Chicago Sports Talk

this will be a short post.  i just wanted to say i don’t hate Mark Buehrle, and i don’t think he is a bad pitcher in the least. his record speaks for him.  however, i don’t know if it’s the fact that he doesn’t have the speed, or if they just figured him out.  Mark Buehrle never had velocity, but he is a lefty and he has good placement. 

all i have to say is that i felt bad for him last night.  i did not get to see the game because i was outside being stupid riding the motorcycle in 40 degree weather, but that’s beside the point. although when i got home i did hear all about the suckiness from al because he was at my parents’ house.  but from what i hear i didn’t want to see the game.  a salami in the first inning??  yikes.  actually the only part i watched was Buehrle walking to the dugout after being taken out of the game. i really think that some people really have buehrle figured out.  and it is no surprise that his worst luck is against the Cleveland Indians.  they are in our division so of course we are going to face them the most. 

ah, well, that’s OK Mark, i still heart you.  but i don’t heart you like Jon Garland.  i just think you are a great person to have in the clubhouse and to catch ceremonial first pitches.  =P

After a victorious Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, etc, we ask our sports stars questions about what it takes to get to the pinnacle of their profession. Then we listen as they talk about being “gladiators” or “warriors” or say that a “field general” took charge. Maybe they say it was a “fight to the death” but we won in the “trenches” or it’s a real “war” out there. And of course every winning team has a “hero”. We even hear it after regular season games. A pitcher will say he “battled” through a tough spot, a running back describing his touchdown as running through a “mine field” and on and on.

I’m not usually bothered by this. Let me repeat, I’m not usually bothered by this. But today I am. We celebrate Memorial Day to honor and remember those who gave their lives for us. They made the ultimate sacrifice for us all. When I think of heroes, it’s those who slogged through mud, and disease carrying mosquitos, or sand and searing heat, or bone-numbing cold and wind all the while not knowing what lay waiting for them. Some saved others at the expense of their safety, while some were victims of long range artillery as they ate their c-rations, or shot were down in a plane, or torpedoed on an  ocean thousands of miles from home. Many were gung-ho to enlist, while others drafted into the the service of the country. They came from farms, big cities, the rich, the poor and in between. Some were brash, some were quiet, but all did what was necessary at the time.

Let’s face it, our language was hijacked a long time ago in every big city neighborhood, and common usage becomes the meaning for most of us. But for a little while can we lay off comparing sporting events to life and death situations? Stop calling ball players warriors, gladiators and heroes? It is a disservice to those we honor on Memorial Day.

What are fans like in other cities? Do Dodger fans hate the Angels? Giant fans hate the A’s? Maybe so, but I’m not so sure it isn’t just for appearances. Met fans hate the Yankees and vice-versa? Of course they do. And I’m all for it!

Here in Chi-Town I’ll bet we have it all. When you’re a little fan, say younger than the teen years you root for your guys come hell or high water. But after that reality sets in. I’m laying off the youngsters and the naive, you know chicks that don’t care but root for (or against) the team their boyfriend does, etc. Old time Cub fans only hated the Cubs. They ignored the ChiSox. When the Northsiders were winning it was all good, yet they waited for the bottom to drop out. On the other side of town it was a little different but not much. White Sox fans were a little pessimistic too, and also hated their team, but spread it around more. They hated ALL other teams.

Then came these strange, gentler, new-age fans. Some of them actually root for both teams! That was rarer than the Do-Do bird, or rarer even than Dick Butkus eats his steak. Now it’s more common, and I think those people actually DO root for both teams. Sheesh, what’s this world coming to? I suppose that’s okay if you just want to chill, have a hot dog and a beer and watch a game, but then why not just go over to Eckhart Park and not pay the ticket price?

The worst of the bunch are the “fans” that root for out of town teams like the Yanks or Bosox or Cards and they lived here all their lives! I can understand the transplants cuz they’re still loyal to hometown, but gimme a break baby, rooting for the Redlips, cuz they finally can won? Or the Yanks cuz they have more money than OPEC to pay for a team? Or for the Brewers cuz they encourage you to pee your pants?

Let’s get back to good old-fashioned fandom. You know what I mean. I like the Sox or Cubs, so I either hate or ignore the team on the other side of town. That kind of fan. That’s what I’m talking about. So Go Sox! Yankees, Bosox, Indians, etc? They all can take a bite outta my @$$! The Cubs? Who cares?

Sorry it has been a while since I have last blogged, but I was in California for a week, and I have been extremely busy catching up on work.

Going to Redondo Beach is a vacation that I look forward to EVERY year! Golfing, going to the beach and just relaxing makes the trip so worthwhile. Not to mention GREAT WEATHER!The trip was a random one this year to say the least. One day involved golfing for the Make A Wish Foundation and that same evening involved going to Hugh Heffner’s mansion for the Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts. I always say I am down to help charity, but that was a no brainer.

Later in the trip, my sister’s in-laws and I went golfing near Orange County. I was working on my swing on the driving range when a group of guys came up to my left. I took a long stare at one of them because of a possible resemblance I thought he had of someone. Sure enough, it was Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy and US Men’s World Cup Soccer Team.

At any rate, I started reading some newspapers today, and see that Ozzie claims this could be his last year because he is fed up with everything…Ozzie, seriously!!!!

Grow up, and take criticism and just do your job.

Picture posted is my brother and I on the Red Carpet at the Mansion!

i have been a little frustrated as of late with my white sox. i hate having the minnesota twins AND cleveland indians ahead of us in the standings. not to mention all of the other divisions seem to have much better records than the AL Central. people say it’s because the AL Central is tough this year, but we won’t know until we are done playing with ourselves. whoa, that didn’t come out right. well, you know we have been playing mostly AL Central teams so far. yea yea, you knew what i meant. =P

anyway, it just seems like in the case of the White Sox that things are just not clicking together. we either have good pitching and not so good hitting (or basically nonexistent) or we have tons of runs and the pitchers can’t pitch strikes. actually while we (I) are talking about pitching strikes does anyone notice that in many cases we get a reliever into the game with one purpose and one purpose only and that is to throw strikes? tell me why 9 times out of 10 we throw a first pitch ball, or walk the guy! i think that is just not what relievers are supposed to do. the worst that happens is someone hits a homerun. but really while i don’t want a homer, at least the batter earns that. when we walk people we aren’t even giving ourselves a chance!

either way we have had some unfortunate events and we haven’t been as consistent as i would like, but i know we can win games. we have the stuff! come on white sox! woooo, let’s win some games, even if we have to beat my jon garland this series.

aside from an almost no-hitter and all around great performance by Gavin Floyd we neeed that win yesterday!  if we can sweep them we are right back in first where we belong.  not that losing 6 in a row means we belong in first but our record until then says so.  however i don’t think there is an excuse for not scoring a run at all in a game or being outscored 19-9 on this road trip.  yea, i am sure that Toronto’s pitching was good but you can’t win if you don’t score at least a run.

 i can’t really comment on specifics of the games of this last road trip because i have been out of town and therefore not able to catch a game.  i can comment on yesterday’s game though.  i thought Gavin Floyd did an outstanding job, obviously.  there were a couple of walks that were close and could have gone a different way.  but overall a 1-hitter is not to shabby.  there was not much we could have done to prevent that Joe Mauer hit from dropping.  it was hit hard to the gap and Nick Swisher made a nice attempt to run that ball down.  at least there was no scoring, and i am glad whenever the relievers go after the hitters. 

Jermaine Dye (and well the White Sox as a whole) was all kinds of aggressive in the batter’s box yesterday.  i just knew when JD walked up to the plate in the 6th that there were going to be some fireworks.  and what about Juan Uribe??  he seems to be standing a little more straight up in the box, and maybe the new batting stance is going to change the way he sees pitches.  i mean, i hope he starts to see pitches better because he tends to swing at all the crap and let the cookies fly right by. 

 i can’t end this story without some reference to Nick Swisher’s facial hair.  WTF is my only comment on that.  i guess it is what it is and i’ll take it if it means we win! 

 GO SOX!