Viva Magglio
05-26-2002, 10:57 PM
The sports pundits on talk radio and in the newspapers assail us with charges regarding this and that. Here are a few of them followed by my response.
White Sox fans don't support the team.Unfortunately, there is some merit in this charge. I do support the team in my capacity as a split season ticket holder, and I do not mind the convenience of small crowds. They enhance my access to choice parking, concessions, restrooms, and views of the action from the main concourse. At the same time, I wish more of our fans would come out to the ballpark. I realize that we have had awful weather this spring, but we should be providing more support for our team.
Not that I agree with Ken Williams saying that we cannot make our team better because we fans don't come out to the ballpark, but it would be in our franchise's better interests if more of us White Sox fans went out to the ballpark. I am tired of going to games and seeing the eighth inning attendance quiz like this: A) 13,003, B) 12,383, C) 14,392. D) 12,001, E) 14,895.
I will not go into the multitude of reasons why our fans do not go out to the ballpark. I think most of them are petty cop outs based on half-truths and outright lies. Having said that, I think the primary reason our fellow fans stay away is because of Jerry Reinsdorf. Much of the malaise our franchise has endured these past several years has been due to Reinsdorf's frugality, blunders, and bad public relations gaffes.
White Sox fans have a jealous paranoia with the Cubs and are preoccupied with hating them more than supporting their own White Sox team.Fans of our team have disliked the Chicago National League Ballclub for many generations before ours. Ask any White Sox fan who their favorite teams are, and he or she will say "The White Sox and whoever plays the Cubs." No doubt, many of our fans follow the Cubs as well as our own team purely out of the desire to see them lose. However, how far is too far?
I believe there are some of those among us who are indeed more preoccupied with hating the Cubs than supporting our own team. Every time I go to the ballpark, I see people not wearing apparel with the words "White Sox" on them but "CUBS SUCK" or "Cubs Magic Number: 911." Do not get me wrong, for I do not disagree with these fans' sentiment. I used to own the "Top Ten Reasons Cubs Fans are Losers" shirts before donating them to St. Vincent DePaul in a clothing drive. However, I would much rather see those people wearing "ORDOŅEZ 30," "KONERKO 14," or even "CLAYTON 10" rather than the anti-Cubs shirts.
My dislike for the institution of the Chicago National League Ballclub is rising these days, but I never let that supersede my support of the White Sox. Remember, you are a White Sox fan first and foremost. People who claim to be White Sox fans but are more preoccupied with hating the Cubs than supporting the Chicago White Sox are a hypocritical embarrassment.
These days, the paranoia is ever-increasing. However, I do not think it is really driven out of the traditional dislike for the Chicago Cubs. Instead, it is the perceived lack of respect from the local media that is the key ingredient of this rising tide of paranoia. Most of us would agree that the media treats the Cubs with preferential treatment. Most of us would also agree that the media subject our team to much more scrutiny than the Cubs. This leads me to the next charge that is levied against us.
White Sox fans' claims that there is a media bias against their team are unfounded.The media is infallible in its own mind. Sports pundits love reminding anyone and everyone of their shortcomings. Yet, when their own integrity is questioned, the media assumes an arrogant defensive posture in defense of its self-perceived infallibility.
The media, particularly sports talk show hosts, get especially defensive whenever we make claims of media bias against them. They do one of two things when such charges are levied against them: 1) Deny that a media bias exists or 2) Claim that a media bias exists but justify it based on intangibles like lack of fan support or the Cubs having a larger fan base.
While I do not like our lack of fan support, these defensive mechanisms employed by the media are not justified. Both teams should be treated as equally as possible. It was an absolute travesty on Thursday when, for example, the Sun-Times gave us five pages of Priormania and only one page for us. I am convinced that the local media goes more "ga-ga" over Cubs success than our success. 1984 was bigger then 1983. 1998 was bigger and better than either 1993 or 2000 in their minds. In recent days, our move into first place (now a tie, once again) got little attention. Meanwhile on the North Side, a bad Cubs team on a five game winning streak has the media going "ga-ga" again.
The Chicago media needs to be more balances in its reporting. How does the New York media cover the Mets and the Yankees. Do Mets fans claim that the Big Apple media is biased against them in favor of the Yankees or vice-versa? How is each team scrutinized?
Remember that game against Cleveland when there were 15 fights in the stands? We got a lot of heat over that. Yet, how often do the Cubs get heat over incidents at Wrigley Field? During those long hot summer nights at Wrigley Field, fans in the bleachers often get frat party intoxicated and have a hard time holding their liquor. How many fights do they have at Wrigley Field on those nights?
Another popular example of unfair scrutiny is the belief that the neighborhood around Comiskey Park is unsafe. There is the Stateway Gardens public housing complex east across the Dan Ryan Expressway and the Armour Square Park neighborhood north of the ballpark. First of all, any dangerous effect of Stateway Gardens is neutralized by the presence of the Dan Ryan. There have been ugly incidents in Armour Square Park, but I do not believe they represent the neighborhood around Comiskey as a whole. Finally, it has been shown that the area around Wrigley Field has a higher crime rate than the area around Comiskey Park. Yet, we never hear that from the media, do we!
White Sox fans don't support the team.Unfortunately, there is some merit in this charge. I do support the team in my capacity as a split season ticket holder, and I do not mind the convenience of small crowds. They enhance my access to choice parking, concessions, restrooms, and views of the action from the main concourse. At the same time, I wish more of our fans would come out to the ballpark. I realize that we have had awful weather this spring, but we should be providing more support for our team.
Not that I agree with Ken Williams saying that we cannot make our team better because we fans don't come out to the ballpark, but it would be in our franchise's better interests if more of us White Sox fans went out to the ballpark. I am tired of going to games and seeing the eighth inning attendance quiz like this: A) 13,003, B) 12,383, C) 14,392. D) 12,001, E) 14,895.
I will not go into the multitude of reasons why our fans do not go out to the ballpark. I think most of them are petty cop outs based on half-truths and outright lies. Having said that, I think the primary reason our fellow fans stay away is because of Jerry Reinsdorf. Much of the malaise our franchise has endured these past several years has been due to Reinsdorf's frugality, blunders, and bad public relations gaffes.
White Sox fans have a jealous paranoia with the Cubs and are preoccupied with hating them more than supporting their own White Sox team.Fans of our team have disliked the Chicago National League Ballclub for many generations before ours. Ask any White Sox fan who their favorite teams are, and he or she will say "The White Sox and whoever plays the Cubs." No doubt, many of our fans follow the Cubs as well as our own team purely out of the desire to see them lose. However, how far is too far?
I believe there are some of those among us who are indeed more preoccupied with hating the Cubs than supporting our own team. Every time I go to the ballpark, I see people not wearing apparel with the words "White Sox" on them but "CUBS SUCK" or "Cubs Magic Number: 911." Do not get me wrong, for I do not disagree with these fans' sentiment. I used to own the "Top Ten Reasons Cubs Fans are Losers" shirts before donating them to St. Vincent DePaul in a clothing drive. However, I would much rather see those people wearing "ORDOŅEZ 30," "KONERKO 14," or even "CLAYTON 10" rather than the anti-Cubs shirts.
My dislike for the institution of the Chicago National League Ballclub is rising these days, but I never let that supersede my support of the White Sox. Remember, you are a White Sox fan first and foremost. People who claim to be White Sox fans but are more preoccupied with hating the Cubs than supporting the Chicago White Sox are a hypocritical embarrassment.
These days, the paranoia is ever-increasing. However, I do not think it is really driven out of the traditional dislike for the Chicago Cubs. Instead, it is the perceived lack of respect from the local media that is the key ingredient of this rising tide of paranoia. Most of us would agree that the media treats the Cubs with preferential treatment. Most of us would also agree that the media subject our team to much more scrutiny than the Cubs. This leads me to the next charge that is levied against us.
White Sox fans' claims that there is a media bias against their team are unfounded.The media is infallible in its own mind. Sports pundits love reminding anyone and everyone of their shortcomings. Yet, when their own integrity is questioned, the media assumes an arrogant defensive posture in defense of its self-perceived infallibility.
The media, particularly sports talk show hosts, get especially defensive whenever we make claims of media bias against them. They do one of two things when such charges are levied against them: 1) Deny that a media bias exists or 2) Claim that a media bias exists but justify it based on intangibles like lack of fan support or the Cubs having a larger fan base.
While I do not like our lack of fan support, these defensive mechanisms employed by the media are not justified. Both teams should be treated as equally as possible. It was an absolute travesty on Thursday when, for example, the Sun-Times gave us five pages of Priormania and only one page for us. I am convinced that the local media goes more "ga-ga" over Cubs success than our success. 1984 was bigger then 1983. 1998 was bigger and better than either 1993 or 2000 in their minds. In recent days, our move into first place (now a tie, once again) got little attention. Meanwhile on the North Side, a bad Cubs team on a five game winning streak has the media going "ga-ga" again.
The Chicago media needs to be more balances in its reporting. How does the New York media cover the Mets and the Yankees. Do Mets fans claim that the Big Apple media is biased against them in favor of the Yankees or vice-versa? How is each team scrutinized?
Remember that game against Cleveland when there were 15 fights in the stands? We got a lot of heat over that. Yet, how often do the Cubs get heat over incidents at Wrigley Field? During those long hot summer nights at Wrigley Field, fans in the bleachers often get frat party intoxicated and have a hard time holding their liquor. How many fights do they have at Wrigley Field on those nights?
Another popular example of unfair scrutiny is the belief that the neighborhood around Comiskey Park is unsafe. There is the Stateway Gardens public housing complex east across the Dan Ryan Expressway and the Armour Square Park neighborhood north of the ballpark. First of all, any dangerous effect of Stateway Gardens is neutralized by the presence of the Dan Ryan. There have been ugly incidents in Armour Square Park, but I do not believe they represent the neighborhood around Comiskey as a whole. Finally, it has been shown that the area around Wrigley Field has a higher crime rate than the area around Comiskey Park. Yet, we never hear that from the media, do we!