Yes, I was wrong about the White Sox. I said they'd lose 100 games, that they'd finish in last place, that they'd burn out by the end of the season. I guarenteed that they'd lose in the first round. For these sins, and any others, may I be forgiven, because the White Sox are going to the World Series, marking the first Fall Classic in the Windy City since 1959.
While my pre-season (Twins-Mets) and pre-postseason (Angels-Cardinals) picks are more or less in tatters, I'm quite intrigued by the idea of a White Sox-Astros Series. Not only are both clubs pitching-dominated, which would likely lead to lots of 3-2, 12-inning-type games, but there's the historical factor as well- the Astros have never even been in a World Series, let alone won one, while the last time the White Sox won the championship, it was just a few weeks before the Bolshevik Revolution. So history would be made either way.
So the question is, why isn't the White Sox's 88-year championship drought getting the same obsessive attention as the 86-year version that was snapped last year by Boston? Is it simple East Coast Bias? Or is it the idea that while Boston came close and blew it numerous times over the years, the White Sox have barely even been on the baseball radar screen for most of that time? Or, better yet, is it that the Red Sox were always "lovable losers," as were the Cubs, while the Chisox were always too mediocre and too prickly to earn that designation? I'd say it's a little of both.
But regardless, in the interest of equal time, I suggest that Fox begin each and every World Series game with a montage of: Disco Demolition Night; Black Sox scandal/"Eight Men Out" archival footage; the William Ligue, Jr./Tom Gamboa attack; the "bermuda shorts" game; Michael Jordan's baseball career; and Jerry Reinsdorf announcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series and/or the signing of Albert Belle.
As for Houston, just run a photo of Nolan Ryan, from the year the Astros wore the rainbow uniforms with the number on the thigh. That's just as bad.
Posted by Stephen Silver at October 18, 2005 02:31 AMCould be b/c the White Sox are tainted by your least favorite baseball sin ... taking payoffs from gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series.
Posted by: LilB at October 18, 2005 12:13 PM