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| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 |
| On Why I’m Rooting for the White Sox |
Everyone knows the “Black Sox” story. It was the 1919 World Series. The Chicago White Sox against the Cincinnati Reds. The White Sox heavily favored to win the series after ending the season in first place, lost in 8 games.
It eventually came out that eight players on the Sox; “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Chick Gandil, Ed Cicotte, Swede Risberg, Fred McMullin, Lefty Williams, Happy Felsch, and Buck Weaver, had thrown the series. They had been paid by a prominent gambler in order to fix the odds. They haven’t won a World Series since.
Now, as a Red Sox fan, I don’t believe in curses. Never have. I believe in bad management. Injury plagued seasons. Inept owners. But Billy goats, trades, and gambling are NOT reasons that teams lose.
Was what happened in 1919 a black mark on baseball? Clearly. Just as steroids mar the game today these players (and I am not going to get into the Joe Jackson argument as that’s a WHOLE other post) took what is supposed to be a pure and simple game and dirtied it’s image. Since that time the team has carried their history around on their shoulders. It’s time to shake it free. The White Sox owners, manager, coaches, and players have nothing to do with what happened all those decades ago.
There are many reasons I feel sympathy for the White Sox, the least of which being that I know how their fans feel wondering if they’ll ever see their team win it all while they’re alive. But then there’s also the gritty nature of their team that I enjoy. And for as much as I think Ozzy Gullien is an ass, at least he’s real. He says the type of shit most of us fans think all the time. Then there’s the fact that they share their market with the Cubs. The White Sox have a very devoted following, but the Cubs are one of those “America’s Darlings” teams.
But one of the main reasons I am rooting for the Pale Hose – they beat my team to get where they are. I know this is going to anger some Red Sox fans, and I’m ok with that, but here’s my reasoning: If your team is knocked out of the post-season, don’t you at least want it to be by a team that does something with it? I mean if the White Sox had lost the ALCS wouldn’t you have thought, Well, Jesus the Sawx coulda done that!
So there are a lot of reasons I’m behind the White Sox at the moment. Then again I may have to rethink my stance if it’s the Cardinals in the series with them. If there’s one thing I learned from last year’s Series it’s that they have some AMAZING fans out there, some of whom I’ve gotten to know through the blog world, and who I’d like to see as happy as we were last year.Labels: baseball |
posted by FINY @ Wednesday, October 19, 2005   |
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| 12 Comments: |
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Amy, you're going to hate me for this, but I am REALLY rooting against your boy. I respect his ability, I admire him as a pitcher, and will joyfully tell my grandchildren that I was lucky enough to get to see him pitch. But I could never forgive him for being the ass that he was.
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If you're talking solidarity, how about rooting for the Astros for a) not ever even appearing in the world series, b) being 0-5 in games in which a victory would have sent them to a World Series, c) for the utter heartache the fans must have suffered whe Pujols cranked that ball on Monday - after Aaron Boone, you have to feel for them a little bit.
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Hrm. I have been having trouble with this. I had reasons for wanting each of the LCS teams to win, and reasons to want each of them to lose.
The Angels have crappy fans, the rally monkey and that stupid ass LA of ANA thing. They also have OCab, who I love.
The White Sox have Ozzie, and crazy Carl, Contreras and El Pukee and I hate them all. They also have the not winning for a long time thing which I obviously have a lot of sympathy for.
The Cardinals have Tony La Russa, who I just flat out hate and they beat the Sox a couple times in the WS. They also have great fans that really deserve a championship.
The Astros have Roger Clemens. They also have Bagwell and Biggio and I'd love to see them get rings.
I had picked the Angels in part because I love OCab, in part because I just can't bring myself to root of the ChiSox, and in part because of the bullshit call in game 2. Obviously that didn't work out so well.
I am now rooting for Houston because of Bags and Biggio. And of course I now expect the Cards to take the last two games.
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Brad Lidge was losing his edge in NLCS Games 4 & 5; rather fearful that he has all the edge of Braeden Looper & Armando Benitez(Yikes, lemme get outta here!).
Finally, with a Smart Owner of The Pale Hose(Who Grew up going to a National League Park, @ the c/o Bedford Avenue & Sullivan Place, on South Side of Prospect Park, called Ebbetts Field, The Pale Hose are, finally, going places.
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it's always better to lose to the eventual champion...of course unless that loss is blowing a 3-0 series lead...of course...
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I thought you were going to say because they partially share the same name. Just different colors.
Just goes to show you how much I know!!
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I've always gone with the idea of cheering for the team that knocked your team out. That way at least you can say you lost to the champs. Except of course when you get knocked out by a bitter rival, then there is no excuse for cheering for them.
To echo BlackJack, I think that if you don't have a team in the race anymore that everyone should be rooting for the Astros (of course I'm wildly biased). The killer B's and Oswalt deserve to get this one. I mean c'mon, Bagwell and Biggio have combined to play more years with the Astros (33) then I've been alive (23). Thats gotta be worth something.
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my thoughts:
i like the Angels, despite that whole "LA Angels of Anaheim" bullshit. plus, they've got Vlad. you gotta love a guy who's cool enough to carry around a name like Vlad Guerrero all his life.
i like the ChiSox, because i used to live in Chicago, and i know a lot of fans there.
i hate Houston, i hate Clemens, i hate Pettite. but i like Biggio and Bagwell. if Houston could somehow win the WS without those picthers getting rings, i'd root for them.
the cardinals? there's just nothing to like about them. they're good, though.
so. who am i rooting for in the WS? i guess whichever AL team makes it there.
but now i'm dying to know your thoughts on Shoeless Joe...
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gotta go with the chisox too -- loyalty to the AL and long-suffering Chicago fans.
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Now that we know it's Houston repping the NL, I've gotta go with the Chi Sox here. Not because I would like to see all the loyal White Sox fans be happy (all three of them), but because after living reasonably close to Chicago for the past several years, I can think of nothing that would hurt Cubs fans more than seeing the Red Sox win their first series since 1918 followed by the White Sox winning their first since 1917. Does this make me a mean person? Probably, but on the annoying fan scale many Cubs fans rank up there with Yankees fans.
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Shoeless Joe, was, also, illiterate, & may have signed a paper, saying that he knew of the conspiracy, in order to avoid prosecution. He was REALLY Clueless Joe.
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Amy, you're going to hate me for this, but I am REALLY rooting against your boy. I respect his ability, I admire him as a pitcher, and will joyfully tell my grandchildren that I was lucky enough to get to see him pitch. But I could never forgive him for being the ass that he was.