Baseball Centrism

I don't feel bad or make apologies for being a fair-weather baseball fan. I was born in Wisconsin and raised by sports-agnostic parents who appreciated the "American-ness" of sports without being posessed by them. My mom's dad was a shortstop and would have been described as a grinder in his day. No flashy stats, but an unabashed love for the rules and guidelines of the game. He was the closest thing to a sports fanatic in our family but, despite being a bartender, he doesn't talk much.

So, as a child, when the baseball fans I know were being indoctrinated into this brotherhood of fandom and absolute loyalty, I was fixing bicycles or riding a mini-bike or something. I was encouraged to follow my own path and it didn't lead to baseball, I guess.

Fast-forward to this past weekend. All the rivalry talk bores me. It always seemed like a waste of energy hearing the Packers v. Bears arguments and the North v. South is even worse to me. The entire time I've been a flatlander (the majority of my life), I've lived in the suburbs. I've never had a preference for the Cubs over the Sox or vice versa. I was as let down by the Cubs a few years ago as I was excited for the Sox last year. I watched the last part of both of those seasons and all of the playoff games and I rooted for the home team.

This year, the cross-town classic was an interesting study in dynamics and the press. First, you have the home-town crowd which used to be considered uncivilized. They appeared to be quite the opposite. Is that higher ticket prices? Is it that there's nothing left to prove (everything they've been chanting for the past 88 years was actually validated)?

Next, I've heard sports-talk guys on the radio talking about how the Cubs are this great team but they're underperforming. Sounds like the White Sox a few years ago (or the Bears or the Bulls in any of the past few years) and it made me wonder - what made the Sox pull out of mediocrity? What finally pushed them into a team that coalesced?

Then there was the fight where the guy you'd expect to start some stuff actually looked clean and the guy that seemed beyond reproach (but in the doldrums - which I understand) did his best to protect himself and made a mistake. I can't even imagine being on the Cubs with the entire city watching (not just your half) and being faced with the fact that you were close but didn't get to where the team you're playing did just last Fall. All the flap about sellout crowds at Wrigley makes little difference - maybe even makes things worse.

I think some of the lessons from last year finally hit the Cubs by Sunday's game. I heard the terms "butchy boy" and "duck snort" in the same inning and figured the Sox were up, but it turned out to be an inning where the Cubs turned the tide. How did they do it? By playing small ball. I'm not sure that I've got the definition of small ball exactly right, but I'd guess it includes an occasional bunt, duck snort, and just getting your glove under a grounder. Stuff my grandpa would fully understand. Stuff that wins ball games.

Maybe, if the Cubs played the Sox for the World Series, I could see where one might want to pick a side, but I side with Ray Raynor and his dichotomy of a hat. Hell, I side with the Kane County Cougars - that's small ball (and great beer!) I even enjoy a Brewers game on occasion if Bob Uecker is calling it. So, I'm not a stat machine and I'm not overly emotionally invested, but I do love the game.

Go Bears.