When I first lauched this blog in May 2004, I wrote a blog entry called Why Care About The Red Sox? That blog entry wasn't so much as to bash the Red Sox as it was to bash the media love that the Red Sox got because they just don't get a darn break. I was angered about how much pub some "curse" got even though (a) there is no curse and (b) there are other franchises who have had it much worse.
In the 17 months since I wrote that......the Red Sox won their first World Series and pretty much got a full year of being the only thing anyone whose lived in New England wants to discuss. Now, the White Sox, who along with the cross-town Cubs I called the cursed teams of them all, are in the World Series. It is a Chicago team that has blitzed thru the AL playoffs with a 7-1 record and has been the most dominant team in this postseason. Yeah. The White Sox.
The White Sox are in for the first time since 1959. That was 16 years before I was born....and 2 years before expansion hit baseball. Alaska and Hawaii became states that year. The Lakers were still in Minneapolis. "Some Like It Hot"...."North By Northwest"....and "Ben Hur" were at the theatres. To be alive when the Pale Hose last hit the series....you'd have to be 46 years old. The guys who were on that team would be at least 64-80 years old now.
They haven't won a title since 1917...the year before the Red Sox's vaunted "1918" title. Think about that. That was just 5 years after the Titanic sunk. The US declared war on Germany....for World War I. Half a million people died in the US from a flu pandemic. There was no NFL and the NHL was just created. Haray Carey, who would go on to broadcast for the White Sox, was born. It has been 88 years since the Sox brought a championship back to Chicago.
And this just isn't the White Sox.....this is Chicago. For every pitful drought the Sox have suffered, the Cubs have suffered longer [1945 was the last series, with 1908 the last title]. So just having Chicago involved in a World Series will be quite surreal. And this is the franchise that, for the most part, has soiled professional sports like none other...as the Black Sox scandal of 1919 is still the biggest black eye on any of our American sports [it did get my Reds a World Series title].
And this is the team that tore down ancient Comisky Park to build the bland....uh, Comisky Park [now US Cellular Field]. This is also a team that wore uniforms with wide collars and shorts. And had that classic SOX logo of little dude with his bat. They also held "Disco Demolition Night" in 1979 that turned into a riot at ol' Comisky.
Jerry Reinsdorf, who brought Chicago 6 NBA championships with the Bulls, becomes a hero yet again by bringing Chicago to baseball's center stage. Ozzie Guillen is beloved in Chi-town. But the White Sox' website says it best.
"Say It Is So."
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