Insanely Idiotic Article

[rcpweiner]

Hey guys,

 

This is an article a friend of mine posted up on our fantasy baseball page. It's not his article (he's an ardent Sox fan), but he found it ... and ... well, this douchbag is bashing the Sox pretty harshly.

 

He went ahead and sent a brutal email back at the writer, as did I, and I suggest everyone else does the same.

 

Here's the article, and the email is at the end:

 

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Face it fans, Sox experience is Wrigley knockoff

 

Culturally illiterate though I am, this one poem stuck with me when I had to recite it in sixth grade: Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade." It's about a band of British soldiers who lose a bloody battle in the Crimean War.

 

"Storm'd at with shot and shell / boldly they rode and well, / Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of Hell / Rode the six hundred."

 

With those words ringing in my head -- and the Cubs on the road -- I hopped on the El on Tuesday night and rode into the mouth of Hell: U.S. Cellular Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox.

 

Sox fans hate Cubs fans. The conventional wisdom as to why goes like this: Blue-collar Sox fans in the south resent lakeshore elitist Cubs fans. Cubs fans, though, don't really care about the Sox. After all, what's to envy about the South Side?

 

Still, I wanted to get an explanation straight from the biggest Sox fan I know, Weinberg senior Ryan Sullivan.

 

"True Cubs fans, I have no problem with," Sully told me. "It is the fair-weather, bandwagon, go-to-the-game-but-not-even-watch-it people that I don't like."

 

To an extent, Sully is right. Plenty of people go to Wrigley Field not for the game, but for the Wrigley experience: the bars, the characters, the friendly confines.

 

But is that so bad?

 

"Baseball is supposed to be fun, not a papal Mass at the Vatican," English lecturer and former Daily columnist Bill Savage told me. Savage might as well be Mr. Chicago. He knows everything you could possibly want to know about the city -- and is even teaching the course "Baseball in American Narrative" this summer.

 

"My guess is that there are 18,000 die-hards at both Sox and Cubs games," he said. "The difference is that the other 22,000 come out to Wrigley because they have a good time."

 

The Sox game I went to, however, was not a good time. Only 18,310 people showed up for a well-played game against rival Minnesota. I could have prepared a Thanksgiving dinner in the time I spent on the El. The stadium is sandwiched between the Dan Ryan Expressway and a wasteland of parking lots. Worst of all, the entire experience has a plastic feel to it -- "mall ball," as Savage calls it.

 

The Sox know they are competing with the Cubs for relevance. To compensate, it's as if five guys sat in a room and said, "Hey, people love Wrigley. Let's copy it!"

 

U.S. Cellular -- gaaak! It pains me to even write that -- has a pathetic patch of ivy in center field. Management is replacing the blue-colored seats with traditional green. The roof and bleachers section look cheaply similar to Wrigley.

 

Having a retro feel is one thing. Ripping off your rival is something much lamer.

 

Moreover, you're bombarded with sights and sounds that distract you from the game: dopey scoreboard gimmicks, T-shirt tosses and the like.

 

Irony, anyone? Sox fans like Sully resent people who don't go to games for the game itself. But the Sox organization thinks only tedious diversions will attract those same people.

 

"It's fine to do that stuff at a minor league game," Savage said. "But not when you're a major league team that's relegated to minor-league status."

 

With every "Cubs Suck" shirt I saw Monday night, the minor-league status hit home. I don't think I've ever seen a "Sox Suck" shirt at Wrigley. Who would care enough to wear one?

 

I respect fans like Sully for their devotion. But, as Savage said, "the rivalry is a tempest in a teapot -- and a one-way tempest at that."

 

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Assistant forum editor Christopher Kenny, Weinberg '05, can be reached at c-kenny@northwestern.edu.

[Soxbadger]

They sell Sox sucks t-shirts at Wrigley.

 

They use the 1983 logo, and it says Sux instead of Sox.

 

Perhaps hes never been to either field.

 

 

SB

[Gene Honda Civic]

He just signed up for lots of mailing lists

[quade36]

This is what I wrote

 

Seeing as though you are a writer, I would like to tell you about my experience at Wrigley Field last year. I went to a game with my uncle. We both love baseball. He really roots for either team, but I am a Sox fan. The game was fine, I don't remember the score. Well, I wore a Sox hat. During the game at some point I put the hat on my uncle. Well, I would like to give you a little background on my uncle. He had back surgery about 5 years ago and suffered spinal damage. He walks with a kane now losing his balance quite often. Well as we were leaving these cub fans came up to him and yelled, "Stupid Sox fan! Sox suck" Then knocked him down and spit on him. They then ran off laughing. I attended him but was real upset about what happened. We went to security who basically didn't care, didn't even care that he was hurt, just pushed us out of the stadium. I read your article below and felt I should write to you describing my wrigley experience. I'm sorry, I'd rather go to a half empty stadium that has gimics (for kids). I love the fact that the Sox gear their games more for kids. That it is not a 'frat party' And the Cell is nothing, nothing at all like Wrigley. I think you wrote this article using a very biased point of view. If thats the way you feel fine. Its your perogative. But you know as much of a bad experience as I had at Wrigley I don't promote it. I don't say cubs suck or their fans suck, I let it be and stay away. Your article was sort of a contradiction by saying that Sox fans rip cubs yet its not the other way around. Sox fans take more heat from the cubs fans, the city, and the media then any other sports team. So be a little smarter when you write, even if its a biased article, at least get some facts straight.

[Quality Revenge At Last]

You could say the exact same s*** about the yank-its and red sox rivalry. yankees and red sox suck shirts,alcohol induced fights, blah blah blah. gimme a break. this guy is an idiot.

 

The worst thing is when people b**** that "u.s. celluar" is such a rip off wen you know those corporate assholes at the trib would blow a load at the thought of $$ for the Wrigley name.

 

Also one last thing...El problems can also happen at wrigley. and those "sea of parking lots" yeah you actually get to park your car somewhere within twenty blocks of the actual game. :puke

[southsider2k5]

You could say the exact same s*** about the yank-its and red sox rivalry. yankees and red sox suck shirts,alcohol induced fights, blah blah blah. gimme a break. this guy is an idiot.

 

The worst thing is when people b**** that "u.s. celluar" is such a rip off wen you know those corporate assholes at the trib would blow a load at the thought of $$ for the Wrigley name.

 

Also one last thing...El problems can also happen at wrigley. and those "sea of parking lots" yeah you actually get to park your car somewhere within twenty blocks of the actual game. :puke

 

Hell Cubs fans have nothing to say about corporate names, as Wrigley Field was the orginal corporate named stadium

[Kid Gleason]

Hell Cubs fans have nothing to say about corporate names, as Wrigley Field was the orginal corporate named stadium

 

LOL! I thought that as soon as I read that part in his article. Shows what kind of history he knows. Also shows what a TRUE Chicagoan he is to not be able to make the connection between the two.

 

As for his complaint about the ride on the El, I would just like to say that for a guy like me, being from outside of the city, by far the easiest park to get to, and get into, is the one on the South Side. I feel safe leaving my car parked in The Cell lots. At Wrigley, I am trusting some goon to watch my car while I park it under the El tracks some two miles away.

 

Eh, whatever. THIS guy is the perfect example of the Cub fan I don't like. The ones such as my boss I like a lot. Knowledgable, and they follow EVERY team, not just the Cubs.

 

My other boss on the otherhand, not much for knowledge, but he loves the game. Hell, when the Cubs got Madocks back, he was convinced they got the best pitcher in the game, and was sure he would throw better than that guy in Houston who just came back from retirement.

[Controlled Chaos]

As for "Mr Chicago" Bill Savage..here's some things I found on him...

 

This guy knows he's a Cubs fan

Northwestern University Professor and huge Cubs fan Bill Savage is hosting a seven-session class this summer at Newberry Library (60 W. Walton Street).

 

Savage leftist rant, but tossed in his excitement for Cubs home opener

"One-thousand, four hundred and forty three days till the next presidential election." This didn't cheer me up any. "But only 137 days till the Cubs home opener."

 

Life is Good

 

Invested emotionally in the cubs

Bill Savage, a Chicago native who teaches English at Northwestern University, said he has no trouble understanding why the Cubs evoke such zealotry from fans. "Last night [Tuesday], when [Alex] Gonzalez made that error, my heart sank because I'd invested so much. It's the degree to which you, the audience, choose to get invested emotionally. No, the bandwagon-jumpers don't suffer as much--but they don't enjoy it as much, either. The reward is commensurate with your investment."

 

Ahh season ticket holder Bill??

As English Prof. Bill Savage, born and bred in Chicago and a Cubs season-ticket holder, points out, life does, in fact, exist beyond Wrigley Field. Or the preferred bars from where you watch what happens in Wrigley when you can't get tickets to the actual game.

 

 

Sounds more like Mr Cub to me. A bitter cub fan calling sox park mall ball and taking pot shots at the team?? That's not news to me....

 

He's an english professor at northwestern so I know he will appreciate my ability to articulate my feelings in an appropriate manner...f*** OFF BILL!! :fyou

[YASNY]

A leftist Cub fan. Must be a helluva guy.

[southsider2k5]

A leftist Cub fan.  Must be a helluva guy.

 

Sure makes them much easier to dispise...

 

I wonder if he kicks puppies and does drugs too?

[Steff]

Why do you let this stuff bother you guys..??

[YASNY]

Why do you let this stuff bother you guys..?? 

 

It doesn't. Just an opportunity to take a shot.

[Controlled Chaos]

Why do you let this stuff bother you guys..?? 

yeah I'm not really bothered...but what the heck you want me to do....work???

[Steff]

yeah I'm not really bothered...but what the heck you want me to do....work???

 

 

 

LOL.. silly me.

[RockRaines]

I sent him an e-mail questioning his ability to think for himself. Thats the problem with many northsiders, especially college students, they cant think for themselves.

[southsideirish71]

I sent him an e-mail questioning his ability to think for himself.  Thats the problem with many northsiders, especially college students, they cant think for themselves.

 

And because he is a fetus and doesnt realize that before the Cell there was another Comiskey park, and by god it had Green seats also. Maybe back in the day, we were just copying urine field. Its all a plot by the soutsiders to try and get that bad baseball park feeling.

 

Now here are the signs if were were copying the dump known as Wrigley.

 

1.) If we were to replace our urinals with big metal tubs, so everyone can pee in a tub like at wrigley.

2.) If we were to tear up our nice field's drainage system and put one that doesnt drain. Then make sure that any ran can flood the field like crazy.

3.) Remove Southpaw and replace him with the first homeless man we can find and tell him to yell WOO all the time.

4.) Eliminate all of the parking, so we can park illegally and pee in peoples back yards after the game.

5.) Remove the nice field replace it with a field that the center field is slighly higher than the plate. T

6.) Cut the dugouts in half and make a maze so that the players get dizzy trying to get to the field.

7.) Make everynight half price nice, and discount the beer by 70 percent to guarentee that everyone is blitzed by the 6th inning.

Edited April 27, 2005 by southsideirish71

[Kid Gleason]

Don't we also need to have somebody else erect some buildings right outside the park so that we can charge their tenants to sit on the roof?

[sec159row2]

I think this guy has a bright future writing for the new york times... their articles aren't factual either, just opinion's..

[Bridgeport Sox]

Typical Northsider, because he wouldn't have the balls to walk up to anyone of us and say it to our face. :finger He can f*** off like all other cub fans

p.s-sorry for the anger