and continued reading the column and he definitely identified himself as a South Side Sox fan.

What aggravated me the most about this is the defeatist attitude that Mr. Rhoden is now projecting onto all Chicago fans. I know that 99.9% of their fans out there are not in line with Mr. Rhoden’s thinking, but as a writer, representing the Chicago fan base in a major newspaper, shouldn’t he be portraying himself, and therefore the rest of the Sox fanbase, in the best light possible?

I’m overreacting and I know it, but one of the comments that I got as a RED Sox fan living in New York right after they won was “Oh, well now you can wait another 86 years”. Which of course prompted my response of “Fuck off, my team just won the World Series and I’m going to enjoy it damnit.”

And I hope White Sox fans are doing just that. Not listening to asshats like Mr. Rhoden. Not thinking about next year (unless it’s to think about unveiling that flag at US Cellular) and basking in the glow of a World Series they were never sure they were going to see. Party it up Sox fans. You deserve it.

Labels: baseball

posted by FINY @ Saturday, October 29, 2005

4 Comments:

At 10/30/2005, Anonymous said…

Great column, FiNY. It goes to show you the majority of sportswriters in this country ARE asshats. Rhoden is part of that culture(Shaughnessy, etc.) that HAS to be negative. Your column reminds me of those imbecilic "reply" shirts that Yankee fans created in response to the Red Sox championship of 2004. You know the one: the "got rings?" shirt. On the back of it was one line that really made me laugh: "We won't go 86 years before winning another World Series". First these morons are history professors ("1918") and now they are fortune tellers! How the hell does Rhoden know the White Sox won't win another championship for decades?
Pathetic.
At 10/31/2005, Michael Leggett said…

Rhoden sounds a lot like Scott Stossel, in "The Atlantic Monthly", while reminiscing over past Red Sox Failures.

Stossel & Rhoden, must REALLY love the Commentary of that "Ultimate Asshat",Tim "The Dim Bulb" McCarver.
At 11/08/2005, kate.d. said…

as a red sox fan living in chicago with a south-sider white sox fan, the last two years has been an embarrassment of riches! i assure you, white sox fans have not been letting ANY of the haters or nay-sayers get them down out here :)
At 11/09/2005, Michael Leggett said…

In 1969, when I was just entering HS, Yankee Fans were just going through 12 Years of MISERY, Which I LOVED, as The Mets won a World Series & a National League Pennant, which drove Yankee Fans INSANE, which was GREAT.

Here's to '04, where they were driven, even further to INSANITY.