White Sox

With the White Sox vs. Cubs coming up, I just thought I would like to share this with you.

Also, GO WHITE SOX

I will not stoop to the level of my esteemed colleague, Mr. Wojciechowski, and personally attack his sniveling, miserable, little "woe is me" side of the story. White Sox fans don't do personal attacks – unless, of course, you're an opposing first base coach

You want misery? You want suffering? Try rooting for the White Sox. The Sox are the only team in baseball that can lay claim to literally being an afterthought in its own city.

That's why this weekend's series is so important. This is what passes for a World Series in Chicago. But, although both clubs share a staggering history of futility, that's where the similarities end. The North Siders are the lovable losers, and, this aberrational season aside, the South Siders are just losers.

Until recently, there has been little lovable about the Sox – a bad (though improved) ballpark, an occasionally cantankerous owner, a sometimes surly superstar in Frank Thomas.

A few years ago, I told a "Baseball Tonight" producer that I was a White Sox fan. He looked at me with a stunned expression and said, "I don't think I've ever met a White Sox fan." It was as if I had just revealed to him that I was a Zoroastrian yak herder from Uzbekistan.

I rattled off my list of everything that's wrong with the Sox. Then he posed the seemingly obvious question: "Well, if being a White Sox fan is so miserable, why aren't you a Cubs fan?"

"Why aren't you a Cubs fan?" That's like saying: "Why aren't you tall?" I was born this way. I can't help it. My father is a Sox fan, so I am. It's passed between generations like a defective gene (Wojciechowski).

If given the choice, just about anyone in his (or her) right mind would choose the Cubs over the Sox. I mean, if you're going to root for a loser, you might as well do it amidst the ivy, beer and halter tops of Wrigley Field. But, in Chicago, it's not a choice. You're one or the other – and my fate was to pull for the Sox.

Which isn't to say I didn't try to convert. My best friend growing up came from a long line of die-hard Cubs fans. He used to take me to a few games a year. I would try hard to root for the Cubs. I'd even chant "we want a hit" when the Cubs needed Ryno to come through. ("We want a hit!" Imagine the imbecility of it!)

But my heart wasn't in it. These just weren't my people – perennially sunny dispositions; ceaseless, unyielding optimism; a sincere belief that things will actually be better next year despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Nauseating.

White Sox supporters like to think the really knowledgeable fans in Chicago can be found on the South Side. Doesn't say much for the sheer number of knowledgeable Chicago baseball fans, I suppose; at most Sox games, there's hardly anyone there.

But here's what I know to be true, deep in my self-loathing, Sox-filled, sometimes cynical heart: your basic White Sox fan knows more about the Cubs – and Cubs history – than today's Cubs fans. Go to Wrigley Field and say "Scott Fletcher," and your average fan will pull at her specially designed, pink Cubbie hat with the cute bear above the brim, and stare at you blankly. Say "Scott Fletcher" to a Sox fan, and you'll find out that Fletcher played shortstop for the Cubs, was traded to the Sox in a deal involving Steve Trout, split time with Jerry Dybzinski and watched in horror with the rest of us when "The Dibber" overran second base in Game 4 of the 1983 ALCS. Yes, that Scott Fletcher, girlfriend. But, nice hat.

And what have we Sox fans gotten for our troubles over the years? A long line of ridiculousness: the uniforms with the collars, the shorts, Disco Demolition Night, Sammy Sosa for George Bell, the New Comiskey.

But, this year, it'll all be different. They've got the best record in the majors. It's a truly enjoyable team to watch: great starting pitching, an actual semblance of team speed and an ability to manufacture runs. This year, the Sox are heading to the Series. Question is – will anyone in Chicago notice?