Just some thoughts

[mrzo2733]

I have been a member of soxtalk for about 10 months now. I have enjoyed reading and thinking about many of the things that all of you have written. I think that this season has now led me to a weird place. A place I never really though I would be. We are within 4 games of winning the World Series. It finally hit me today as I was driving and listening to Mac Jurko and Harry. I have so many thoughts about everything that is going on I just kind of wanted to let it all go at once.

 

Firstly, I am incredibly bothered by all the fair-weather fans that have adopted the Sox. This past weekend was my old college's homecoming ( I graduated about a year and a half ago now.) I decided that I wanted to represent the team and so I wore my He Gone shirt. It was fun in a sense but in another sense I wish I didn't wear it. Many people throughout the night would shout "He Gone!" and I would return in right back. But I just saw way too many people wearing Sox stuff. I would find myself wanting to go up to people and start quizzing them on the roster. The part that really sucks is that this is actually taking away some of my enjoyment from seeing my favorite sports team in the biggest of series. I wish it wasn't so, but it is. The best way I've heard it put was on the radion one day when they compared it to a band that you were there for the beginning for and once they actually make it, it's just not the same.

 

Secondly, I have really enjoyed reading the "Win it for..." thread. This is a very special thing we are witnessing and there are so many who are no longer around who deserve it so much. It is very appropriate that we remember them.

 

Thirdly, I agree with so many of you that it feels like something is missing with Hawk calling the games. I am not the biggest supporter of Hawk, but for years he has been the voice of the Sox. The person who says aloud what you are thinking. I hope somehow he is very involved in the World Series. I would love so much to hear and see his reaction if the Sox pull this off.

 

Fourth, the tickets situation... this is an absolute joke... oh well. Good luck to you all tomorrow.

 

And last... I'm sorry if this has dealt mainly with the negative. This team is incredible. They have brought me so much happiness this year. Everything about the makeup of this team and organization has come together at the right time, and now makes perfect sense. Boys and girls, I think this truly is our year.

 

Cheers to you all and Go Go Go Go Whitesox.

[valponick]

I have been a member of soxtalk for about 10 months now. I have enjoyed reading and thinking about many of the things that all of you have written. I think that this season has now led me to a weird place. A place I never really though I would be. We are within 4 games of winning the World Series. It finally hit me today as I was driving and listening to Mac Jurko and Harry. I have so many thoughts about everything that is going on I just kind of wanted to let it all go at once.

 

Firstly, I am incredibly bothered by all the fair-weather fans that have adopted the Sox. This past weekend was my old college's homecoming ( I graduated about a year and a half ago now.) I decided that I wanted to represent the team and so I wore my He Gone shirt. It was fun in a sense but in another sense I wish I didn't wear it. Many people throughout the night would shout "He Gone!" and I would return in right back. But I just saw way too many people wearing Sox stuff. I would find myself wanting to go up to people and start quizzing them on the roster. The part that really sucks is that this is actually taking away some of my enjoyment from seeing my favorite sports team in the biggest of series. I wish it wasn't so, but it is. The best way I've heard it put was on the radion one day when they compared it to a band that you were there for the beginning for and once they actually make it, it's just not the same.

 

Secondly, I have really enjoyed reading the "Win it for..." thread. This is a very special thing we are witnessing and there are so many who are no longer around who deserve it so much. It is very appropriate that we remember them.

 

Thirdly, I agree with so many of you that it feels like something is missing with Hawk calling the games. I am not the biggest supporter of Hawk, but for years he has been the voice of the Sox. The person who says aloud what you are thinking. I hope somehow he is very involved in the World Series. I would love so much to hear and see his reaction if the Sox pull this off.

 

Fourth, the tickets situation... this is an absolute joke... oh well. Good luck to you all tomorrow.

 

And last... I'm sorry if this has dealt mainly with the negative. This team is incredible. They have brought me so much happiness this year. Everything about the makeup of this team and organization has come together at the right time, and now makes perfect sense. Boys and girls, I think this truly is our year.

 

Cheers to you all and Go Go Go Go Whitesox.

I actually can relate to this on a few levels. Last friday was my HS homecoming, hadn't been back in 7 years but from what I remember most of the guys I went to school with were Cubs fans and the entire fieldhouse was filled withe Sox hats.

 

About Hawk calling the games, I don't miss it too much as I would rather listen to Farmer and Rooney on the radio, and it's just something you have to deal with when you get put on the national stage, I'm sure most every team in the postseason wishes they could have their TV guys, fortunately we are blessed with the best broadcasting duo in the game....and they are on the radio.

 

Kind of the same thing with tickets. This is all new for everyone, even the season ticket holders. We haven't ever experienced this kind of demand for tickets to our ballpark, and again it's just a bi-product of being on the national stage. I would rather have to deal with those minor problems than be sitting at home wishing we were in the series.

[DABearSoX]

yes, it gets to me too.....all the bangwagoneers are a little pathetic....i try to look at it this way....lets not be greedy, listen to ozzie. Just know that you/we have been there all the way and be happy for all the faithful that have delt with all the heartbreak over the years. I feel happiest for all the long timers that I couldnt even imagine how much dissapointment they have felt. I am only 22 so that puts me at about 18 years.....here's to you old faithful this is for you/us.....we know who we are....we know we could list lineups, pitchers, great games, s***ty games, and probably minor league prospects over the last 10 years or more....let the newbies hop on it will only make it better for years to come.....If you were one of the ones that cryed (like me), and had that overwellming joy in your heart after last nights game you know you have lived and breathed White Sox baseball for years.....the bandwagoneers just don't have that, and thats what puts us above them.....

[YASNY]

I don't mind the bandwagoners. Simply put, they are potential die-hards. While it may seem like these people are enjoying this as much as we are, they are not. They can't be. The Sox can break my heart. They have many times. Therefore, they happiness, joy, hell the exstacy that feel right now cannot be matched by those that haven't suffered through the years. I'm hoping some of these bandwagoners stick around and become good, loyal Sox fans.

 

As far as I'm concerned, welcome to the party folks. Tip a beer to the Sox and I hope to see you around for many years to come.

[iWiN4PreP]

perfect post, tho in florida there isnt as much in my high school, but when i see some1 saying "go sox" im like, wtf?? now you say it?? after 30 teams are eliminated..?

[Y2HH]

I'll tell you why I dislike bandwagoners, now and forever.

 

Bandwagoners didn't pay the price...they haven't paid the very high price of misery year after year like I have, like we all have. They haven't been on message boards for years, talking with fellow fans going through the motions year after year. They weren't going to games when nobody seemed to like this team because they weren't the Cubs. 1983. 1993. 1994. 2000. They don't know what that felt like...and never will. Hell, most of them don't even know what those years mean.

 

However, on the bright side of things...they could never enjoy 2005 on the same level as I'm enjoying it, or as much as any of us are enjoying it, because they never paid the same price in loving this team as we have.

 

Still...they don't deserve this. This is for those of us who literally lose sleep when the team loses...going over the game play by play while lying in bed, unable to get it into our heads that this is "just a game". Maybe this is more than just a game to us...and what this team accomplished this year is ours...and the bandwagoners can never take it away.

 

-y2

[Texsox]

I figure that anyone who wasn't a fan by 1977 is a bandwagon jumper. If you didn't live through the Hitmen and the August slide, you are a bandwagon jumper.

 

What we want is extra respect for our years of being a fan. We want people to give us extra attention because we watched games in the 60s and 70s when there was little chance of the postseason. The kids here who became fans in the last 6 years don't know what it is really like. These teams all had a realistic chance at the post season. Try being a fan when for 5 or 6 years straight it looks like another 4th Place finish.

 

Seriously, everyone had a moment when they went from casual observer to fan to hardcore. I have a Northwestern Rose Bowl and a Wisconsin Badgers Rose Bowl sweatshirts around somewhere. I enjoyed the games, rooted hard for them, and then stopped even thinking about it. Should I have just ignored the Rose Bowl until "my" team was in it?

 

The only motor sports race I'll make an effort to watch is the Indy 500. Am I a bandwagon indy car fan?

 

Playing the I'm a bigger fan game with new fans won't work because they are in it for the moment and then gone. So you are upset, they really don't care. You will also be saddened when someone whips out ten more years and more angst than you.

[The Critic]

I figure that anyone who wasn't a fan by 1977 is a bandwagon jumper. If you didn't live through the Hitmen and the August slide, you are a bandwagon jumper.

 

What we want is extra respect for our years of being a fan. We want people to give us extra attention because we watched games in the 60s and 70s when there was little chance of the postseason. The kids here who became fans in the last 6 years don't know what it is really like. These teams all had a realistic chance at the post season. Try being a fan when for 5 or 6 years straight it looks like another 4th Place finish.

 

Seriously, everyone had a moment when they went from casual observer to fan to hardcore. I have a Northwestern Rose Bowl and a Wisconsin Badgers Rose Bowl sweatshirts around somewhere. I enjoyed the games, rooted hard for them, and then stopped even thinking about it. Should I have just ignored the Rose Bowl until "my" team was in it?

 

The only motor sports race I'll make an effort to watch is the Indy 500. Am I a bandwagon indy car fan?

 

Playing the I'm a bigger fan game with new fans won't work because they are in it for the moment and then gone. So you are upset, they really don't care. You will also be saddened when someone whips out ten more years and more angst than you.

All I want is one World Series ticket. No attention, no respect.....just one damn WS ticket. I'd LOVE two, to take the Mrs. with me, but I'd gladly settle for one.

[Kid Gleason]

Nobody can take away your own fandom. Right now, we want the bandwagon people there because we need them there to help make that park as noisey as possible right now. Remember, no team in the world has enough die-hard fans to fill up the stadiums. It needs bandwagon fans to fill it. With the ticket situation, I have no problem with bandwagon people buying the tickets, or even Cub fans. My sole problem is with the brokers buying up all of the tickets. If it was a simple battle between me and a Cub fan sitting next to me on the computer, cool, let the best connection win.

 

But those brokers? f*** them all. I have it worse, since I share a work complex with them. They're a bunch of rude asshole's to begin with, and then to think of what they do for a living? Bastards.