Life In The Cell

The Meaning of Cubs Vs. Sox

For many Chicagoans the annual clash between the Northsiders and the Southsiders is the highlight of the baseball season. Once the schedule is released those two series are instantly circled on calendars in millions of homes around Chicagoland. I, too, at one time regarded this rivalry the same way I do Bears-Packers, Hawks-Red Wings, Michigan-Ohio State, etc, but not anymore. The importance of the series has wanted greatly in recent years. In my books, it ranks below all games played against Central Division foes (save for the Royals) and probably is on par with games against the A’s and the Angels.

I guess the biggest cause for this change is 2005. Prior to winning the World Series, the Cubs-Sox tango really seemed like a huge deal. A victory in the season series was something you could hang you hat on. “Damn, we didn’t even sniff the playoffs, but hell at least we took 4 of 6 from the Cubs.” After winning it all, it just feels like there are bigger fish to fry than the Cubs. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy when the Sox beat the Cubs, but I get greater satisfaction out of beating the Twins. If I was presented with the choice of a sweep over the Twins or a sweep over the Cubs, I would pick the sweep over the Twins in a heartbeat. My pleasure in beating the Cubs is derived more from the gain in the standings and the decrease in the likelihood that I’ll be bothered by Cubs’ fans, than from the general joy of beating a “bitter rival.”

I’m definitely not alone in this regard. Through complete chance (I grew up in the NW suburbs) a number of my closest friends are White Sox fans and they too care less and less about the series. Their level of apathy towards the series isn’t as strong as mine, but when I shared my thought swith them, they generally agreed. (I had previously thought I was alone in this mindset and actually was a little hesitant over expressing this idea.) If you look at SSS, a good number of people were in the same boat. Again, that’s not to say that there aren’t impassioned Sox’ fans that would like nothing more than to see the Cubs get owned by the White Sox. Now this is just a hunch, I haven’t conducted a survey or anything along those lines, but even for that segment of Sox fans, I think a driving force behind that desire is to just not get hassled by Cubs fans.

After getting a taste of success in ‘05, I feel the aims of Sox’ fans are held higher and thus puts the series into a perspective that more resembles what the series ultimately boils down to: 6/162 of the season.

While ‘05 is a big cause of the change of perspective, there are a number of other factors at play here. The fact that the 11th year of interleague play has been completed can’t be ignored. When interleague play and this rivalry first begain in the 90’s, there was a novelty to it all. Over time, some of that luster has undoubtedly worn off. Plus there’s the fact that compared to any other 6 games (against AL opponents) this series has less impact on the standings. Since the Sox and Cubs aren’t directly competing for the same playoff spots, losses are only half as damaging. If the Sox lost to the Red Sox, it hurts the Sox, obviously, due to the loss, but there’s the additional harm of helping the Red Sox which impacts the ChiSox’ ambitions, whether minutely or not.

When looking at the other side of the coin, I think the appeal still burns strong in the eyes of Cubs’ fanss, at least moreso than for Sox’ fans. During the first of the six games, I was with a group of Cubs’ fan, and upon the first run crossing home plate, a call was necessary to a mutual friend who was a Sox fan, just to stick it to him. The call, of course, was good natured, but it still struck me as something that I would never do. I couldn’t imagine that call going in reverse either, the Sox fan calling one of our Cubs’ fan friends. In fact, after the Sox had taken the lead, there was no reciprocal call or reciprocal text.

I’ve obviously been making generalizations though out the piece and using anecdotal evidence, but that’s all I really have to go on. This is just a gut feeling, and that’s all I have to go off of, and since I’ve been generalizing so much, I’m going to ask y’all to indulge me a little more as I try to present a possible reason as to why it seems that this series still has importance to Cubs fans. There is the whole not having the equivalent of ‘05, but I can’t run with that. The Cubs in recent years have had some good teams; ‘03 and this year come instantly to mind. So if I use the logic that the Sox’ success diminished Sox’ fans opinions of the series, I would have to apply that to the Cubs as well. After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, as the saying goes. There isn’t a geographical difference between Sox fans and Cubs fans, so we’re dealing with the same type of people, so the only difference that really sticks out to me, is the composition of the fan bases.

Some, will undoubtedly write this off as sour grapes, because Sox’ fans as a whole do in fact have an inferiority complex when it comes to the Cubs, but I think the presence of so many bandwagon jumping fans and fans who like the Cubs for the sake of liking the Cubs are the ones that bring a large portion of the vitriol and passion to the rivalry. In my experiences, I have been given the most crap about being a White Sox fan from those types of fans. One of my good friends is as passionate about the Cubs as I am about the Sox and other than the odd comment when he’s just ribbing me, he never talks smack about the Sox to me. No matter how drunk or how worked up he will be, he never antagonizes me over my baseball allegiance. My most heated arguments have come with “fans” that had no idea what they were talking about; “fans” for whom 1908 had no meaning whatsoever. Please, please, please don’t take this, like I said, as sour grapes. I think it’s just fine and dandy that the Cubs are Chicago’s team. Whatever, it doesn’t particularly bother me, but because of that very fact, that they are the more beloved team in Chicago with a fan base reaching around the country, there are more people who root for the Cubs that really have no idea what exactly they should root for or whom to root against. On paper, it looks natural that the Sox should be hated rivals of the Cubs, same town, same territory, two teams that have been around for a long time, but in reality it’s not that big of a deal. It isn’t Packers-Bears like I thought before, but the way the media portrays, it isn’t hard to see why people are worked into a lather about the series, and more often than not it seems like it’s the bandwagon types that are frothed into the largest lather. This isn’t a diss at Cubs fans, just what happens when you either have a large fan base or a few winning seasons. The core of the fan base will still be intelligent fans who are well versed in the history and the lore of the team, but then there are those others. I also, obviously, have to point the finger at Sox fans who don’t really know what the score is and take this series, in my opinion, far too seriously. There are just less of those types on the Southsides since less people care about the Sox.

There is no other regular season series that garners more attention in the city of Chicago than the Cubs-Sox series. When the Cubs play the Cardinals, there isn’t a position by position breakdown in the paper to see which team is superior, but there is one when Chicago’s two teams clash. The point of this article isn’t to slam Cubs’ fans, which I realize is the point that some people will take out of this, but rather to comment upon the fact in my eyes and the eyes of a surprising number, the Cubs-Sox series doesn’t matter nearly as much as it used to. To any and all who read this, please, please, leave your thoughts on the series. Are these still the games you look forward to the most? Are you a Sox fan that rubbed it in as many Cubs’ fans faces as possible that they got swept? Has the series lost its luster in your eyes? Let me know. Cubs fans and Sox fans alike. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. If you think I’m wrong, then tell me where I went wrong, I’m more than happy to take criticism. I will give this warning though, personal attacks levelled in my direction will be removed from the comments. I don’t think comments such as “Jeeves, you’re an effing moron, you’re just jealous the Cubs are going to win the World Series!!!!!!111!!!11!!!” do much for the type of discussion I’m trying to elicit. So those types of comments will be deleted instantly, but please take a second to leave your thoughts.