should i be a cubs fan or a white sox fan?

Do you not have a team from wherever you're from?

being a Cubs fan is like rooting for the Yankees or Red Sox but getting nothing in return

Polyphonic OTM. What was your local team before you moved? Might be nice to keep a bit of home with you in that way.

Or, answer b) anything but Cubs.

voted "both ok"

I've lived in the Chicago area for 30 years, and the only time I've really been fiercely partial to one team over the other was in 1989, when I decided to be a Cubs fan (and lucky for me since they won the NL East that year). But then 1991 rolled around, and the Sox had bad-ass black uniforms and a hot-shit semi-rookie named Frank Thomas, and so I got on board that train instead (which paid off nicely when they won their division two years later). Now I just root for both. I rooted for the Cubs in 2003 and the Sox in 2005. If I'm honest, I maybe slightly prefer the Cubs, just because I know more people who are ardent Cubs fans (I shared an office a few years ago with a guy who'd put on Hughes/Santo radio broadcasts on game days), but I bear no ill will toward the Sox, even when they're facing the Cubs in interleague games.

only other place i've lived in the U.S. for an extended period of time is the DC area, so it would be either the nationals or the orioles :( plus it's nice to be a fan of a team i can actually go see play on a regular basis

Really liked the early '90s White Sox, mostly for Raines/Ventura/Thomas. I had a "Rock and Sock" shirt.

Plus, Harrelson was less annoying then.

the nationals need u

the nationals didn't even exist the last time i lived in the DC area

a lotta cubs fans are really annoying but they're never going to be as bad as white sox fans who're always grousing about how horrible cubs fans are

go cubs

bonus, you never have to hear anybody say YOU CAAAAN....PUT IT ON THE BOAAAARD...YES! which, trivia answer here, is the tape loop that plays in Hell

tru

http://imgur.com/lEcQF.jpg

a lotta cubs fans are really annoying but they're never going to be as bad as white sox fans who're always grousing about how horrible cubs fans are

go cubs

― Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:45 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is like saying you should be a yankees fan because mets fans are always complaining about yankees fans

no that's different because it's the yankees

I mean seriously max you're a man of science you should already know this stuff

you have an odd set of contrarian-boxes-within-contrarian-boxes opinions about baseball john and i admire you for it

'white sox in five'

this is like saying you should be a yankees fan because mets fans are always complaining about yankees fans

... I kind of feel this way, although really fuck 'em both

b-b-b-b-but the O's have the dashing Adam Jones!

you could always watch sox games on mute

and matt wieters!

if this is the tape loop in hell, 'YOU CAAAAN....PUT IT ON THE BOAAAARD...YES!' then i'm a satanic mothafocka cuz i love that sound. i guess that gives me away as far as which way i lean, but i voted ok for both cuz i seriously do think it's dumb that you have to pick one. why? i don't know who made this rule but i break it! It's fuckin great that chicago has 2 baseball teams, they are in american and national leagues and (have but also) could play eachother in a world series.

you could always watch sox games on mute

you'll still be watching the team that laughably gets classed as the more "working-class" of the two LOL

ricketts/td ameritrade vs. jerry reinsdorf

serious answer tho n/a is what is your position on the designated hitter rule? every other reason given is likely to be personal. I'll go to my grave opposing the DH, so I'm a Cubs fan.

but you have soriano

no doubt, I'm getting treated with NSAIDs for it though and I'm hopeful that it'll clear up

i'm not particularly partial to the DH because it's fun to watch pitchers flail while zambrano hits home runs

I think that's another part of why I swing slightly toward the North Siders -- I prefer NL ball.

n/a, something to consider: WRIGLEYVILLE IS THE WORST PLACE IN CHICAGO

basically i want to make sure i'm not missing out on the "baseball experience" by not hating the guts of the crosstown team and its despicable fans

wrigleyville is the worst place in chicago but i can walk there from my apartment

who has cheaper tickets

xp oh well see that's actually kinda useful

but you have soriano

― bnw, Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:59 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^^^^^

say what you like about wrigleyville, wrigley field will always be better than the monstrosity you have to sit in when you go see the sox

Wrigley is cooler than whatever they're calling New Comiskey these days, but you'll always be able to score a cheap ticket to the White Sox.

Or you could pick any team and go see them when they visit Wrigley/NComiskey.

be like Steve Shasta and declare yrself above rooting for a MLB team

i like the marlins.

my AL team is the Devil Rays

How about:

Gateway Grizzlies
McHenry County K-Nines
Normal CornBelters
Southern Illinois Miners
Windy City ThunderBolts
Kane County Cougars
Peoria Chiefs
Joliet JackHammers
Lake County Fielders
Rockford RiverHawks
Schaumburg Flyers

hey - the Blackhawks are leading their conference! no time like the present to become a hockey fan!

srsly tho

i could be a white sox fan if i moved to chicago, if i felt compelled to follow an american league team. i sorta like the angels, but anaheim is too far from me to get too involved

I suggest you go to games of both teams and then develop an allegiance based on how you actually feel about the teams, their fans, and their style of play.

n/a be a white sox fan--cheaper tickets and al ball. plus a batshit but often effective front office. cubs are going nowhere anytime soon.

This should settle things:

White Sox / Cubs divide = Cubs fans are racist, jockish, classict, yuppie, drunken, gang-raping, bandwagoning, ignorant, front-running, and largely rich and monied pricks and bimbos who didn't give one good god damn about the stupid baseball team until it was force-fed to them by the Tribune media monopoly, and until the neighborhood got gentrified (a gentrification process that will admittedly eventually happen to the South Side neighborhood in which the Sox reside; just has not quite yet). It's a class of fans largely made up of boorish white immigrants from various lame state schools around the midwest, who came to Chicago for their first "big job" in a "big city" and just looove hanging out at Cubs games because it's a glorified beer garden.

These dolts are continually raped by the Tribune corporation for the sheep that they are. The recent ticket-scalping scandal (the "world's greatest newspaper" basically operates its own licensed ticket scalping operation in which it allocates tickets to be resold at exorbitant prices to the sheep) is just another in a long line of "grab yer ankles" practices orchestrated by the "trib".

White Sox fans are decent, hard-working, multi-ethnic, blue-collar people who have lived in the city of Chicago for generations, with a real respect for the history of the game and their team.

That's about it.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, September 28, 2003 3:09 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

conversely:
http://www.ballslist.com/sports/attack-base-coach.jpg

How about:

Gateway Grizzlies
McHenry County K-Nines
Normal CornBelters
Southern Illinois Miners
Windy City ThunderBolts
Kane County Cougars
Peoria Chiefs
Joliet JackHammers
Lake County Fielders
Rockford RiverHawks
Schaumburg Flyers

I've been to Schaumburg Flyers and Kane County Cougars games! That list should really include the Gary South Shore RailCats, though, since it's closer to downtown Chicago than any of the others except maybe the Windy City ThunderBolts (who play in Crestwood).

actually i don't see the gentrification thing happening so much in the bridgeport neighborhood that us cellular field, or 'the cell' is in. unless you go to iit, or the sox game there are not many reasons to be there that don't involve artsy-fartsy loft spaces.

Kinda want to go to this place, actually:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/han-202-chicago

i think stormy diamond is otm, fwiw.

n/a ask max, pretty sure he spent a lot of time thinkin about this when we first moved

it's not something you should ever have to deliberate on
you're just going to go in circles

Unless you're Steve Shasta, you don't choose which team to root for, it just comes naturally.

but I still voted for "chicago baseball sucks, be a fan of some other team"

I think Stormy Diamond has a giant chip on his shoulder, fwiw, and overvalues the "authenticity" of his beloved South Side.

On the band Styx: "anyway, they're all White Sox fans so that forgives all sins. these guys wouldn't be caught dead hanging out on the pussy-ass north side and that tells you all you need to know about how hard Styx rocked"

well yeah

i just always hated biking through wrigleyville around cubs games---despicable savages imo

n/a be a white sox fan--cheaper tickets and al ball. plus a batshit but often effective front office. cubs are going nowhere anytime soon.

these are fighting words sir, the cubs will win the world series this year

you heard it here first

also it is a laff riot how many, many people romaniticizing the working-class southside white sox fans live many, many city blocks north of chicago ave - not on this thread but there is srsly this "they're from the south side! they're legit!" vibe to sox worship and then you go "oh really, you from there?" "well uh no I live in wicker park"

If the Cubs win the world series, I will eat a hat*

* please note that by "hat" I mean "meal I would normally eat anyway"

The day the Cubs win it all, I'm going to hunt you down and see that you live up to that.

http://i.a.cnn.net/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0610/gallery.memorable.brawls3/images/017050019.jpg

agree with CAD, can't go wrong with choosing AL ball

well-called k3vin k., "ball" is right 'cause it ain't baseball

just for the record, hating on the AL is a guaranteed way to get a slap

the more you know

when I slap people I usually pick AL pitchers 'cause I know they won't hit back

j0hn d ages like 20 years when he clicks on this board

k3vin k otm

:(

NL 4-eva

j0hn d ages like 20 years when he clicks on this board

sounds like he'd make a good dh

Basing fandom on whose fans are the least annoying is a losing proposition. All teams' fans are annoying.

velko ftw

but seriously i love the built in beer/piss breaks at nl parks. they are called any inning where the pitcher is scheduled to hit.

White Sox forever.

I mostly say this for two reasons.

1. I grew up as a Sox fan.
2. Wrigleyville is, as many have stated upthread, the worst part of Chicago. It is like a college town (in the worst way possible) when the Cubs are playing.

basically i want to make sure i'm not missing out on the "baseball experience" by not hating the guts of the crosstown team and its despicable fans

That's secondary to the historical rivalries, though, aren't they? You can get as much mileage out of hating the Cards and/or, uh... the Tigers?

i like the marlins.

― ┌∩┐(◕_◕)┌∩┐ (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, January 12, 2010 11:31 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

WTF this is almost like rooting for the Dodgers suggest ban.

pls elaborate? also fuk u coletti devotee. XD

voted: it's ok to keep being a fan of both

i watch the game, rooting for laundry is kinda a last century thang imo. free agency, fantasy, and horrible GMs (sabean, beane) have kinda killed team allegiances for me.

NA VOTE SOX

both is the worst answer on here, anything but NA

haha, still lolling at that stormy rant upthread

NA NANANANANANANANANANANNANANANANANANANANANANANNANANANAN NANAN AN NAN ANNANANNA N AN NAN NAN NANNA NAN
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/CrosstownClassic.jpg

GO SOX

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NytN3qaDdxY/RxXWUcP-S8I/AAAAAAAAAEI/CAexZW1CAFM/s400/scared-for-life.jpg

i immediately regret that

it's a little ott, yes

well u kno it looks like the lady in that other pic do you see

i am tired and can't go to bed yet u_u

free agency, fantasy, and horrible GMs (sabean, beane) have kinda killed team allegiances for me

Pretty OTM - I'm a Red Sox fan because my grandfather played a pickup game in WWII with Dom DiMaggio and became a Sox/Ted Williams fan after the war (plus Fenway), and the Giants because Willie Mays was a childhood hero and my dad was from SF (though a Dodgers fan from the Brooklyn days) and Mel Ott had the awesomest swing. They were both so far from where I live(d) I never had that I BLEED RED SOX RED mentality around me.

But these days I mostly just root against bad/annoying management and bad owners (Peter Angelos, Tom Hicks RIP, Sabean, etc.) if it doesn't involve BOS/SF directly. And I've kinda fallen off the SF wagon courtesy of Sabean.

voted sox

i couldn't willingly contribute, even a little, to an innocent human being becoming a cubs fan

pls elaborate? also fuk u coletti devotee. XD

Following the Cubs really only ends in misery or drunkenness. I will give Dusty Baker some credit, I think he was the one that kind of led to the Cubs lovable losing being fun coming to an end. Cubs fans seem to take the losing a bit more personal these days.

All that and that recent World Series Pennant flying on the south side probably does change the schadenfreude of your average Sox fan, but those folk seem to have a chip on their shoulder about not getting much credit or love.

I grew up watching a ton of baseball on WGN on cable in the 80s, so I have saw hundreds of games by both teams and have been to see both teams twice (including a trip to Old Commiskey which to me looked like some MLB park being run by county park's rec).

Now you want to talk about some baseball fans that have some freaking angst these days, talk to some die-hard Reds fans. That is a miserable lot who hate their situation and can only pine for something that is LONG LONG gone and their favorite uncle did a stint in the joint.

cubs fans = pitchfork readers
white sox fans = dudes who kneejerk hate on pitchfork readers

you lose either way

perhaps a different angle on this is to view the teams through their home stadiums:
wrigley field is historic (1914), romantic, surrounded by roof seating, and falling apart. there is no parking lot in which to tailgate so that portion must be done at a bar of which there are many within spitting distance.
us cellular field is newish (2003), has a rain room and other stuff for kids (batting, fielding, base running), has a ample parking lot in which to tailgate and shockingly few bars (though many traintracks) nearby.
i am not sure if that helps to draw any conclusions

Voted 'Cubs' - we need all the help we can get (and no, not all of us are bad). I enjoy attending one or two Sox games a season, but dang if the designated hitter AL rule not piss me off to no end. All people on field should bat - plain and simple.

the immediate wrigley field area (1-2 block radius) isn't for everyone, but i like it ok enough. the area beyond that is pretty cool, lots of good shit to check out. comiskey is a decent park but also suffers from being the worst of the new wave of ballparks. iirc it was the first new stadium in some time when it was built, and everyone was pretty excited about it, but then shortly thereafter the orioles opened up camden yards and i think folks were wondering why the sox couldn't have built a really nice park like that instead of something that now appeared to be generic.

Skydome came a couple of years before New Comiskey, NC was the last of the non-retro parks.

they're already calling for the demolition of the dome here!

and i'd have to say NC was probably the most underwhelming of the stadiums i've been too. maybe the old Yankees stadium.
ok New Comiskey is the runnerup.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

a+ results

8,7,6,5,4

Sox b/c of Ozzie.

so I guess I should go White Sox huh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDIEp-xyOl0&feature

lmao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv23pqH9iG0

<3 buehrle <3

holy crap Buehrle

Konerko's bare-handed catch is pretty impressive too since I could easily see being "what the fuck why is the ball coming from there"?

great play but let's be honest:

doesn't buerhle's path to ball interfere with the batter slightly?

only in yr mind imo. basically the same psychological effect as a 2b bluffing the runner @ 2nd.

prob not a plus for you n/a, but sox park has the BEST. CORNDOGS. EVER. trying to get my co-worker to switch over to the dark side, because she doesn't "seem" like a "cubs fan" y'know?

They also have veggie dogs. Wrigley only has shitty veggie burgers.

both teams sweeped their weekend series against pretty good teams! (cubs vs. brewers, white sox vs. mariners)

for cubs fans, that was essentially winning the world series

i would not consider the mariners "pretty good"!

I know they haven't been doing that great so far but weren't they expected to do well this season? Anyways, I think the White Sox will take their wins where they can get them at this point.

they were. but not not by me.

the W Sox tho - i was (and am) expecting a good year.

"chicago baseball sucks, be a fan of some other team" was obviously the correct answer (at least for this season)

be a fan of the kane county cougars

cubs vs. white sox this weekend in the battle for who sucks slightly less

Heckuva job, Peavy.

cubs making the 2010 white sox look like the 2005 white sox

so regional sports difference are nothing native to chicago. but when i realized that hockey loving cubs and white sox fans might come together to celebrate the blackhawks.. that kind of threw me.

well this has become a pretty easy decision

i think i'm going to try just venomously despising the cubs this season, just for a change of pace

Despise them both. Both worthless. Just ignore them.

Now you want to talk about some baseball fans that have some freaking angst these days, talk to some die-hard Reds fans. That is a miserable lot who hate their situation and can only pine for something that is LONG LONG gone and their favorite uncle did a stint in the joint.

so otm

Look what two teams are bringin' up the rear in Defensive Efficiency:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=975507

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2012/Baseball-Preview-The-Most-Dismal-Season-in-30-Years/

i was looking at white sox caps online this morning. i don't even wear baseball caps. or hats.

Have you been to any games this year?

nope :( maybe i should rectify that this long weekend

I've only been to 1 cubs and 2 sox games. Pretty much only go when I get free tickets.

cubs have outscored the white sox 32-8 across their four games this year

Damn straight! Love seeing Cubs sweep the Sox last night. Only hope Garza stays (it seems like he will - his family likes it here).

Father-in-law bought me a Cubs cap and shirt for my birthday.

is that a secret insult

What did you choose?

i lol'd

Jake Arrieta ‏@JArrieta34 Nov 9
Time for Hollywood to pony up and head for the border #illhelpyoupack #beatit

white sox

I'd figure considering how Chris Sale has handled some club house issues, he's probably not a student of the enlightenment. Dude probably knows how to setup a wicked compound bow.