Sox fans care about baseball, Cub fans don't Article

[JayLear]

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I can see your point about the fashionable fans. Seeing girls at the games wearing pink Cubs hats with a beer in one hand and talking on their cell phone in the other hand is very annoying. Finding those same girls at Murphy's and Cubby Bear after the game though isn't so bad.

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This is actually my favorite part of going to Wrigley! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[SonnyJay]

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I can see your point about the fashionable fans. Seeing girls at the games wearing pink Cubs hats with a beer in one hand and talking on their cell phone in the other hand is very annoying. Finding those same girls at Murphy's and Cubby Bear after the game though isn't so bad.

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This is actually my favorite part of going to Wrigley! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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Yeah, it definitely helps when the Cubs are 32-65, it's 90 degrees outside, they're down 7-2 to the Brewers and I'm watching Amaury Telemaco come in for Mark Clark in the 6th inning. You begin to appreciate these things.

-SonnyJay

I'll preface this with the fact that I'm a Cubs fan. I don't hate the White Sox (I hope they win).. and I don't think most Cubs fans hate the White Sox.. if anything - they hate their fans. It comes up all the time. Did you hear that the other day Biggio's wife got slapped and harrassed by some obnoxious White Sox fan? WTF is that about?

Traditionally, Cubs fans were percieved as drunkards who look down at everyone else... which is just stupid. For so long - the Cubs have been such complete losers that there seemed to be some kind of bandwagon effect for rooting for the cubs because they were the perennial underdogs. The fact that they're still losing and they sell out games just seems to make sense to me - you can go to a Cubs game and have fun (God forbid!). People get into the games.. I know.. I've been to several games this past year... heck - they help sell out the Brewers games when the Cubs come to town. And it's not just the bleacher seats that get sold out.. it's the entire stadium.

This whole business about Sox/Cubs fan rivalry seems silly to me becuase Sox fans, now that they have a team that's likely to win the World Series, are poor winners. Not the team.. but the fans.

[JayLear]

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I'll preface this with the fact that I'm a Cubs fan. I don't hate the White Sox (I hope they win).. and I don't think most Cubs fans hate the White Sox.. if anything - they hate their fans. It comes up all the time. Did you hear that the other day Biggio's wife got slapped and harrassed by some obnoxious White Sox fan? WTF is that about?

Traditionally, Cubs fans were percieved as drunkards who look down at everyone else... which is just stupid. For so long - the Cubs have been such complete losers that there seemed to be some kind of bandwagon effect for rooting for the cubs because they were the perennial underdogs. The fact that they're still losing and they sell out games just seems to make sense to me - you can go to a Cubs game and have fun (God forbid!). People get into the games.. I know.. I've been to several games this past year... heck - they help sell out the Brewers games when the Cubs come to town. And it's not just the bleacher seats that get sold out.. it's the entire stadium.

This whole business about Sox/Cubs fan rivalry seems silly to me becuase Sox fans, now that they have a team that's likely to win the World Series, are poor winners. Not the team.. but the fans.

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This is bullsh*t. It goes both ways. Sox fans hate the Cubs because of their fans, and Cubs fans hate the Sox because of their fans. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? As a Sox fan, I could care less about the Cubs or their fans, or what their fans think of my team. We don't sell out? Who gives a sh*t? Does that make me any less of a fan, when I go to 10-12 games a year at the Cell, and watch every game I can on TV?

FWIW, I have 4 friends coming by to watch the game tonight, 3 of whom are intelligent loyal Cubs fans. All 5 of us want to see the Sox win it all -- two of us for obvious reasons, the other 3 just beause it's about freaking time somebody in Chicago does.

[MyTurn2Raise]

As a Cards fan in Chicago, I can tell you this article is truly worthless. The Cubs (I hate to admit) have far, far, far more fans and far, far, far more loyal fans.

It's not only the attendence at the parks. check the tv ratings too. A very disappointing Cubs team had many more viewers than the AL leader for the whole season. This isn't only WGN games, this is the local comcast stuff too. The Sox are a bad after-thought of this town and usually supported by the ne'er-do-wells of the city who have a chip on their shoulder and think 'the man' is dragging them down.

These teams do exhibit the class warfare undertones within this city to some extent. Of course, geography helps that distinction.

[JayLear]

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As a Cards fan in Chicago, I can tell you this article is truly worthless. The Cubs (I hate to admit) have far, far, far more fans and far, far, far more loyal fans.

It's not only the attendence at the parks. check the tv ratings too. A very disappointing Cubs team had many more viewers than the AL leader for the whole season. This isn't only WGN games, this is the local comcast stuff too. The Sox are a bad after-thought of this town and usually supported by the ne'er-do-wells of the city who have a chip on their shoulder and think 'the man' is dragging them down.

These teams do exhibit the class warfare undertones within this city to some extent. Of course, geography helps that distinction.

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You are clueless.

[eMarkM]

I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, which has mostly been Sox territory, but I grew up rooting for both teams (blasphemy, I know). My father was ambivalent about sports, so I really didn't grow up with a family tradition. My grandmother was a big Cubs fan and I'd go to a few games with her. But most of my buddies growing up were for the Sox so I grew up never really picking a side. I went to games for both and still do. It's nice to have a team to root for in both leagues. Call me fair weather, I don't really care.

There's no question there are more Cub fans than Sox. I would say it's around 70/30 Cubs in Chicago. At the risk of oversimplifying it Sox Nation is roughly Madison St south extending to the south suburbs with Bridgeport (where Sox park is) at its core. Sox Nation is a few square miles. Really, the Sox are like a small market team trapped in a big city. Contrast this with Red Sox Nation, which goes from the tip of Maine, includes all of New England down to CT, near Yankees territory. The Cardinals own the heartland of country, not just the St Louis metro area. NY is so big, there's plenty of room for two teams. The Cubs have the Northside and much of the remaining suburbs and much beyond judging by the fans that come out on the road.

But let's not forget that the Cubs used to play to empty seats, too. It's only since the Wrigleyville area has undergone gentrification that it's been cool to be at Wrigley. In the early 80s most derided Wrigley as an old banjo box and it was certainly no neighborhood you wanted to hang around at after a game, day or night. So, obviously, they get a lot of the tourist crowd that will go see a game and have something to do afterwards. Let's relive Lee Elia's famous profanity filled tirade against the fans in an '83 press conference to recall where this team once was. Look back at some of the games before the Cubs finally had a good team in '84 and you see nobody on the roofs because few cared.

The Sox are in Bridgeport and while it's not as bad a neighborhood as many seem to think it is, it just doesn't have the allure of Wrigleyville in this era. While I don't think we'll see much of a shift in that 70/30 number next year, it could happen over the next decade or so. The South Loop has been undergoing it's own gentrification, old projects are getting torn down and who knows, it could spread to the Bridgeport area and it could become "cool". Even if that doesn't happen, you'll see a slow shift to the Sox if the Wizard of Ozzie stays and this team starts making playoffs more regularly.

[mrbaseball]

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The Sox are in Bridgeport and while it's not as bad a neighborhood as many seem to think it is, it just doesn't have the allure of Wrigleyville in this era.

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This is a very accurate post through and through. I especially like the Lee Elia reference [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Many people doon't realize those days weren't all that long ago.

The housing projects surrounding US Comiskullar field have been coming down. The area is slowly but surely changing. This victory should help accellerate that change. Eventually the area around the park will be trendy and hip or at least non-threatening.

It will be interesting how this World Series will effect upcoming seasons and the way the teams are viewed. It wasn't always a Cubs town. When I was growing up (the 60's) it was almost exclusively a Sox town. Sox outdrew the Cubs year in and year out. It wasn't until Wrigleyville got cleaned up that things shifted.

That shift can happen again but it will take time. These things tend to ebb and flow at a glacierlike pace. This championship can have a big impact on a new generation and shift the ever shifting balance once again.

So to post an annoying question, do you get upset if an out of towner states they are a fan of both. I know as a Red Sox fan I dont like to hear of people that like the Yankees as well. Not pissed to the I wont talk to them extent, but kinda a "this doesnt feel right" way?

[JayLear]

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I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, which has mostly been Sox territory, but I grew up rooting for both teams (blasphemy, I know). My father was ambivalent about sports, so I really didn't grow up with a family tradition. My grandmother was a big Cubs fan and I'd go to a few games with her. But most of my buddies growing up were for the Sox so I grew up never really picking a side. I went to games for both and still do. It's nice to have a team to root for in both leagues. Call me fair weather, I don't really care.

There's no question there are more Cub fans than Sox. I would say it's around 70/30 Cubs in Chicago. At the risk of oversimplifying it Sox Nation is roughly Madison St south extending to the south suburbs with Bridgeport (where Sox park is) at its core. Sox Nation is a few square miles. Really, the Sox are like a small market team trapped in a big city. Contrast this with Red Sox Nation, which goes from the tip of Maine, includes all of New England down to CT, near Yankees territory. The Cardinals own the heartland of country, not just the St Louis metro area. NY is so big, there's plenty of room for two teams. The Cubs have the Northside and much of the remaining suburbs and much beyond judging by the fans that come out on the road.

But let's not forget that the Cubs used to play to empty seats, too. It's only since the Wrigleyville area has undergone gentrification that it's been cool to be at Wrigley. In the early 80s most derided Wrigley as an old banjo box and it was certainly no neighborhood you wanted to hang around at after a game, day or night. So, obviously, they get a lot of the tourist crowd that will go see a game and have something to do afterwards. Let's relive Lee Elia's famous profanity filled tirade against the fans in an '83 press conference to recall where this team once was. Look back at some of the games before the Cubs finally had a good team in '84 and you see nobody on the roofs because few cared.

The Sox are in Bridgeport and while it's not as bad a neighborhood as many seem to think it is, it just doesn't have the allure of Wrigleyville in this era. While I don't think we'll see much of a shift in that 70/30 number next year, it could happen over the next decade or so. The South Loop has been undergoing it's own gentrification, old projects are getting torn down and who knows, it could spread to the Bridgeport area and it could become "cool". Even if that doesn't happen, you'll see a slow shift to the Sox if the Wizard of Ozzie stays and this team starts making playoffs more regularly.

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Excellent post. Seems like somebody gets it.