I can't help it. I want to like the White Sox, I really do but every fiber of my being rebels against everything that has precipitated their rise this post-season. Don't worry I have reasons beyond the fact that they eliminated the Red Sox...
1. The White Sox haven't beaten teams so much as their opponents have beaten themselves. Give them credit, when the opposition has made mistakes they have capitalized but without those mistakes it's questionable whether they would have made it this far on their own. Not to use the Red Sox as an example, but if Tony Graffanino even gets one out on his Buckner-esque blunder in game 2 of the ALDS Iguchi only has the opportunity to tie the game with his home run, changing the whole dynamic of the game. Don't get me wrong, there was no way the Red Sox were winning that series and give Iguchi all the credit in the world for making them pay for the error, but his heroics were preventable and without them that game is in question.
2. Every single bad call, in a post season ridden with terrible umpiring (so much that there is a nationwide call for instant replay in every city except for one half of Chicago) has gone the way of the White Sox. Josh Paul's "dropped" ball that was clearly caught is the most glaring example. Once again you must give credit to Joe Crede for driving in Pierzynski with the winning run but there is no doubt that the inning should have been over. Of course the Angels had enough mistakes in that game to bury themselves regardless, but they should not have had the opportunity to play extra innings stolen from them by a self-concious umpire who was fooled by a sneaky player trying to steal a call. The Astros were burned by the same problem in game 2 of the World Series. Jermaine Dye actually admitted that he was not hit by the pitch that placed him on first and loaded the bases for Paul Konerko to hit his game and series changing grand slam. How did the ump not notice that Dye didn't walk towards first after the pitch? The calls coupled with the errors really lead me to believe that the White Sox are not beating their opponents in the game as a whole, they're just taking advantage of situations they were not even able to create on their own. Good on them for getting the big hits but I'd rather see them win it on their own.
3. They are not a long suffering franchise like Fox is trying to convince us that they are, and if they are it is because Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox threw the World Series. They didn't trade Babe Ruth, there was no goat, they lost on purpose and nearly ruined baseball in the process. If anything deserves a curse that's it. But since we don't believe in curses anymore... The White Sox fans have not had to endure the soul crushing Steve Bartman's, Aaron Boone's, Bill Buckner's or Bucky Dent's in their 88 year losing streak. They don't sell out every regular season game, including Tuesday afternoon day games in April, like the Cubs. They don't have an arch nemesis that has won 26 championships while they have had to sit and watch like the Red Sox. I would be willing to bet that most casual fans were not aware that the White Sox hadn't won the World Series since 1917 before this post season began. Why? Because it has not consumed a city, they are the Mets of Chicago and while 1908 and 1918 are / were catch phrases, 1917 is just an ugly black mark on baseball's history.
4. Bagwell & Biggio. These two guys don't exist in the A-Rod era. Solid players that have been with one team for almost their entire career, despite many tough years and terrible supporting casts. They have never chased pin stripes or huge contracts elsewhere. They have never left citing the, "need for a ring." Rather they stuck it out and waited for their team to develop into contender. And you never heard them spout off at the mouth about how their team/manager/ownership is not committed to winning blah blah blah. They played with class and you have to respect that and root for such loyalty to ultimately be rewarded with a championship in what is probably their last shot, at least together.
5. Cubs fans have been waiting longer, attending more regularly, and have come agonizingly closer than White Sox fans. I don't want to say that the White Sox fans don't deserve it, they do. Every fan that legitimately follows his or her team deserves to see them win a championship, but it's hard to deny the long agony of the Cubs and their more loyal contingent. Maybe I align with them more because they remind me of the Red Sox. Old stadium, rabid fan base, impossible to get tickets, close calls, and long standing misery at the hands of some alleged "curse" that is beyond their control. The White Sox have a new stadium that until this season sometimes stood half full and have no montage of tough breaks that prod the throbbing ulcers of their fans. Now all of the sudden the stadium is packed? It just feels different.
6. Ozzie Guillen, Scott Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Scott Podsednik, and Carl Everett. I know many of the Red Sox and especially Damon and Millar are annoying but these guys are downright obnoxious. Guillen acts like a street punk for most of the game, Pierzynski knows damn well that the ball was caught, Konerko is mugging for free agent dollars, Podsednik didn't hit a single home run in the regular season and by no means should be hitting walk offs in the World Series, and Carl Everett doesn't believe in dinosaurs or that man walked on the moon. That might be the most biased paragraph I've ever written but from the manager on down there's something about this White Sox team that just gets under your skin and annoys you. And I didn't even mention the closer Baby Huey Jenks who falls into one of my least favorite categorys "Really, (like Orca) Fat Professional Athletes." It's your damn job to be athletic, get in shape.
Now a few reasons that the White Sox winning wouldn't be so bad.
1. Frank Thomas. I love the Big Hurt and would love to see him get a ring as a reward for hanging on waaaaay to long to the game he loves. In his day he was the scariest hitter in baseball and I will never forget seeing him just level a catcher at home plate when he was out by three steps when I was a kid. I don't remember what team it was or who was catching but I think he just regained conciousness this week.
2. Clemens and Pettite are still Yankees in my mind. I will always hate Clemens for reinventing himself outside of Boston and for disrespecting the Red Sox so badly by saying he wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee. Pettite is not a detestable kind of guy the way Clemens is but he too made his legend as a Yankee and for that I never want to see him win another ring.
3. Before the last week of the regular season Astros fans are as apathetic as the Texans offense. I just can't get behind a team whose fans only show up when it matters and wave stupid white towels. Actually that describes both of these teams so that category is a wash.
I'm sure this won't be the most popular post I've ever written, and I can think of at least one person who is going to really blast me. All I can say about that is I've heard a lot of bashing of New Englanders and Red Sox fans, this is no different and no less valid than those opinions.
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