Posted on 10/19/2005 4:02:44 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
People still misunderstand, and we need to clear it up with the nation turning to the White Sox for the first time since anyone can remember.
When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, we were tortured with endless stuff about the Curse of the Bambino. When the Cubs were close two years ago, it was the goat thing.
What's the Sox' legend? I hate to say this, Sox fans, but when the nation thinks of the Sox, it thinks of Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979.
And fans jumping onto the field to attack umpires or coaches. And maybe -- maybe -- the Black Sox. And there's a hint of something about an owner who stood a little too strong during the labor troubles and helped to throw away the 1994 World Series.
There's not a lot of romance.
But that's changing. In the locker room after the Sox won the pennant Sunday in Anaheim, Calif., chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was there, being drenched in champagne. Manager Ozzie Guillen and the players gave him big hugs. Reinsdorf looked like a teddy bear, all huggable.
The party moved to the field, and someone asked Reinsdorf what this meant to him. He said: "I'm going to have to take overnight to think. I'm kind of numb now.''
It's going to mean a lot of talk about the Sox. And the Sox' image can change into something much nicer. Different isn't always easy to accept. Sox fans wear their image -- tough, hardworking, victimized -- like a badge. Suddenly, this is a team about pitching they'll talk about for decades, about teamwork, relentlessness, a manager who can't stop talking and a lovable owner who wants nothing more than a world championship before he goes.
A seminal event
On top of that, you've got that song from the 1959 pennant winners, "Let's Go, Go-Go White Sox. We're With You All the Way.'' I'd give anything to get that song out of my head for 15 minutes. It was sung by Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers. Captain Stubby was a voice in the Jolly Green Giant ads.
That song is so 1950s, so milk-and-cookies. And that's exactly what the Sox are on the verge of becoming to the nation. Lovable owner and milk-and-cookies in contrast to the whole thug thing.
I wouldn't be surprised if the "Da Bears'' guys, complete with Sox fan George Wendt, went on "Saturday Night Live'' to do "Da Sox.'' Who wins a fight, Aaaahzie or Dicka?
That South Side accent can be popular.
But before the Sox' image can switch over completely, we're going to have to come up with a new nickname for the stadium to replace "The Cell.''
And we're going to have to clear up the team's defining moment, Disco Demolition Night. A few weeks ago, I did a run-through for a new national TV show and was asked whether Chicago ever had lived down Disco Demolition Night.
What's to live down?
Sociologists will tell you that that's the night things changed in the relationship between sports teams and fans. And that's probably right. The walls of separation were broken down permanently. And it did label the South Side, nationally, as an out-of-control place, which is probably why those fan incidents at Sox Park make such national news.
But that night worked. Disco really was demolished.
Mission accomplished
I mean, how bad can that be? It was like a disco revolution, an anti-disco revolution. It was supposed to be a little stunt of burning disco albums. Instead, people were looking so hard for an outlet to destroy disco that the place sold out and 40,000 fans were left out on the street. Thousands of fans ran onto the field, slid down foul poles, jumped fences, tore down batting cages, set fires. Two people supposedly got awfully close behind second base.
But there were no serious injuries. Except to the heart of disco.
A few years ago, someone set up a public handshake between Mike Veeck, the former Sox marketing man who joined DJ Steve Dahl in promoting the event, and K.C. of K.C. and The Sunshine Band. Veeck thought it was a stunt, but K.C. thought it was long-awaited closure. I talked to K.C. about it last year.
"Like I said to him, whether he was just attacking our music, he was attacking people's livelihoods, our families and children,'' he said. "I wasn't really sure what it was about at the time, other than a bunch of rockers who didn't like our brand of music.
"Anyway, I don't think disco ever is going to go away. It changed a little bit, became more electronic. Out of disco came punk. Then you had Madonna. And how much more disco can you get?''
Get real, K.C. Disco is dead, and the nation can thank Disco Demolition Night. It was a favor from the milk-and-cookies Sox.
As Captain Stubby says: "You're always in there fighting, and you do your best. We're glad to have you out here in the Middle West.''
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CHICAGOLAND PING
Well, I've never been a White Sox fan. I'm not even an American League fan. But I have got to say, the spectacle put on by the Sox in the ALCS was the single most impressive display of baseball I have ever seen in my life.
Ozzie Guillen made almost no substitutions. He put together a team, he sent 'em out on the field and just let them play ball and he sat back and watched. They simply demolished the Angels.
I am still suffering from shock after Houston's agonising loss the other night (just one strike- Jeez! that's all they needed) but I don't think it's going to matter in the long run. If the Sox play the Series like they did the ALCS, they will not lose.
I remember it well. Steve Dahl and Gary Meyer. Larry Lujack was still on WLS....the summer of '79. THOSE were the days.
I'll never forget it as I watched on TV from my humble home in Mitten-gan.
My man, Sparky, engineered the first modern-era forfeit in favor of the "Day-twah" Tigers because of that stunt.
History
Thank goodness I've gotten over that phase of my life!
GO GO WHITE SOX !!!
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