They did it! The White Sox won the World Series in four straight games to become Chicago’s newest heroes. In fact, I heard one enthusiastic supporter say this achievement rivaled the entire six championships the Bulls won with Michael Jordan. That could be a stretch. In fact, I think it’s unnecessary to compare one sport with another, but it is a sign of how excited many in the Windy City are.
I’ve also heard there are disgruntled citizens, mostly residents of the north side who would have preferred that the Cubs were playing in October, rather than their south side rivals. This seems petty to me.
We are among only a handful of cities that has more than one baseball team. And there are enough of us to fill both stadiums, without impacting attendance at one or the other. White Sox fans claim their team doesn’t get its due, especially since it was in first place all season, while Cub fans show up even when their team isn’t a contender. Cub fans root for the culture, if not the score.
But if the team you normally root for has finished playing for the year and the one you normally ignore goes all the way – well, it just seems like good sportsmanship to root for your city’s current stars. It doesn’t mean you won’t cheer your personal favorite next year, but for now instead of being North Siders and South Siders, couldn’t we just be the City of Champions?
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