Wall Street Journal Rips Sox Attendance

The Wall Street Journal, the most renowned business publication in the world, featured our Chicago White Sox on page 1 Wednesday. The article focuses on the Sox struggle to pack the place while on the other side of town sellouts are commonplace, among other observations and misconceptions.

"Despite a mediocre performance most of the year, the second-place Cubs have played to 98% capacity, and nearly had a sellout April 23 when they lost to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates in near-freezing temperatures with 25-mile-an-hour winds blasting off Lake Michigan."

You know what I'd like to know? Where the hell were all those "Die Hard Cub Fans" sticking out the cold and rainy April day back in 98' when Ferry Wood had 20 K's in the game? The next time you see a clip of that game, look at all the green seats in that park. There could not have been over 15,000 people there that day. The Cubs attendance exploded when they won the Wild Card during the year of the home run race between Soso and McGwire and has peaked the last couple of years since their NLCS choke job in 03'. The writer of course also neglects to mention how Wrigley is as much of a tourist attraction as it is a ballpark, for example bringing in fans from Iowa by the busload every homestand throughout the summer. Moving on...

"But, as of yesterday afternoon, the Sox led the American League's Central Division by five games. They've built their 42-21 record on strong pitching, speedy base-running and late-inning comebacks. Mirroring the South Side's rough-and-tumble image, the team consists mostly of scrappy, low-priced, no-name players."

Really? Low-priced, no-name players? Frank Thomas is a 2-time MVP, (would be 3 if it were not for the Juiced Giambi), and Paul Konerko, a former All-Star, are both making $8 million + this season. Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, El Duque, Jermaine Dye, AJ are all well known, established, solid and productive major league ballplayers. Excuse us if we aren't the Yankee's or BoSox with a $100, $200 million dollar payroll while getting the lead in every night on Sportscenter. If some of these guys played on the other side of town, not to mention in NY or Boston, they'd be household names across the country.

One last point I wanted to make was regarding how the neighborhood surrounding the park was portrayed. He quotes Mike North as saying that the Sox get the most ink (space in the paper) when a crime occurs near their park. In following the White Sox I can't recall one story about a fan leaving a game being a victim to a crime. I do however remember a Cub's fan being shot and killed 100 yards away from beautiful Wrigley Field last year or the year before. If you go a few miles west, southwest of Wrigley, the neighborhood you'll find yourself in will not be much better then the ghettos surrounding Comiskey Park, which are nowhere near as bad as they had been 10 years ago.

"Some of Chicago's toughest housing projects loom beyond the outfield fence."

Those projects have come down (which leads one to believe that the writer has not been to Sox Park in years, if ever) and the whole area around the park is being rebuilt or renovated. There are brand new townhomes a stone's throw away from the park that are going for $150, $200K. In 10 years the Bridgeport area may be much more similar to Wrigleyville than some, like this moron, would have you believe. As far as his statement that the park is flanked by "a rust-stained concrete wall, train tracks and an interstate highway", this only proves that the writer was most likely told this by a source and did not see it for himself. I honestly do not remember ever noticing rust on the retention wall of the train tracks (which by the way is a Metra line and if the Sox brass had any common sense, they'd work on getting a station put in at 35th) and the interstate (Dan Ryan) on the other side allows easy access to and from the park. I'd prefer having that over having airplanes buzzing the field every 10 minutes like at Shea Stadium. The Cell was built across the street from where the original park was located, it's at where it's at. Are the Yankee's plans for building a new park across street from The House That Ruth Built any different a circumstance? I realize that space is at a much higher premium in NY compared to Chicago, but there has to be a more desirable location than the Bronx for a new stadium. I'm not sure if those stadium plans were announced before this article was published, but this is just one of many opinions in the article that are a blatent New York media-bias.

In conclusion, I just want to say that I have absolutely no problem with going to games at a ballpark that is half-full. I'd rather not have to wait 15 minutes to take a leak or miss an entire inning waiting in line for curly fries or nachos. I like not having packed parking lots and being able avoid traffic on the Ryan by sneaking out the back exit of lot C and cutting over to I-55. If the Sox turn into the best thing since sliced bread, these advantages will be no more. Let the Johnny-Come-Lately's, many of whom have never gone to a game and are afraid that if they ever do, they'll be mugged, believe whatever they'd like so that they stay away from our park. When it comes down to it, let whoever say whatever they'd like to about our team, our park, our fans. All I care about is what the Sox are or are not doing come October, but regardless, I'm just going to keep going on wearing my Sox fandom like a badge of honor.