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Is the Sox-Cubs rivalry the same for non-Chicagoans?


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No. It doesn't prove who is superior in the city, it doesn't have an effect on the standings, and there are very few (though more than Sox) Cubs fans in this region.

 

It's a rivalry, no doubt, and it's the most intense interleague rivalry in the game (regardless of anything ESPN may try and stuff down your throat), but it's flat out not the same.

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No, not really. I have a friend upstairs from me thats a Cubs fan, so we "go back and forth" a couple times a day, but really, I couldn't care less about the Cubs and I don't know why people care so much.

 

I'm sure it'll be different when I live in Chicago (which I plan on doing after college :P)

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No, because the sad life of living with tons of Cubs fans around you is the only way to truly understand why they must be hated, and you only truly get that living in Chicago. I consider living in a place with lots of Cubs fans like a colonoscopy, you know it sucks, but until you've went through it, you don't appreciate just how much it sucks, and thus non-Chicagoans can't truly get it the same way. They are just as good of fans as us though still :).

Edited by whitesoxfan101
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I had this conversation with someone earlier today.. so it's weird that this popped up. But I'm pretty sure that once we won the world series, we (sox fans) stopped caring so much about Cubs/Sox and more about Sox/Tigers/Indians/Twins.

 

It's fun to win the season series, but it doesn't really mean a damn thing.

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QUOTE(PlunketChris @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 10:26 PM)
I had this conversation with someone earlier today.. so it's weird that this popped up. But I'm pretty sure that once we won the world series, we (sox fans) stopped caring so much about Cubs/Sox and more about Sox/Tigers/Indians/Twins.

 

It's fun to win the season series, but it doesn't really mean a damn thing.

Ya thats true. I havent really cared at all since 05. I think the main annoyance I have is their fans though.

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QUOTE(Jordan4life_2007 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 11:04 PM)
It stopped being a rivalry to me on the night of October 26, 2005.

 

I'm with you on that one. I mean, what's the rivalry of a perennial last place (or close) team, and a consistant contender? We get to care about baseball into September at the least, and Cubs/Cub fans check out in July or so.

 

I liked when they played the Cub/Sox games just for grins.

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I don't think it's the same for non-Chicagoans. My Mom's side of the family is from Chicago and thus I've visited nearly every summer since I was a kid; although much less since me and my three brothers graduated high school. Through it all, I've been to three Cubs games and only 1 Sox game (at my demand of tiring of Wrigley). Through it all, I am the only one to turn out a Sox fan while 2 of my brother like the Cubs and one somehow became a Dodgers fan. Bottom line is, the two Cubs fans barely follow baseball while I'm a split mlb.tv subscriber with the LA fan. I think it just goes to show how much of a national, bandwagon team the Cubs are like the Yankees, Red Sox etc. I never really understood the rivarly until I started working with a Cubs fan that actually follows the games last year, who was surprised that I didn't flat out hate the Cubs. After working last summer with him though, I'm not so impartial to the Cubbies as I used to be. So I guess appreciating the rivalry boils down to whether or not you have to deal with Cubs fans, as obviously all you Chicagoans grinding it out have to on a daily basis.

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Let me clarify here, it did indeed stop becoming a RIVALRY persay in terms of the games on October 26, 2005, and won't become one again unless they win it all (lol), but I was talking more about my hatred of the Cubs and their fans. As long as Cubs fan exist (and that's especially true in Chicagoland), I will hate them simply because of how stupid their fans are.

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Part of getting more excited for the Cubs, for me, is that we only play them 6 times though, as opposed to the 19 against our division rivals. I get more excited probably for the Red Sox and Yanks than I do even division games too, it's the fun of playing teams you don't like only 6 or 7 times instead of 19 that creates some drama IMO.

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I personally enjoy the Cubs/Sox rivalry, and I agree with what a previous poster said about it being the most intense intra-city baseball rivalry...no matter what the ESPN or other media outlets try to tell you.

 

Yankees/Mets has nothing on the Cubs/Sox...it's not even close.

 

But you really have to live here to feel the full effect...although I wouldn't say outside fans don't enjoy the rivalry, but they don't feel the intensity because they don't live here...because for them, the rivalry is 6 games per year...for many in Chicago, it's everyday, even during the offseason.

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The series is pretty strong for me and I have never lived in Chicago. The baseball fans in this area are like 50% Cubs, 30% Cards, 10% Twins and 10% everything else. Most of my family and friends are Cubs fans and most of the people I work with, it is pathetic. So it is good rivalry for me to be able to put them in their place and show them how basball is played. I understand there is some pride for bragging rights toward which side of town wins out, but there is also Sox Pride that extends all the way over here to Iowa. I guess every rivalry is big, but because of the fan structure around here, it is always a little sweeter to beat the Cubs.

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Being located in the middle of the Cardinal/Cub rivalry, I've seen Cub fans for the pathetic bunch they are here in Central Illinois. I am close enough to Chicago to see the Cub bias there in the media. I just wish the Sox organization would make more of a marketing effort in this area.

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I don't think ESPN gives the Crosstown rivalry enough credit - there have been some absolutely stellar games between the two teams - Carlos Lee's walk-off, Valentin's walk-off, AJ winning the game last year, the sucker punch, etc... Having attended quite a few (at both parks), TV can't possibly capture the mix of excitement and animosity that you feel at the games. In the worst of years there are terrible fights breaking out in the stands but, normally it's just bragging rights and a lot of verbal jousting. Since the Sox won the World Series, I think the Sox fans are more confident and less reactionary. It's definately taken a toll on the Northside in the way Cubs fans have reacted both during the City series and been treating their own team. I'd say the inferiority complex that Sox fans supposedly had is now creeping North.

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I can tell you that after I left Chicago, where I was born and raised, the feeling of rivalry faded--and it was intense while I was in Chitown. Once you're a Chicagoan in a strange land, you just want Chicago to do well, even if that means a Cubs win--but never when they play the Sox.

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QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 13, 2007 -> 08:48 AM)
Quick answer. No, people outside of Chicago don't fully understand the rivalry.

 

With that said, I'm not sure I fully understand it. I get much more excited for a big weekend series with the Twins-Tigers-Tribe than I do for the Cubs. In fact, I hope to ditch my Cubs tickets this year, and using the money to try and get into the new Jim Beam Home Plate Club.

 

I split a full season ticket package with 7 other people. Every year when we do our ticket selection, I do everything possible to avoid the Cubs games like the plague. It is always an emotional drain for the players and fans. I wish they would get rid of the series altogether or at least go back to one three game series every year. No good ever comes out of it. Neither team ever really dominates and both typically do not do too well in the following games on their respective schedules. I also hate seeing all those rat bastard Cubs fans at the Cell. They b**** about how crappy a park it is and then show up like locusts once a year and soil the place with their putrid blue gear.

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Since I moved to Utah (approx. 2 yrs ago), I've gotten the opportunity to see how people far removed from Chicago view things. People here (where there is no mlb nearby) seem to pick mostly "big name teams" as their favorites. So there are a lot of Yankee and Red Sox fans. There are two Angels minor league affiliates in the area so there are fair number Angels fans. Like anywhere else there are also a fair number of Cub fans. These are the idiots that latch onto them I think for the "cuteness" of being a Cub fan or adoring the "loser". When I first meet people (provided that I'm not wearing my Sox hat) most people hearing that I'm from the Chicago area assume that I'm a Cub fan. That annoys the hell out of me. When I tell that I'm a Sox fan (and I have to say White Sox so that they don't think I'm a Red Sox fan) and that I loathe everything about the Cubs they just don't understand why. I simply tell them that it's very deep-rooted and there's nothing I can do about it. I do hate the Cubs every bit as much as I ever did since the Sox won the Series but pay much less attention to them these days. Not that I used to pay them that much attention, but right now I don't even know how they're doing, much less care. By the way, do they still suck?

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After living 18 years in Chicago, I have been all over the states and world - and the rivalry is less exciting and intense outside of Chicago. The easiest way to equate it is thinking how you feel about the Mets vs Yankees. That is how others see the Sox vs Cubs.

 

It is still a fun series to watch, and the incident last year (AJ Punch) will bring some excitement to it this year, along with Lou vs Ozzie.

 

The biggest story might be Aardsma vs Cotts. /green

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QUOTE(PlunketChris @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 10:26 PM)
I had this conversation with someone earlier today.. so it's weird that this popped up. But I'm pretty sure that once we won the world series, we (sox fans) stopped caring so much about Cubs/Sox and more about Sox/Tigers/Indians/Twins.

 

It's fun to win the season series, but it doesn't really mean a damn thing.

 

Bingo. Once we won the WS, the "rivalry" seemed irrelevant. I remember being at the games last year and there wasn't that tension, because we didn't care. The only thing that made that series remotely interesting was the sucker punch. Other than that, it was just any other team.

 

Which doesn't mean I won't be at Wrigley next month talking s*** like nobody's business!!! C'mon! Priorities, dude...

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