kylecrowe
White Sox at the Break & Other Thoughts
When I returned home from Europe about 6 weeks ago my family thought I was crazy when I wanted to watch the White Sox game during dinner. Like most everyone else, they had given up on the team. Clearly I’m biased when it comes to the Sox, but I didn’t think they were done yet. Yes, on June 1st, when they were 8.5 games out of first and on pace to lose over 90 games, I was still interested in watching the Sox vs. Rangers game.
Of course, as I struggled with culture shock and writers block this article was tentatively titled “Assessing the Damage.” Now, I’m finally getting around to writing this and the Sox are in 1st place for the first time all season and I look like a hypocrite.
I only watched 2 games in the first third of the Sox season; and they won both games decisively. This undoubtedly played into my optimism, as I didn’t see the Sox lose a game until June. Like myself, the Sox had a rough first week of June, but since then they have been red hot.
I have the unique privilege of watching the Sox from many different aspects. Most of which the average person is not able to experience. Yes, I watch the majority of their games from my house, on TV. But I am able to watch some games at the Comcast Sports Net office, along with some of the brighter sports minds in Chicago, discussing most every play. I am able to watch a few games from the press box, sharing opinions throughout the game with writers for the Trib and Sun Times, or reporters for various TV stations. I am able to watch a few games from the camera well, right next to the dugout, enabling me to here some of the things the players say that only a handful of people in the world can also hear. Most importantly I am able to talk with the players and coaches before and after a few games to get the real feel for the team and what they’re going through.
The first game I worked this season was arguably the lowest point of the Sox season. They just lost 3-1 to the lowly Indians, dropping their record to 23-32, 9.5 games back of first. After the game you could see the frustration in the players faces. Jake Peavy knew he pitched well enough for a win, and was sick of losing. Paul Konerko was embarrassed his offense could only muster a run against a sub par pitching staff. Both players knew things had to change soon or names in the club house would change soon. I tweeted after the game how depressing that club house was.
The next day I worked my 2nd game of the season. This game started their turnaround (I want credit for this) as they had a comeback win against Cleveland and went on to win 25 out of their next 31 games.
Since then the mood has been increasingly brightening in the club house. The music began to play louder after each win. You could hear more enthusiasm in players voices. Ozzie began talking to media for fun, sharing his own stories.
I’m not simply writing this to brag, even though it may seem that way. But I could see it in the players eyes after the agonizing defeat on my first day that they were better than their record indicated. I should have wrote that the night I got home from work. But writing about the White Sox has not been high on my priority list since getting back to America. It will be for the rest of summer. I have the special ability to provide insightful information in a non regulated medium, not something very many people can do.
With the season about half over my hopes for the White Sox are more neutral than you’d guess. They’re, at best, the 5th best team in the American League (Behind NY, Tampa, Boston and Texas). I do think we will win the division, the competition is simply not very strong in the central. If Kenny Williams can bring in another bat to an average lineup (that is, once Carlos Quentin regains the form of a normal human) my expectations might rise. Still, if you can get to the MLB playoffs anything can happen, as October is pretty much an crap shoot.
Other Thoughts:
- The Cubs are a complete joke, most people know this. But I’ve had a few arguments this summer about the Cubs future. Some people think they will start to lose fans. This will never happen. Even if they lose some fans this year because a few smart ones realize who they’re rooting for, there will be a new batch of 21 year olds more than ready for their first Wrigley experience next year. I might write a research paper sometime in my life on this, but the Cubs will never be successful as long as they play in Wrigley Field. Never. Just to brighten the moods of Cubs fans, I heard this on the radio the other day: The past decade of Cubs baseball has been their most successful in the last 5, BY FAR.
- I can’t say much about LeBron that hasn’t been said yet. But before this summer I was a fan of his, now I hate him with a passion. One thing that I think gets overlooked is LeBron’s wisdom. I doubt he did any homework past 5th grade. He went to 0 days of college, who knows how many classes he paid attention to in high school. I bet he has no idea what he did to the city of Cleveland. He’s still a kid that wants to do the coolest possible thing. This isn’t acceptable. He’s in his mid 20s and just cost the city of Cleveland millions of dollars. He deserves to feel the wrath for what he did. Come fall he will, on every road game.
- I was really looking forward to the world cup. Watching the US games were a great experience. I think Soccer in America is slowly getting more popular, it won’t happen over one tournament, but it’s making progress. Still, after watching the final their are obvious limitations to the growth of the sport. The flopping players and game controlling refs need to be eliminated (The NBA should do the same).
- I still think the Bears are going to be awful. They suck at every position besides QB, RB, TE and DE. Oh, and kicker.
- The Hawks will be fine. Their core players are still in tact. However, it may hurt that we no longer have any rappers on the team.
