Top Ten reasons to be both a Cubs and White Sox fan

It’s never easy for me to talk baseball with someone for the first time, because eventually I’ll get asked the dreaded question: “so are you a Cubs or Sox fan?” When I quietly reply “both,” usually the person will just look at me strangely, as if I just admitted to being a follower of Satan. Then, one of two things inevitably happens: they’ll lecture me about how you have to pick a side, or they’ll go “oh” and quickly change the subject.

Meanwhile, tonight I’ll be equally as interested in how Clayton Richard does in his first start of the season as I will be with which Cub hitters will pick up the slack for Aramis Ramirez.

10. Broadcasters

Cubs fans hate Hawk because he’s a homer/complainer/know-it-all. Sox fans don’t like Len and Bob because they work for the Cubs and they’re not Hawk. In reality, both announcing crews are great in their own way. Hawk is entertaining, brutally honest, and his catch phrases, all 50 or so of them, never get old. Steve Stone knows the game of baseball inside and out, and serves as the perfect compliment to Hawk. Len and Bob are as solid as they come, and know how to let the game come to them without forcing it.

9. Enjoy both ballparks

Wrigley has the ambiance and tradition, while the Cell has convenience and comfort. Plus, if you go to both ballparks frequently enough, you can decide for yourself which team has the better fans, and not go by what Barack Obama thinks. Although there’s nothing like seeing the Cubs win a day game at Wrigley, I’d give the advantage overall to the Cell for three main reasons: you actually have room to move around, the food is a lot better, and parking is way easier.

8. Crosstown Classic World Series

While there’s zero likelihood it will happen this year, or probably any year for that matter, what if it did? To die hard Sox fans, losing to the Cubs would seem like the end of the world. There’d be no getting over it. Same goes for Cubs fans if they lost to the Sox. For someone like me, I’m covered either way. In fact, the big party would be the day both teams clinch spots in the World Series, because then I can’t lose. If I had to pick a side, I’d root slightly for the Cubs, but only because the Sox won it all just four years ago.

7. Screw loyalty

Why should I keep cheering for a team if they continually suck? So I’m a bigger bandwagon jumper than a lot of current Blackhawks “fans.” You know how many Sox or Cubs players I’ve ever spoken a word to or have gotten within 50 feet of in my lifetime? Zero, which is probably the same answer for most of you reading this. I have no connections or close affiliations with either team, so I don’t owe it to one particular team to remain loyal through the down times. At the end of the day, a good percentage of these same players we root for care more about how much money they make than what name is on the front of their jersey.

6. No jealousy

It had to be very painful for Cubs fans to see the Sox go on their magical 11-1 run through the playoffs in 2005, just like it would be for Sox fans if the Cubs ever break their 101-year curse. At the moment, Sox fans are able to laugh at Cubs fans because they have something the Cubs don’t, a recent championship. When the Sox lost in the ALDS to the Rays last fall, South Siders could at least take great pleasure in the Cubs’ complete collapse against the Dodgers. Rooting for both teams totally eliminates the jealousy factor.

5. Managers

Having Ozzie Guillen and Lou Piniella manage in the same city is awesome. There hasn’t been a better combination in Chicago since Jordan and Pippen. If I could sit down and meet any two current sports figures in Chicago, players included, I might choose these two, Guillen for sure. The day the Cubs signed Piniella, they became serious contenders. The day the Sox signed Guillen, they became relevant and fun to watch again.

4. Have something to watch in the summer

From the end of the NBA Finals the first week in June to the start of the NFL season in early September, there’s nothing going on in that three month window besides baseball. So if the Cubs were 10 games out already by the time school let’s out, it’s going to be a pretty boring and depressing summer sports wise for Cubs fans. It makes for a lot more interesting summer overall when your baseball team is in contention, and, last year obviously being an exception, that’s usually only been the case for one of the two teams. The Cubs were all but eliminated from contention by summer in 2005 and 2006, the Sox in 2003 and 2007.

3. Root for good stories on both sides

So far, most of the surprises on both sides of town haven’t been good, when you consider Geovany Soto, Milton Bradley, and Alexei Ramirez’s batting averages, all the Cubs’ injuries, and the fact that Scott Podsednik has started eight games in the outfield for the Sox. But last year, there were a bunch of great stories for both teams, the big two being the emergence of Carlos Quentin and Ryan Dempster. However, many Cubs fans wouldn’t appreciate or even acknowledge how great Quentin was before he got injured, because they were too caught up in all the “this is the year” talk, and also were jealous that Kenny Williams stole him from Arizona while Jim Hendy shelled out big money for Kosuke Fukudome. Likewise, a lot of Sox fans didn’t cheer for Dempster because he came out of nowhere to give the Cubs one of the best rotations in baseball, while the Sox staff was terrible the last two months and almost cost them the division.

2. Double your chances

Okay, this one is pretty simple, even though I suck at math. If you root for two teams instead of one, you have a better chance each day of seeing at least one of them win a ballgame. Let’s say the Sox lose a tough game, like last week’s extra-innings loss to the Royals for example. Sox fans are going to be pissed off the rest of that night, and probably still thinking about it until the next day’s game. But if the Cubs were to win on that day, well, you may get over the Sox quicker, and therefore have second thoughts about emailing Guillen (ozzieguillen13@hotmail.com) to tell him how much his team sucks.

1. Lack of success in Chicago sports

Since the Bulls dynasty ended in 1998, other than the White Sox World Series title, the Bears' trip to the Super Bowl and the Cubs’ 2008 regular season, there hasn’t been much to get excited about from any of the city’s five professional sports teams. That’s a shame too, because Chicago is a huge sports market with some of the greatest fans in the world. We’ve suffered through so many bad seasons here, that when we finally saw both teams reach the postseason last year for the first time since 1906, I was on cloud nine (unfortunately that feeling lasted all of five days). May I remind you also that the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 101 years, and up until 2005, the Sox had gone 88 years without one. Not that you probably needed the reminder.