so, like i have said i love interleague play especially the classic.  i love the trash talking, high-5ing, funny shirt wearing, screaming myself dizzy, singing “Let’s go go go White Sox”… and all around electricity that goes on during Sox-Cubs games!  speaking of the shirts though – 2 really stick out in my mind – there was this one guy that had a picture on one side of his shirt with a pic of the trophy with the words “Sox Parade”, and then on the other side there was a pic of 2 guys under a rainbow with the words ” Cubs Parade.”  the other funny shirt I saw had a caption “Animal Cruelty” and had a beefy White Sox player beating a cub (but a bear, not a person) with a bat. 

OH, and by far one of the funniest parts of the weekend was when I walked past the boys bathroom.  ha! gotta love a paragraph that starts out that way. =P  but there were a bunch of dudes standing around and i found out why – there was this lone voice in the boys bathroom singing, “Go Sox Go” over and over again.  oh, if it wasn’t super gross and he wasn’t peeing, and in the boys bathroom i would have given that guy a hi-5!

but getting to the baseball of the weekend because it was about that after all.  i was so super proud of my boyfriend Matt Thornton! and while Boone Logan, Scott Linebrink, and Bobby Jenks aren’t my boyfriends, they all turned in outstanding performances.  although i would have liked to see big Adam Russell.  ALSO – i was happy to see that after Aramis Ramirez decided to go yard i don’t know how many times last week that he was 0-13 this weekend!  wooooo!  and while the cubs had several times to score our bullpen stayed strong and in the end we served those cubbies a piece of humble pie.  you can’t ever count out the WHITE SOX! 

BTW – LETS GO GO GO WHITE SOX, WE’RE WITH YOU ALL THE WAY, YOU’RE ALWAYS IN THERE FIGHTING AND YOU DO YOUR BEST, WE’RE GLAD TO HAVE YOU OUT THERE IN THE MIDDLE WEST, WE’RE GONNA ROOT, ROOT, ROOT, ROOT WHITE SOX, and cheer you on to victory, WHEN WE’RE IN THOSE STANDS WE’LL MAKE THOSE RAFTERS RING, ALL THROUGH THE SEASON YOU WILL HEAR US SING: LET’S GO GO GO WHITE SOX, CHICAGO’S PROUD OF YOU!

YES!

anyway, the Sox came back at the bottom of that second inning and scored 6 as well!  the park was electric.  it actually gave me goosebumps!  i was so proud of the Sox for not giving up.  i was also proud of the fans for not booing ozuna.  everyone knows that on the other side of town they would have been booing their player in a second!

So, after coming back to tie it up with 6 runs and then going on to win and sweep the Pirates i am super ready for this weekend and next!   

OH, and on a side note i feel like i must say that i was disappointed last Sunday when we played the Rockies at one of our fans.  the rockies hit a homer, and the fan threw back the ball.  first of all i really don’t like when people do that, especially at Comiskullar.  we are not cub fans (and they do it and that’s fine – to each his own), but even when they do throw it back no one gets to take back the runs.  i’m just sayin-it’s kinda pointless to me.

what we really need to STOP is the sulking after a bad inning.  our pitchers really need to learn to shake off a bad inning.  even if it ends up that we lose because of the bad inning we need to limit the badness to that one inning and rely on the offense to make up for it.  1/2 of the rest of the team’s job is scoring runs anyway.  you can’t win if you don’t score runs.  word!  GO SOX!

on a side note i wanted to give major props to Willy Taveras who stole i don’t even know how many bases against us.  although it’s not that surprising because we aren’t that good at keeping people from stealing.  whatev. something to work on…

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

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.

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?

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!

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.