6th Thing I Love About Chicago: The White Sox - Brady

Okay, this is kind of false because I actually don't like pro sports, and baseball seems particular shady to me.

HOWEVER,

If I were going to like a baseball team it would be the White Sox. And I secretly do kind of like them. Don't tell anybody.

Here's a list of what I like. I realize I am going to say probably indefensible, maybe controversial things. I realize Cubs fans who are my dear friends might be mad. I realize I know very little about what I'm talking about. If you post a comment to argue with me, you'll probably be right. But I'm going to say it anyway.

- I like that they feel like underdogs. Whether they are or aren't, they seem like the under appreciated team in Chicago - the second team of the Second City. Their colors are kind of ugly, their stadium isn't that cool, and the neighborhood where they play has some big problems. That just makes them seem cooler and more, you know, authentic to me.

- THEY HAVE VEGGIE DOGS AT U.S. CELLULAR FIELD! You have to work for them, though, let me tell you.

- They won a World Series in 2005! Epic moment in my life. I had just moved to Chicago and was in my first semester at Northwestern. I was working on this awful partner project up in Evanston on the night the Sox were probably going to win it. I was really mad because my partner had procrastinated, the project was due the following day, and I was stuck up on campus doing something I would have preferred to finish a week before. She kept spending way too much time on details that didn't matter, talking all the while about how much she loved projects. Finally, after 8 hours of work, I told her I HAD to leave because I had to take the El back into the city. I got on and then, 45 minutes later, off the train, grabbed a cab to the pizza place where Kevin and I had agreed to meet, listened to the game wind down on the ride over, shoved money into the cabbie's hand, ran through the rain to the door of the restaurant (at least I remember it raining), and sat down at the bar in time to see the last out. Everyone in the place cheered and hugged. It was very memorable.

- Their theme song the year they won was "Don't Stop Believin'." I love that song.

- All of my family likes the White Sox. When they won the World Series, my dad framed newspapers for all of us to hang in our houses. Now, Bobby Jenks stands guard in my parents' living room. You see, the poster Dad made for himself and Mom (that newspaper had Bobby Jenks on the front page) fell over on their dog Buckner once. Now Buckner won't go near Bobby, so they put that framed newspaper in front of wires they don't want the dog to chew.

- Ozzie Guillen! Could that guy be any crazier? Just Google "Ozzie Guillen Quotes," and I guarantee you'll be entertained. I also love that he used to play for the Sox.

- Okay, this one's going to get me in trouble, but the White Sox just seem classier than the Cubs. For example, apparently, Wrigley Field is notoriously unpopular with non-white players because they hear so many racial slurs during games there. Also, I feel like all the Cubs do is lose and whine. And, come on. It's just pathetic to blame not winning on a hundred year old curse. The Sox just seem to do their jobs, no excuses, no complaints. When they suck, they admit they suck. Or at least Ozzie does.

- Scott Podsednik, Paul Konerko, and Jermaine Dye are cute, cute, cute. Jim Thome is adorable and loves to hug people. Jose Contreras breaks my heart. And A.J. Pierzynski is way too smart for his own good. I enjoy him immensely.

- Probably totally unfairly, I like White Sox fans better. They seem like life-long Chicagoans or people from The Region in Indiana (and Hoosiers are the best people around). I always think of Cubs fans as suburbanites who only come into the city to drink. (Oh no I didn't! Oh yes I did.)

- The moment in 2005 where Ozzie wanted Bobby Jenks to come in to pitch and made the "big and tall" signal with his hands.

- Most recently, Buerhle's perfect game.