Mother against Son, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor. The truth of the matter is that everyone has a side. In Chicago you pick sides, you either get the hot dog, or you get the Italian beef. You want to root for the Fighting Illini, but they fail year after year in football, so you either pick the Fighting Irish or the Michigan Wolverines of the NCAA football to cheer on. If there is one thing this city can agree on, it is the Chicago Bears, but they are not in season yet, so we are stuck with the 106 degree heat index and the age old question North Side or South Side? New York has the "Subway Series," California has "The Battle of the Bay," and Chicago has "The Windy City Showdown."
I grew up in a house baseball divided. So mother versus son hits home in this story. My two brothers and myself have been die-hard Cubs fans for as long as I can remember, while Mom (Born and raised in Maywood) roots for the White Sox (and also claims to be a "Chicago fan" that roots for both, which is horsehockey, but I digress). I would say "did the Cubs win today?" and my mom would reply "yeah they did, and the Sox..." and I would cut her off saying "Don't care." This friendly tension is something that existed only during baseball season, and its fun. I do not judge my mother for rooting for the wrong team, nor do I judge those south-siders that have hopes beyond their wildest dreams for their team from the wrong side of the city.
Today was the icing on the cake. Working at my day job (in a warehouse) and wearing my Cubby Blue quite proudly, I was approached by the most ignorant Sox fan who starts telling me what he thinks he knows about my North-Siders. "How many games have the Cubs won the last three times they went to the playoffs?" to which my reply was "well, rude sir, the answer would be 6 games, when we went to the NLCS in '03." To which he replied "No, they got swept by the Braves and then the Dodgers," and I replied "No, they were swept by the Diamondbacks of Arizona followed by the Dodgers, however since you wanted to go 3 trips to the playoffs back we went to the NLCS, and your 1 victory over the Rays was the only victory, and the only appearance in the playoffs since your '05 WS season." To which he replied "Yeah well, you know what the difference is between a realist and a fatalist?" and I said "No, but I have a strong sense that you are going to use witty banter to cover up for your lack of knowledge of the game of baseball." And he said "Sox fans are realists." I turned to my Co-worker (who is a Sox fan himself, I don't judge) as the "gentleman" walked away and he said "It's guys like that that make it real hard to be a White Sox fan."
You want stats, Since 1997 when interleague play started to count, both teams have won 34 games against each other. Runs scored is only separated by 2, batting averages and on-base percentage by mere hundredths of points, and home-runs different by only a couple. The Cubs are 1 up in the fight category (on field that is), and 75 percent of the people in the country still can't stand A.J. Pierzynski (that stat is made up, but I would venture to say it is a close estimate). Truth is that both teams may forever be stuck in mediocrity. Electricity is for sure, there will always be a playoff atmosphere when these two teams lock horns because of the passion with which each teams fans root for their side. Do I commend the Sox fans for their enthusiasm? Absolutely, but just because you won 2 championships in the past hundred years it does not make you God's gift to the City. You have suffered yours we have suffered ours, but when you need to bring up stats that you don't know to try and prove a point, you look foolish. There will be bragging rights on the line this year as someone will have the series lead by a game for a calendar year. So show up at U.S. Comiskular for the second volume of this epic journey and root your heads off, but just remember, the end of September is where it all counts. GO CUBS!
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