so, this weekend is one of two huge baseball weekends in chicago. i speak, of course, of cubs v. sox. the first game already happened earlier today (sox spanked 'em, 6-1), with two more to go. BoyCat and i will most definitely be tuning in, and making chicago hot dogs and drinking beer while cheering for the world champs.
i know i've posted about the baseball rivalry in chicago before, so i just offer this one story and accompanying photo as evidence that the cubs/sox debate is a conversation that is always - always - going on somewhere in this city.
a few weeks back, i was doing some grocery shopping at trader joe's. earlier in the afternoon, i had made the fatal mistake of walking down broadway wearing a white sox sweatshirt at the same time the cubs game let out (i was about 6 blocks from wrigley, for those unfamiliar with north side geography). as i'm walking, some guy in a car yells out "sox suck!" as he's driving by, and i just have to smile, because hello, we won the world series.*
so anyway, i'm at trader joe's later. mind you, this is on the north side as well, in what would usually be considered cubs territory. but my check-out guy says, "hey, i like your sweatshirt." i said, "thanks." he said, "yeah, i'm a big fan myself, that's why it pains me to have to give out these bags," and points to the tj's bags emblazoned with a big cubs logo. i said, "i know! i've actually made sure to carry them home with the logo facing towards my legs, so no one sees!" check-out guy is like, "yeah, i would too." so i tell him the story of the guy who yelled out the window at me. he said, "cubs fans are idiots. they're just drunk all the time." then the girl behind me in line pipes up and says, "i know! god, they were all so drunk and obnoxious on the train home earlier." check-out guy and i voice our agreement.**
three total strangers, in line at the grocery store, bitching about the cubs. then, check-out guy goes to give me my groceries, then says "oh, wait!" he grabs a red sharpie from the counter, and i walked out with customized tj's bags:
as they say back home and around here...go sox!
*for the record, i completely acknowledge that red sox fans' beloved "yankees suck" chant falls into exactly the same trap. however, while i don't tend to use it myself, i enjoy its persistent ubiquity in the face of such overwhelming historical evidence to the contrary. it's endearing.
**roni is a non-drunk-and-obnoxious cubs fan. so there is one. the rest, though, are all suspect.
3 comments:
hahahaha!!!!!!!
You so suck. I totally had a "well Sox fans are pretty drunk themselves" rant all in my head until I read that last line. You're forgiven since you're not a homegrown Sox fan.
I'm one of the few, the proud, the omni-Chicago baseball fans. :) I'm truly a Cubs fan (even though I loathe loathe Ryan Sandberg), but growing up my father knew two Sox players and we were given free tickets to go to the games all the time. So I have great fondness for them too, especially with Ozzie as coach. So I smirk at your Sox commentary :) and raspberry at your Cubs commentary :P
Cubs fans are identical to Red Sox fans. Just as dysfunctional. Just as pathetic. It's a sad thing to see grown adults act like that, but, there you go.
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