Championship Series

[SephClone89]

Originally Posted by SI1020

What is so hard to understand? He roots for the Sox above all, and then stays loyal to the AL on down the line, the Yankees being a special case that shouldn't be hard to understand given the history. That was and is the reality for a lot of us.

But if everyone hates division rivals like the Tigers, Twins, etc, why would you root for them ahead of another AL team you're neutral on--say Baltimore, or Seattle?

If I've spent the whole damn season wishing failure on a team, it makes no sense to all of a sudden favor them when they go up against another team I haven't seen play 1248x a season and maybe has an interesting narrative or players who are fun to watch.

[Huisj]

Originally Posted by ChiSoxGirl

Um, have they seen the neighborhood surrounding Comerica Park?! Pot, meet kettle. I went up there for a Sox/Tigers game in July 2006 and felt like I was in the ghetto the whole time - buildings with blown out windows, abandoned cars, etc. There was a nice Holiday Inn a few blocks from the part, which is where we stayed, and a Cheli's Chili steps from the ballpark, but that's about it.

It's ironic, yes. Downtown Detroit is an interesting place. For every block that makes progress, there's a building next door that is abandoned and falling apart. The stadiums have certainly done a lot to help that immediate area (which I think was basically a giant burned out chunk on abandoned nothingness 15 years ago), but there's still a long ways to go before there's a full continuous nice downtown there.

I suppose if you drove in from the suburbs and parked within a few blocks to the south of the stadium, you might see only the decent area by the Detroit Athletic Club, the opera house, the Fox theatre strip, and the two stadiums, and that area does appear to be quite cool. But that's a very small area, probably only about the size of the parking immediately between 35th and 37th street at the Cell. Venturing immediately north across the highway or west past Fox Theatre, and you're suddenly in a different world.

[tstrike2000]

I can understand the booing for Matt Holliday. That was a bush league slide and he's lucky he didn't tear up Scutaro's knee.

[JB98]

Originally Posted by tstrike2000

I can understand the booing for Matt Holliday. That was a bush league slide and he's lucky he didn't tear up Scutaro's knee.

Or break his leg. I'm all for a hard slide at second base, but Holliday slid late and looked like he was trying to injure Scutaro.

The baseball gods punished him with an error later in the game.

[WhiteSox5187]

Tim McCarver is an idiot, the Cardinals are not arguing that Blanco was out of hte baseline, they were arguing that Craig tagged him. And he did.

[samurai_sox]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

Tim McCarver is an idiot, the Cardinals are not arguing that Blanco was out of hte baseline, they were arguing that Craig tagged him. And he did.

The sky is blue, water is wet, and everybody poops.

[slavko]

More empty seats.

[Nellie_Fox]

Originally Posted by SephClone89

But if everyone hates division rivals like the Tigers, Twins, etc, why would you root for them ahead of another AL team you're neutral on--say Baltimore, or Seattle?

If I've spent the whole damn season wishing failure on a team, it makes no sense to all of a sudden favor them when they go up against another team I haven't seen play 1248x a season and maybe has an interesting narrative or players who are fun to watch.

I don't hate the division rivals. I want them to lose when it benefits the Sox, but I actually respect what they have done with very little in some cases. The Yankees constant dominance, achieved by having more money than anyone else, is bad for the American League, and bad for baseball. They get all the benefits of a free market (getting to keep their bloated revenue) while having none of the disadvantages (they can and would block another team from moving in to their territory, which could EASILY support another team.) They sign whatever free agents they want, and can keep their own talent from leaving via free agency by outbidding everyone else.

[StillMissOzzie]

Originally Posted by Nellie_Fox

But you can root for the Yankee$? I'll never understand that mindset. My loyalty is White Sox first, then AL Central, then any AL but Yankees. Unless there was ever (heaven forbid) a Yankees/Cubs series in my lifetime. I guess I'd just completely ignore that.

I mentioned this possibility to the ball & chain, but then added that I doubt that I will live that long.

SMO

[JB98]

Originally Posted by StillMissOzzie

I mentioned this possibility to the ball & chain, but then added that I doubt that I will live that long.

SMO

It nearly happened in 2003. It probably should have happened. But since it didn't happen, it probably never will.

[TDog]

Originally Posted by Nellie_Fox

I don't hate the division rivals. I want them to lose when it benefits the Sox, but I actually respect what they have done with very little in some cases. The Yankees constant dominance, achieved by having more money than anyone else, is bad for the American League, and bad for baseball. They get all the benefits of a free market (getting to keep their bloated revenue) while having none of the disadvantages (they can and would block another team from moving in to their territory, which could EASILY support another team.) They sign whatever free agents they want, and can keep their own talent from leaving via free agency by outbidding everyone else.

Apparently I was mistaken, but I thought you hated the Yankees going back to the 1960s and 1950s, the way most Sox fans hated the Yankees, because they were bitter rivals.

Yankee hatred existed and was widespread before free agency, although there always seemed a monetary aspect. The decade when baseball had both a reserve clause and an amateur draft coincides with the decade since the 1920s when the Yankees didn't contend. But the money when the Yankees stood between the White Sox and a couple more championships in the decade before the amatuer draft was smaller in scale. I don't see how anyone with a soul could have been rooting for the Yankees over the Brooklyn Dodgers in those World Series matchups.

I can't wish ill will on the Tigers for six months and feel good about watching them win in the postseason. I can't ever feel good about cheering for the Yankees. I know there are Cubs fans who would never cheer for the Cardinals in the World Series. I had a supervisor at my job in 2005 who told me when the Cardinals and Astros where in the NLCS playing to face the White Sox that as a Cubs fan, a World Series between the White Sox and Cardinals would be his worst nightmare.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by SephClone89

But if everyone hates division rivals like the Tigers, Twins, etc, why would you root for them ahead of another AL team you're neutral on--say Baltimore, or Seattle?

If I've spent the whole damn season wishing failure on a team, it makes no sense to all of a sudden favor them when they go up against another team I haven't seen play 1248x a season and maybe has an interesting narrative or players who are fun to watch.

Well first, it's sports, it doesn't have to be completely rational all the time and second, it makes perfect sense if people want to root for their own divisional foes if they're out of the picture because their success casts a positive light on your own team. It's embarrassing when the Sox struggle in what is usually the worst division in baseball, but if the Tigers are actually a lot better than their record may suggest, it adds legitimacy to the entire division.

At any rate, seriously, who the **** cares why someone else chooses to root for another team over another?

[Nellie_Fox]

Originally Posted by TDog

Apparently I was mistaken, but I thought you hated the Yankees going back to the 1960s and 1950s, the way most Sox fans hated the Yankees, because they were bitter rivals.

Oh, I do. The Yankees won every AL Pennant from the time I was born until I was 16 years old, with the exception of '54 and '59.

But I don't limit myself on the number of reasons to hate the Yankees.

[Johnny Mostil]

Originally Posted by doublem23

well first, it's sports, it doesn't have to be completely rational all the time and second, it makes perfect sense if people want to root for their own divisional foes if they're out of the picture because their success casts a positive light on your own team. It's embarrassing when the sox struggle in what is usually the worst division in baseball, but if the tigers are actually a lot better than their record may suggest, it adds legitimacy to the entire division.

At any rate, seriously, who the **** cares why someone else chooses to root for another team over another?

+1, especially about the embarrassment when the Sox struggle in a poor division.

[TheVulture]

Originally Posted by Moses_Scurry

For some reason, the Rays (2008) escaped.

Probably because that Sox squad had no business in the playoffs to begin with.