It'd be Nice to Know You Cared

Monday Mullings: A pithy glimpse into the soul of a Sox fan.
Dateline--Cubs Opening Day, 09...what a Sox fan mulls about on a day like this.

I don’t hate the Cubs. I don’t hate the Cubs as a team. I don’t hate the Cubs organization. And I don’t even hate Cubs fans. I hate the Cubs phenomenon. I hate the Cubs as a non tangible entity that is the reason behind the tremendous apathy directed at the team I love and root for, the Sox. For you see, it’s not that I want you to like my team, I just want you to care. When the Sox play a day game and the Cubs play at night, my baseball day has is not concluded until I have rooted for the Sox to win, and checked to see if the Cubs have lost. But when the Cubs play a day game, Cubs fans are finished with baseball for the day as soon as they hear Go Cubs Go, completely neglecting that the team to the South and their fans are pulling for a win just to stay even with the Cubs for a day…..when the Sox lose to the Cubs in interleague play, I feel shaken and demoralized, embarrassed that my team’s rival has defeated me. But when the Cubs lose to the Sox, Cubs fans start focusing on upcoming games against the Cardinals instead of grieving and morning properly like me. My team plays in the same city so it would be nice to actually affect the whole city the way the Cubs affect the whole damn country, but that’s not the way it is. I am always shocked at how little some of the most die-hard Cubs fans know about the Sox, and it speaks to how irrelevant the Sox are to many people in this city, which is dire news considering that the Sox were baseball’s best team just 4 years ago.

Honestly, today, in Chicago, there’s one baseball team, and it’s the Cubs. As much as I want to whine and pine, or rant and rave…..it’s opening day at Wrigley, and even the gloomy weather will not be a hindrance in the revelry, excitement, and passionate affection that coincides with baseball’s annual return to the north side. While little or no buzz was made of Sox opening day, Cubs opening day seems to be attacking me from all sides. With my ears I heard ESPN, a network that is trying to shed its reputation as an east-coast biased sports syndicate, do a remote broadcast of their most popular radio show, Mike and Mike in the AM, from Murphy’s Bleachers, in Wrigleyville. With my eyes I saw, as early as 7 in the morning, droves of Cubs fans on the red line, draped up and dripped out in Cubbie blue, headed north for the festivities. And in my mind I know that around the Midwest, hell the country, every conscious Cubs fan out there has either donned a jersey to show off at class or a t-shirt underneath their suit to wear to work. All these things contribute to a nationwide phenomenon that is beautiful in its own way and is indeed a gift to all baseball fans…..except those of the Sox variety. And that’s why I don’t like it.

Living in a city with 2 baseball teams is great. But when you root for the 2nd team in that city, it’s taxing…as hell. And opening day is where it hurts the most. I will never experience the excitement of an opening day, a playoff game, or even a world series win with the whole city behind supporting or at least watching my team. Sox opening day comes and goes like any baseball playing day of the spring and summer. But Cubs opening day is an event, an occasion, a tradition that the whole city will be watching or checking up on, even Sox fans. Even me. Sure the Sox won it all in 05’, but in my travels, in my conversations with others, and in the TV ratings for that series, it was clear, a lot of Chicago was not paying attention. Soon after the Sox won, the relative buzz died down and the focus shifted back to the north side and as far as this city is concerned 2005 may as well be 1905, because today, for some strange reason, it feels like the Sox haven’t won the WS in forever.

The Sox care, and that’s the difference. We may not be positive about it, but we care one way or the other. And a little reciprocation would be nice. It doesn’t matter if you root for us or against us, but just root. I implore you Cubs fans, apathy kills, so if anything, start hating the Sox, especially if you live in my beloved Chi. I just want you to care, a little bit…but seeing as you’re a Cubs fan, you probably won’t CARE to read this.