I love Santo’s passion, I even enjoy his wacky, off the topic stuff. It always makes me feel like I’m watching the game with my grandfather when I hear Santo. I have no problem with people disliking his broadcasts but I was serious about Pat Hughes handling him so well, they actually sound really good together generally.

Baseball is, in a lot of ways, about it’s history and very few teams can claim to have a longer history than the Cubs. Experiencing a game at Wrigley is like experiencing baseball in a time machine. The thing that bothers me most about new stadiums is I hate the commercials and other things that they play on the score boards/jumbotron’s that really don’t add anything to my enjoyment of the game. If I want to see Chevy commercials, I’ll stay home and watch the game (since there will be an average of 2.374 Chevy commercials each break).

Contrary to popular belief, most people at Cubs games are Cubs fans and really do care about baseball. Very few of them are there just to drink and party in the stands. However, even serious baseball fans cannot avoid looking at some of the pretty ladies, especially after some drinks!

Also, some people just don’t like American League baseball. I know that some people prefer the DH, but many people also prefer the old school rules. I’m sure many people don’t even know what a DH is. I know that I have Sox fans who are in their mid-20’s who were obsessive baseball fans but had never heard of a double switch until Ozzie used one in 2005.

Finally, do you ever think that some people are Cubs fans BECAUSE they have a history of not winning big? It seems to me that, in general, people like to complain about things and there’s 100 years worth of stupid decisions and bad lays for Cubs fans to complain about. Besides, who doesn’t want to say they were a fan BEFORE the World Series Champion Cubs?

p.s. I just realized this was written nearly a year ago. Oh well, it’s still cool.

As for Hawk: a lot of Sox fans don’t like him. I do. When I see a national broadcast, nothing chafes me more than the biased commentator. Ironically, I have zero problem with that when it is a home team’s broadcast. Is Hawk a homer? The biggest! But, he will also criticize players/managers when he thinks they aren’t hustling/doing their job. I like the fact that when I hear him, I am hearing an honest to goodness fan of the game, and not something that is sanitized for a national audience. Ron Santo is that way, though I don’t think he gets as negative as Hawk does sometimes, and I am fine with that. I actually feel bad when people start getting on Santo for being who he is: he’s a fan, and he broadcasts that passion to the fans. Some Cubs fans actually cite Santo as one of the worst things about the Cubs, while I would say he is one of those true gems the organization should be glad to have.

(Having said that, I am thrilled that Steve Stone is joining the Sox ….. he is a phenomenal broadcaster).

The Brewers sold more tickets last season than the Chicago White Sox. I went to a game in mid-July with my girlfriend, it was a promotional night (Dog Night) and the White Sox were in first place playing a team in their division, yet there were only 27,000 fans there. I don’t know why.

I have to say, it’s true that Wrigley is a fantastic place to watch baseball. However, it’s also true that Wrigley is a terrible place to go to the bathroom or try to walk around and buy stuff at. Once you are in your seat, few stadiums in any sport are as nice as Wrigley. However, as I said, it can take a full inning to buy a hot dog and I don’t even want to start to get into the bathroom topic.

I happen to think that the Cell is also a nice venue. It is not as special as Wrigley in some ways but the ammenities are much nicer. They also have the same food, they use the same company to provide their food. So, other than funnel cakes and margarita’s, you can get most anything at Wrigley you could get at the Cell, it’ll just take twice as long!

Someone else mentioned WGN. People all throughout the country watch the Cubs, they were nationally televised for a long time just as the Braves can be watched on their home station. This means people living in cities/states without teams probably end up watching the Cubs, the Braves, or the Yankees. What choice do they have?

As for Hawk, don’t forget that the Cubs have Santo on the radio. Now, I personally like listening to him. Why? Because he’s hilarious! Not because he’s good at his job by any means but he does really care and will yell funny crap and talk about things that have nothing to do with anything. Pat Hughes is a saint for dealing with him so well. So, we have our over-the-hill homer and you guys have yours.

Unfotunately I have to run to class but will hope to see a reply.

You note the neighborhood around the Cell as being something of a war zone. That’s a bit of a generalization. The neighborhood (especially north and west) have gotten much better in recent years. The area south and west remains the old Irish neighborhood of Bridgeport, and while it doesn’t have as many of the old taverns as it used to, I have driven through it and consider it as safe as any suburb.

On the contrary, I have felt a lot more scared after Cubs games. I think a larger percentage of the fans there (and this is anecdotal based on my observations) tend to get more drunk and out of control, because fewer tend to drive to games (take the el, live closer to the park, take a limo, plan on hanging out at the Cubby Bear for several more hours, etc). Not to mention the closer quarters you are in with the cramped concourse and washrooms (my one and only trip to a Wrigley Field washroom was one of the scariest moments of my life, and I wasn’t even wearing White Sox gear; the fighting words were flying around the trough). With the controlled secure parking at the Cell, more people drive, and so more people have to be more responsible (though certainly not all).

To reiterate: this post was (to a certain extent) meant with a small amount of sarcasm. I have friends who are Cubs fans, and I love them all. I dish, they dish. It is a part of life in the Chicago baseball world. Sarcasm toward the Cubs is among a Sox fan’s first duties in life. It keeps the Cubs fans down to Earth (that and a century of not actually winning anything)

Also the neighborhood around the Sox park is a war zone and decidedly not friendly, plus there’s no where to go and throw in the chance of being hit over the head by a guy wielding a table leg and that’s why the Sox are a distant second in Chicago.

The national coverage is mostly due to the fact that the northside is larger than the south, and many Cubs fans are transplanted nationwide. Its purely business and popularity vs. which team is actually better. It also helped their cause that in the 1980s that WGN became a national cable station allowing people nationwide to watch the Cubs …. the Sox tried a local cable carrier which wasn’t fully hooked up into Chicago, and lost some fan base for a while.

If it was “their story”, they would be constantly put down for their constant losing, last minute choking, and always finding the weirdest way to lose. Instead the negatives are minimized, and the positives blown tremendously out of proportion.

When Kerry Wood struck out 20 batters in a game as a rookie, they were picking out drapes for his wing in the Hall-of-Fame. Many injuries and poor seasons later, he is relegated to relief pitching. The White Sox had a pitcher throw a no-hitter in his second career game, and it was forgotten soon after,

For national coverage, is it because of their story? Not that they’ve played well, but because of the history, the ‘underdog’ aspect, etc.?