Below the Din

Last week, the Cubs climbed into first place in the NL Central, giving the City of Chicago two first-place teams. I logged on to suntimes.com during the day last Monday, and in big, bold red letters was a link to “Chat with a member of the first-place Cubs.”

Now, I’m sure the chat was already scheduled, and they were merely stating a fact that, yes, the Cubs were in first place. But given the fact the Sox were leading a competitive division in which many had picked them to finish fourth, and that the Cubs had to fight their way to the top of arguably the weakest division in baseball, a division that they were picked by most to win, well, it just seemed a bit… misplaced.

Find me a Sox fan that doesn’t hate the Cubs, and I’ll show you they are either a casual Sox fan, someone who’s close to a Cubs fan. Why? Because we Cub fans (and I do say we as I am a lifetime one), on the whole, are stupid.

(Marty Brenneman is still a complete tool. One can make an argument for many teams having the most obnoxious fans in baseball. To go on air and write Cubs fans off when you yourself said you haven’t seen Yankees or Red Sox “with any degree of regularity” just contradicts your point.)

I used to hate the Sox, mostly because of the fans. Then I realized they’ve got every right.

We put stock in billy goats. We demonize one man in a group of many fans who reached for a foul ball, instead of the manager who wrecked the arms and futures of two bright young pitchers by overworking them. We hoist up a mediocre announcer as a diety. During my lifetime, we packed the seats at Wrigley while the Tribune Company laughed all the way to the bank, investing very little in the team. They’re not losers, they’re “loveable” losers. That makes it fun. “Hey frat boys, come to beautiful Wrigley, get drunk, you’re not going to see a game, you’re going for an ‘experience.’”

And we look the other way when the Trib finally starts putting together a contender in hopes of making the team more pallatable for sale.

And we think shirts like this are funny, let alone profitable.

Meanwhile, the Sox have been the red-headed stepchild of Chicago for years. This is a team that won the World Championship less than three years ago.

I’ll always be a Cub fan, i think, I have many good memories of being a Cub fan, but those memories usually center around my family and friends. But you won’t find me badmouthing Sox fans any time soon.

(Image courtesy of the BBC.)