I was glad to hear Barack Obama stand by his White Sox while dissing the Wrigley fans as being “not serious.” Really. It’s much better than, say, being born in Chicago and then running for the Senate in New York and wearing a Yankee hat. He’s a South Sider, so he should stick by his team. Anything else would be pandering. Daley is a Sox fan too, and doesn’t try to pander to Cubs fans. He shouldn’t. It’s just sports anyway.
But of course Obama is wrong. As another Sox fan, Richard Roeper of the Sun-Times points out, “make no mistake, they’ll die inside if this team doesn’t make it to the 2008 World Series.” He’s talking about me, and lots of other people. It has never been about the “experience” so much as it is about the team. Whether it’s opening day in the cold of April or game 7 against the Marlins in the cold of October, I am there, and yes, dying on the inside, sadly. Hot chicks, yes; cold beer, yes; awesome park, yes. But what can I say, I’ve watching and going to games since I was, I don’t know, 7 or something. It’s never been a pickup bar for me. Sadly. Not once!
But I understand why people would say these things; there’s a lot of meatheads that go to sports games, and by meatheads I mean assholes who are trying to impress their girlfriends or frat buddies. I’ve even seen this at, yep, Comiskey Park, or Cell Phone Field, whatever you call it these days. When Obama says that they’re not serious at Wrigley, maybe he means that they fill up the park even when the team sucks, unlike the White Sox, who had trouble filling it when they were good (maybe they still do, I have no idea).
Whatever. Much worse to hear Derrek Lee agree with him about Cubs fans. He should be pandering a little. But at least he’s smart enough to be on Obama’s side:
According to Lee, politics is a topic that seldom is broached in the clubhouse. He talks politics with the trainers in the training room, but didn’t know if the Cubs who vote are predominantly Republican.”I think some guys don’t even know what they are,” Lee said with a laugh. “But yeah, they’re probably mostly Republicans.”
Big dumb jocks. Big surprise.