Great piece in the Sun-Times

GasHeGone · September 30, 2005

That's 'Sox Park' to you

The best Sox fans insist on measuring a season by wins, not attendance counts.

Attempts at calmly discussing the abundance of empty seats at U.S. Cellular Field during the regular season compared to that always-packed North Side ball park are taboo.

"We're working-class guys, and the bottom line is when the White Sox get shellacked, it's hard to explain to the old lady why you're putting money out to go to a game," Ousley says.

"When they go on a tear, it's easy to explain why you're going to the game."

And no matter how much that cell phone company paid for naming rights, faithful will tell you ball games are played at Sox Park.

Tailgating, not bar-hopping, is the pre-game ritual of choice.

Inside the stadium, we drink Pepsi, Miller and frozen margaritas from a gun. Best Kosher, not Hebrew National, is our premier hot dog.

We relax after the game in the right-field bullpen bar. Kids take swings at Fundamentals, a baseball clinic high above left field. In straight-away center, fans cheer from an elevated perch.

We buy split-the-pot tickets, gambling for the good of White Sox Charities.

Our security guards are off-duty cops. The lady playing the organ is Nancy Faust. We chant "Paul-eee" for our All-Star first baseman Paul Konerko.

Daley -- Da Mare -- sits in the front row, inches from the on-deck circle and Ozzie Da (Sox) Coach Guillen.

And our song's lyrics are easy

When the other team yanks a pitcher or the Sox win a series, we serenade the losers with Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye.)"

Novice fans better start singing that one in the shower, the team's most faithful followers suggest.

It's a chorus they hope to sing at the World Series.

"Because if you're getting on the bandwagon, you better get on all the way," die-hard Sox fan Sam Antkiewicz says in a warning.

"Otherwise, we'll throw you off."