FUCKING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I never thought I'd really see this day!! Somebody fucking pinch me!! Sox win the series!! Jesus I wish I didn't have a 6am wake up (and most people I was with had an even earlier one)...dear god the bar was falling apart at the hinges. Everyone going crazy. Friends I hadn't heard from in months calling, me calling them.

For a long time I had a debate in my head of what would be bigger for me, an ND National title or a Sox World Series. I think that question is now answered. Nothing quite beats this. I would give up a 3 way with Angelina Jolie and Kiera Knightly to relive this again.

Boston long suffering my ass. This is the fulfillment of a countless lifelong dreams. the sox win the series.

I'd like to be gracious, but I'll take this opportunity for a few choice shots. Jay Marrioti...fuck off you worthless scumbags. To all the press who picked us to finish 3rd or 4th in our own division, want to rethink that? To every journalist who wrote us off as flukes in the first half and chokers in the second...eat crow my friends!

And to the fans who were with us since they could walk, I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. And to the more recent fans who got caught up in the hype, I hope you're enjoying it just as much. We love bandwagon jumpers...as long as they don't jump back after all the hysteria is done. My hat goes off a hundred times to Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen for putting this team together and bringing Chicago it's long dreamt after championship.

And to the team of no real superstars, yet also no egos and a single vision, thanks from the bottom of my heart for bringing this championship home. You guys will be enshrined forever in White Sox lore.

So many new legends made. Uribe's straight up amazing defense. Crede's clutch hits. The impossible homer by Podsednik. The most unlikely hero of all in Blum. Hernandez's clutch inning against Boston. Iguchi's 3 run shot in game 2 (against Boston). Konerko's slam and several other home runs and rbi's. The amazing pitching by are starters and bullpen when we needed it. To everyone on this team who met adversity during the late season dive and became stronger for it, we all salute you!!

Don't mind the bandwagoners so much. They did make the pre and post-championship games a bit more fun. It doesn't matter how intense the dedicated are, a half full stadium is no fun. Than again, neither is being unable to simply walk up and get good seats on gameday or having my favorite tail-gating lot closed off for 'season ticket holders only'. I'd also bitch about increased Ryan traffic (already a clusterfuck bottleneck), but I usually get to the games early enough to avoid the fan surge.

That said, there's a special place in hell for drunk, obnoxious Cubs fans. They were unbearable to sit near on the commuter rails and annoying to stand with during my short red line trips.

As it stands now, I think the bandwagons have already reversed. I couldn't go 5 feet without seeing White sox shit everywhere. I probably saw more sox gear on than Cubs on most days. (which is rather exceptional in Chicago as you know). But now everyone is proudly wearing their Cubbie blue. And I mean everyone. Wearing a Sox hat is once more a counter-cultural socio-economic statement.

Heh...I love the Onion-Gammons quote.

QUOTE

"Until we have definitive proof one way or the other, the very presence of so many questions about Bonds and steroids will haunt his achievements forever," ESPN's Peter Gammons said Monday. "However, at this moment, I think we'd all have to agree that having a raging juiced-up misanthrope break the greatest record in sports is a ray of sunshine compared to everything else on the sports page."

All this discussion about losing mentalities and ending long draughts...and not a single mention of the White Sox. Always the overlooked. Our futility spree was nearly as long (or longer). But we have no long suffering or lovable loser status. We've been completely anonymous nationally...and for the most part even locally in our despair. That was true pain my friends. Suffering without the least bit of recognition.

And you couldn't pry that World Series trophy from our cold, dead hands. As a white Sox fan, you're always pessimisstic. There is no 'wait til next year', because we're fimly confident that we'll suck as much as the last. Any and all optimism is couched in cautious doubt and worst case 'what-if's'. We don't win 3 games in a row in the weakest division in baseball and start talking championship like some other fandoms. We dominated baseball, first place almost entirely from the first day (nearly) to the last. And we spent that hole time wondering when the other shoe was gonna fall. When reality was gonna hit our team in the face. Even when we won the division, we through all that shit out and fretted about the playoffs. We were up 3 games to none and leading in the late innings of Game 4 of the World Series and still on pins and needles. Those last few outs were some of the single most ecstatic moments of my life.

For one moment all the chronic pessimism and negativism that makes a true White Sox fan was out the window. Its an odd thing to finally achieve a dream that you never thought would happen. Had no reason to believe would happen. And had absolutely no expectations of happening. Cubs fans talk destiny. I'm sure alot of Boston fans did too. Destiny and for the longest time before that, curses. Very little such talk with White Sox fans. There was no higher power toying with us, just years of shit teams and the unwillingness to spend money when we had decent ones. There was no understanding that it was our right, divine or otherwise, to win this championship. But I'm damned glad they did.

Not sure if I really had a point with this. But I figured in a Cubs/Red Sox discussion, the other 'long suffering' franchise without quite such good PR deserved to be mentioned.

I'm a sucker for public transit. And as such, I've been subject to countless trainloads (metra and Red Line) of loud, drunk, obnoxious Cubs fans. (all of those things both before and after a game). Fuckers deserve all the abuse they might get.

And there is definately a chip on the shoulder with the Cubs/Sox thing. That's gonna happen when you're the second team in the city and the first gets all the recognition and publicity on the national level along with most of it locally. But that's hardly the sole definition of our fandom. And I'd argue that alot of it died down after we finally won. Many of the fans who did care about what the Cubs did stopped doing so. And even those who still enjoy watching Cubs and Cubs fandom suffer are there first and by far foremost for a White Sox win. Most of it is little more than good natured jabs at the other guys in town anyway. Your fans do the same.

And not that every White Sox fan is a serious, stat-crunching baseball historian and expert...but its nice to know that I never have to ask the question 'Who's a real White Sox fan, Who's a Comiskey Park fan, and Who's a damned tourist?'

I'd exclude Tampa Bay because its not a real city and has no real sports tradition. (sorta built one in football) They deserve to suffer. That's what all brand new expansions in cities with no previous history in the sport SHOULD do. its called paying your dues. Bucs did it for a couple decades, than they got theirs. That's the way it should be. I'd say the Phillies don't deserve one cause of their fans, but they're made tolerable because Raider Nation exists. Definately a real city though.

QUOTE (The Wedge @ Aug 21 2007 - 09.20)

Explain three years from expansion to championship for the D-backs. (okay, they bought that one in some sense).

Explain a team with gawd awful attendance in a freakin' football stadium wins two WS in its first decade in the Marlins. That's got to irk long suffering fans in more traditional markets to no end.

What can I say? The world is a very unjust place. The Marlins runs were especially irritating. Binge buying than binge purging right after a series win. Like a 15 year old buying a hooker, prematurely ejaculating before he got it in, than demanding a refund. D-backs at least had a compelling storyline. Two likeable (at least at one point), hard-working and dominant veteran pitchers facing off against the evil Empire and pretty much winning the whole thing single-handedly. I remember that series well and my Yank-hate was in full force. Not an ounce of post 9-11 sympathy from me.

QUOTE (The Wedge @ Aug 21 2007 - 09.20)

I agree Tampa should suffer because of that stupid dome they play in. What a joke that place is. Then again, they got a Lombardi trophy and a freakin' Stanley Cup a few years ago, so they can't complain too much about suffering.

I don't think many people care all that much about a Stanley Cup anymore. And certainly not in places where it never snows. (I still hold that Hockey's expansion to non-semiArctic states was a mistake. Noone there has any history, appreciation of or experience with Hockey. How are you gonna build a following with something that's little more than a quirky oddity to them?)

Part one of my prophesied 'Cubs get swept' is complete. Kind of weird coming into this post season. Part of me wanted Cubs fans to feel the joy and exultation I felt after the Sox took it all. And part of me wanted to see the crushed look on their faces as they were shoved from the playoffs before anyone outside of the Northside even knew they were there. Damn these conflicting emotions.

QUOTE (add-on @ Apr 14 2008, 09.32)

I fail to see any scenario in which this could be considered a good thing.

Unless you're a Sox fan, I suppose. But really, who would even admit to that? (it's even worse than being a Cards fan

Century of futility? Decrepit, rundown stadium? A mascot named 'Wooo wooo!'? Tourists and trendy yuppies making up half the fanbase? The half decade worth of the 'Prior/Wood' watch? One of the top 5 most notorious roid users in the game as your most prominent alumni? Nutjob, headcase 'Ace'? An announcer that makes our play-by-play guy look like Howard Cossell? And you're saying it should be embarrassing to be a Sox fan? Are you kidding me?

QUOTE (Weekapaug Groove @ Apr 14 2008, 09.34)

Just a reminder, the Sox are the Red Sox. If you are referring to the Black Sox..err..White Sox, they are the WSox or White Sox

Bah...the only reason anyone outside of the east coast buys that crap is because of the 5 Yankees/Red Sox networks on cable. (By that I'm of course referring to ESPN, E2, EClassic, ENews in the summers)

QUOTE (add-on @ Apr 15 2008, 09.53)

I like how you try to make Wrigley into a negative. I've been to the Cell a couple of times and liked it fine, but it really can't compare to spending an afternoon at Wrigley. I've loved it since I was a kid and will be sad if they ever tear it down.

An afternoon in Wrigley is fine. Great place to catch a game. Unless you actually want to buy a hotdog. Or take a piss. Or move anywhere from your seat for the entirety of the game. Than it feels like walking through a crowded medieval dungeon full of clumsy, smelly, obnoxious drunks.

Not sure if you're trying to be ironic, but I think you know who I'm talking about on the announcer thing. Handing a microphone to Ron Santo ranks up there with Eating the fruit and land wars in Asia as some of the bigger mistakes of mankind.

Our headcase manager throws a tantrum he gets thrown out, fires up the team, and we go on to win. Your Ace pitcher throws a tantrum and gets thrown out you fuck your bullpen and the rest of your team. Even if he doesn't get thrown out, his anger and frustration leads to a lack of control, thereby fucking the team. If you're gonna have a nutjob, you don't want him at the most important position on the field. This ain't football where a coach actually serves an essential purpose. It doesn't take all that much to be an AL manager on gameday.

And I bet I could go to a Cubs game and say...1 out of 3 fans under 30 probably wouldn't know who Ernie Banks is.

QUOTE (Lord O' Bones @ Apr 16 2008, 21.49)

The Metrodome sucked pretty hard too. They have this ridiculous, ginormous, black trashbag thing hanging down to block out the extra football seating and all of the seats are facing the 50 yardline instead of the diamond.

Got to concur on this. Worst stadium I've ever visited. That is actually one of the best features of Comiskey. If you're there to see the game, there really are no bad seats. No obstructed views. No terrible sight-lines. And the seats are more than large enough and comfortable enough for your plus-sized Chicagoan. (not that I'm quite in that category yet) It was designed with viewing the game in mind. And the renovations have gone a long way to making it feel less generic. Still got some complaints though. Like buying a gigantic new scoreboard that has a screen....the same size as the old scoreboard with the rest of the space taken up by gigantic Pepsi/Miller banners. (or whatever)

We've also got the best piano lady in baseball. The best field maintenance crew in baseball. Best drainage guy. (don't think that's a big deal? Go to a Cubs game after a drizzle. Although I think sometime last year they brought in our guy to redo their field as well) Some of the better food. Tailgating. (yeah, I'd rather have bars and nightlife too. But there is something to be said for the open air, cool breeze, the grill, and not paying $7 per beer on game day.)

Its also possible to drive to and park at the game. Something I wouldn't recommend up north.

Considering even the best, most developed prospects are still a year or two off from even sniffing the majors at best, its hard to get all that excited about the baseball draft. Plus most of these kids have next to zero exposure before draft day, so its not like anyone but the fanatics knows whose getting picked.

Since the renovations, Comiskey is actually a pretty decent stadium and good place to watch a game. There's no obstructed view, almost every seat gives you a good view of the game. The food is good. The atmosphere decent. And at least the few games I've made this year and in recent years, the crowd gets into the game well enough.

Getting there from Naperville...could be a bitch. You're basically taking Metra www.metrarail.com from Naperville to Union station, than walking/bus/or cabbing it to the Red Line, and taking that straight south to Comiskey. Weekend Metra service tends to be a bit limited, so I'd check the schedules. But all around, I don't think its a great option. If you have easy access to the CTA Redline, than public transit to Comiskey is easy. If you don't, it gets a bit tougher.

Really your better option is driving. Especially on a Sunday. From Naperville I think you jump down to 55 and take that to 90-94 (Dan Ryan), which you'd take south for a short bit til you hit the stadium. (they'll have signs and its impossible to miss). Or if its closer for you, jump up to 88 east, on through 290, than jump south at 90. (Naperville appears to be between 88 and 55, so it'd depend on location) Parking is $22 last I checked. And in most cases, you shouldn't have a problem getting a ticket. But considering this is a weekend game against a big division rival, it might be a bit more limited than usual. (though you still should be able to find some upper deck seats)

That said, Naperville is a fair distance outside of the city. I don't know the construction picture out that way and if you run into a substantial backup, its quite possible you could miss alot of the game. Also check who's pitching. Buerhle pitches quick and alot of his games end pretty fast.

Also, there's almost no nightlife around the stadium, so there's little to do after the game. Before the game, there's a ton of tailgating and its a pretty good time. I know you said you can't make it early, but its worth trying out if you can swing it. (and if you can get your hands on a cooler, beer, and grill)

The area right around the stadium is generally safe. And even the expanded neighborhood is MUCH better than it used to be. Urban renewal (aka, they tore down the projects and built condos) has hit even the very bad parts of Chicago and its been quite successful.

For the Red Line, there's pretty much a stop right at the park. Although the Red Line doesn't directly hit Union Station, the Cta site has a couple of methods for getting there. CTA http://tripsweb.rtachicago.com Try putting in US Cellular (bleh) to Union station.

According to the CTA's fantasyland schedule, you should be able to do it in 20 minutes. I'd bet on 30 at least. (mostly dependent on whether you catch the trains and/or buses in a timely manner)

If you drive, listen to 780 am for the traffic reports. (traffic on the 8's.) Though they use the local names for the roads (I think 88 is the Reagan, not sure. No idea what 290 is, etc), so it might sound like gibberish.

And of course I'll repeat the chorus...what the hell are you doing in Naperville?

On the scalping, I really don't know. I've seen them out there from time to time, but not in as big of numbers as say...a Cubs game or football game. Also no idea if they'd still be around a few innings in. But they shouldn't be too hard to find before the game, either walking the sidewalk across the street or on occasions near the ticket window. (where they're not supposed to be, at least I don't think) I've never used them, so I can't tell you much about general reliability, cost, etc.

Don't mind me. Just basking in the glow of our 7 game win streak.

I was just thinking about the Broadcast bit and I see you guys already got a page or two on it. Cool. In either case, considering what I had to suffer through last year, the Farmer/Stone pairing is awesome. Both smart, insightful, and always interesting. The play by play ain't terrible either. Singleton had no business in a booth. Its nice to have two people with comfortable, professional broadcast voices up there again. Even Sox fans have liked and respected Stone since his Cubs days. Glad to have him back on the air regularly. And ANY team that has Ron Santo in the booth has absolutely no place to bitch about Hawk 'n' DJ.

Hadn't heard of the Ventura possibility. Got to say, longtime fan of the guy. Became my favorite Sox player after the REAL Pudge retired/forced out. (btw, made a game a few weeks back where they had a tribute to Carlton Fisk, welcoming back to the team/healing any remaining rifts sort of thing. Had him, Ron Kittle, and I think Bo Jackson riding out on the field in Harley's. Pretty cool.)

Fuck. I think its about time to ban away games.

Ron Kittle is popular (My sister's favorite player back than) here cause he's a local boy 'done good'. He's from NW Indiana, even worked in the steel mills for a few years, and started his playing career pretty late. (think he hit the bigs at 26) His first season saw big power, good average, All-Star, and Rookie of the Year accolades. He never quite matched that, but he helped us to the playoffs that year and in Chicago, such timely (we hadn't been since '59) heroics can write your paycheck for the rest of your life whether you play again or not. (ask any of the '85 Bears) He also had a habit of putting home run balls on the roof of old Comiskey, which is awesome. Always liked the guy myself, though I have heard a story or two that he's occasionally unlikable. Though I got to say, your story is awesome. Hell of a way to welcome a kid to the sport.

Anyway, Kittle still lives in the area. Was active with an Independent league team (managing/owning or something), not sure if he still is. Shows up on the occasional radio show. And I'm sure he lends his name for money like the best of them. You won't find too many in my area who have a bad word to say about the guy.

Bah...if the National League would join the 20th century, than Ozzie wouldn't have had to pinch hit for Danks in the 7th, Lee and Ramirez wouldn't have gotten back to back home runs on Dotel, and Sox would have won the first game.

Personally, I blame the national league. Backwater hicks.

30 teams in major league baseball. 94 nationally televised games through June between ESPN and FOX. 30 teams in major league baseball.

46 of those games featured NY or Boston.

ESPN/Fox math: Boston/NY = 1/2 of baseball.

Fuck em. No wonder their crews don't know shit about any team outside of the east coast.