http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24367000/the-top-25-most-miserable-fan-bases-professional-sports

Trailing only the Padres among MLB franchises...Reds 7th, Bears 9th, Mariners 13th

Hey, at least ESPN didn’t forget us, finally!

Edited December 30, 20187 yr by caulfield12

Bears fans seem pretty happy to me

Hahn always promised sustained success...just didn't know it was with this.

7 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

Bears fans seem pretty happy to me

You'd think after this season they would drop considerably. Lot to be excited about.

18 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24367000/the-top-25-most-miserable-fan-bases-professional-sports

Trailing only the Padres among MLB franchises...Reds 7th, Bears 9th, Mariners 13th

Hey, at least ESPN didn’t forget us, finally!

They didn’t forget us but still got their facts wrong. Article says our last playoff appearance was in 2010.

They seems to have moved the M’s up despite being competitive this year...the Rays had a surprisingly good year record wise and still moved up 23 spots due to attendance/stadium issues highlighted by Pham and Dick Vitale this past week.

1 minute ago, OmarComing25 said:

They didn’t forget us but still got their facts wrong. Article says our last playoff appearance was in 2010.

We did go on something like a 26-5 or 25-6 run in the middle of that year, lol.

How are the Mariners so much lower? 

White Sox: last playoffs in 2008, Championship in 2005.

Mariners: last playoffs in 2001, never even been in the World Series

As much as it sucks as a Sox fan right now, I dont think any franchise with a title in the past 15 years belongs that high on the list. Other than the Marlins

21 minutes ago, LittleHurt05 said:

How are the Mariners so much lower? 

White Sox: last playoffs in 2008, Championship in 2005.

Mariners: last playoffs in 2001, never even been in the World Series

As much as it sucks as a Sox fan right now, I dont think any franchise with a title in the past 15 years belongs that high on the list. Other than the Marlins

The Cubagorean Theorem 

The Mariners at least had identifiable franchise cornerstones in Ichiro, Felix and Cano.

We had...Buehrle and Konerko, then Abreu.

Nice covered modern stadium, trendy city with lots of tech companies...compared to now one of the older stadiums in a so-so area of the city, and certainly not the heart of an entertainment district.

And then the Cubs’ Marginalization Effect, too.

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

The Mariners at least had identifiable franchise cornerstones in Ichiro, Felix and Cano.

We had...Buehrle and Konerko, then Abreu.

Nice covered modern stadium, trendy city with lots of tech companies...compared to now one of the older stadiums in a so-so area of the city, and certainly not the heart of an entertainment district.

And then the Cubs’ Marginalization Effect, too.

One World Series Title vs never ever playing in the World Series. Zero playoff games in 17 years.

It's really that simple

35 minutes ago, LittleHurt05 said:

One World Series Title vs never ever playing in the World Series. Zero playoff games in 17 years.

It's really that simple

No it isn't. 

Caulfield just laid it out for you... it's not that simple. The marginalization effect of the cubs has a big effect here, amongst other things. 

15 minutes ago, iWiN4PreP said:

No it isn't. 

Caulfield just laid it out for you... it's not that simple. The marginalization effect of the cubs has a big effect here, amongst other things. 

The amazing thing is I even forgot Chris Sale.  Which makes sense, in a way.  Great pitcher, just not the huge box office draw like a Greinke in KC or Halladay in Toronto.  Definitely the only HoF caliber talent connected with the Sox this decade, unless you count Omar Vizquel in 2010.

Edited December 31, 20187 yr by caulfield12

The cubs and royals obsession is just sad around here. 

29 minutes ago, Eminor3rd said:

The cubs and royals obsession is just sad around here. 

To be fair, only two posters have a Royals obsession. 

4 minutes ago, Quinarvy said:

To be fair, only two posters have a Royals obsession.      How about the front office giving us a reason to have a White Sox obsession?   Plus, Greg and I were the only two posters to live there for over a decade.  It’s a simple fact that thousands more fans would turn out for their starts.  I lived it.  Why Sox fans didn’t treat Chris Sale the same way...I don’t know.  Maybe it’s because Greinke’s entire career was hanging in the balance, and he came back from the abyss.   Sale dominated from the get go, and usually made it look easy.   That said, being concerned with how others act or behave as Sox fans still doesn’t address the credibility problem.

Another dumb article by a cable station desperate to retool their business model.

17 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

27 minutes ago, Quinarvy said:

To be fair, only two posters have a Royals obsession.      How about the front office giving us a reason to have a White Sox obsession?   Plus, Greg and I were the only two posters to live there for over a decade.  It’s a simple fact that thousands more fans would turn out for their starts.  I lived it.  Why Sox fans didn’t treat Chris Sale the same way...I don’t know.  Maybe it’s because Greinke’s entire career was hanging in the balance, and he came back from the abyss.   Sale dominated from the get go, and usually made it look easy.   That said, being concerned with how others act or behave as Sox fans still doesn’t address the credibility problem.

Oof, watch the speed typing there man. 

I spent six years of my life in Missouri, my brother also went there. Two things stand out in my memory:

1) Opening Day in 2004, Miguel Olivo hit a home run. While walking on the concourse one of their fans saw me and exclaimed "Holy shit a kid at one of our games! Can't get our own damn kids out here, but good for you guys."

2) Living there on my own from 2011-2017, there were magically a lot more fans once the latter half of 2014 hit. They stuck around for a year. Then suddenly they were gone again.

Since 2000, the Royals have finished in the following place in the AL 

14th: 1 time
13th: 6 times
12th: 4 times
11th: 4 times
10th: 1 time
8th: 1 time
6th: 2 times

In that same time frame, the Sox:

13th: 3 times
12th: 3 times
10th: 2 times
9th: 3 times
8th: 1 time
7th: 3 times
6th: 1 time
5th: 2 ties
3rd: 1 time

So to recoup, since 2000:

1) I also lived it, their fans were miserable outside of the WS seasons.
2) The Royals consistently drew worse, having never drawn as high as the Sox highest, and the Sox never drawing as low as the Royals lowest.

6 hours ago, Quinarvy said:

Oof, watch the speed typing there man. 

I spent six years of my life in Missouri, my brother also went there. Two things stand out in my memory:

1) Opening Day in 2004, Miguel Olivo hit a home run. While walking on the concourse one of their fans saw me and exclaimed "Holy shit a kid at one of our games! Can't get our own damn kids out here, but good for you guys."

2) Living there on my own from 2011-2017, there were magically a lot more fans once the latter half of 2014 hit. They stuck around for a year. Then suddenly they were gone again.

Since 2000, the Royals have finished in the following place in the AL 

14th: 1 time
13th: 6 times
12th: 4 times
11th: 4 times
10th: 1 time
8th: 1 time
6th: 2 times

In that same time frame, the Sox:

13th: 3 times
12th: 3 times
10th: 2 times
9th: 3 times
8th: 1 time
7th: 3 times
6th: 1 time
5th: 2 ties
3rd: 1 time

So to recoup, since 2000:

1) I also lived it, their fans were miserable outside of the WS seasons.
2) The Royals consistently drew worse, having never drawn as high as the Sox highest, and the Sox never drawing as low as the Royals lowest.

Because they went 29 years between playoff appearances (included in there were lots of years where 810 AM would organize Evil Empire protests against the Yankees), the payoff/appreciation was greater because they were really really good in the 70’s and 80’s, and then it just all went south for decades.

While it’s not completely fair to compare KC and CHW markets, I will just say that they had two pretty distinct groups of really exciting position players that were basically homegrown to come through (Beltran, Damon, Dye, DeJesus, Sweeney, Berroa, Febles) and then obviously the group that Hawk talked about for years before they reached the WS in 2014-15.

It has been over 20 years since we did the same with Ordonez, Lee, Durham and Cameron/Konerko.

So the need for just 2-3 homegrown All-Star position players on the Sox...is off the charts.  

It’s why this whole chase for Machado/Harper is driving everyone crazy, after watching other teams like Houston or the Cubs manage to do something that’s so elusive (hit on prospect after prospect, with just a few notable exceptions).  When this is all over, I think the ease of rebuilding will turn out to have been significantly underestimated.

 

https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/20349712

Apparently, we have fans in Australia, though.

Edited December 31, 20187 yr by caulfield12

9 hours ago, Eminor3rd said:

The cubs and royals obsession is just sad around here. 

The misery index is where Sox fans shoot for #1.

17 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

The misery index is where Sox fans shoot for #1.

If there's anything that Sox fans are good at, it's being miserable. 

23 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

The misery index is where Sox fans shoot for #1.

What exactly should be the attitude of fans of an organization that has advanced to the playoffs in about 125 years the same amount of times as the LA Dodgers this decade?

Eternal gratefulness for 2005?   That expires after a complete generation of fans have changed over.

Or, ask Marlins’ fans today if they care about 1997 and 2003...?

Edited December 31, 20187 yr by caulfield12

14 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

What exactly should be the attitude of fans of an organization that has advanced to the playoffs in about 125 years the same amount of times as the LA Dodgers this decade?

Eternal gratefulness for 2005?   That expires after a complete generation of fans have changed over.

Or, ask Marlins’ fans today if they care about 1997 and 2003...?

And sadly the best examples are yet to post.

When we are arguing for our franchise against the Royals and Mariners that's all that needs to be said. This is one of the worst run teams in all of MLB. From threatening to move, to putting the stadium on the same sight (but facing away from DT), to being the last of franchises with the boring stadium layout, then spending a ton of money to fix it and make it a bit more palatable, to never signing a FA above $68mm, to consistently losing, to not being able to beat up on Cleveland, Minnesota, KC, and Detroit consistently ..... I mean the last one outside of Detroit? None of those franchises have been a consistent threat to ever spend.... we could be the Yankees or Red Sox or Cubs of our division and should be ... I Mean for god sakes we're CHICAGO! But we continue to run the franchise from top to bottom like we're nobodies.

I don't know, there is still a much brighter future now than during those endless 90 loss seasons in the 70's with "stars" like Harry Chappas, but somehow it just seems like those days were a whole lot more fun.

SFF