Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: *** UPDATED x1 *** The irresponsible NYT
Next Post: Another nail in the coffin
Posted in:
* After taking a ribbing for not disclosing his income tax returns (the topic that won’t go away) Republican lt. governor nominee Jason Plummer was asked about his favorite baseball team. His answer wasn’t exactly standard IL GOP fare…
* The Question: I just got back from a baseball trip to Texas (Go Sox!), so how about telling us what your favorite baseball team is and why?
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 11:52 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: *** UPDATED x1 *** The irresponsible NYT
Next Post: Another nail in the coffin
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Cardinals. They win and they do it with class. As someone from Springfield, I identify more w/St. Louis than Chicago but I think the tradition of excellence is the big factor.
Comment by Greg B. Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:00 pm
as a sox fan the 2005 team is obvious so after that i’d have to go with the ‘94 sox before the strike. what a team. the big hurt, robin ventura, tim “rock” raines, the one dog, joey cora, black jack mcdowell, and oh yeah bo jackson!
Comment by hawksfan Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:02 pm
Da Cardinals! 10 World Series wins and counting…
Comment by Highland, IL Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:03 pm
Cards. Hard to grow up in a baseball family in the Metro East and lose one’s allegience to them, even after a long time in Chicago. I don’t always go for the benign cult feeling that can be “Cardinals Nation”–man, all those red shirts at Busch freak me out; makes me imagine some event from the Cultural Revolution–but I love even this year’s team despite its problems with bat and glove. In fact, I finally splurged for MLB Ticket this year becaus I am tired of missing most of their games.
Thanks to good friends who grew up with the Sox, I can at least root for one Chicago team, and do so honestly (that is, not just because they are not the Cubs). But thinking good thoughts about any AL teams feels odd for an NL guy who is anti-D.H.
Comment by vise77 Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:08 pm
I’ve been a die hard Cubs fan my entire life. Even growing up in the near south suburbs, I had the Cubs instilled in me from an early age.
Nothing helps you gain optimism in the face of adversity better than being a Cubs fan!
Comment by Jeff Wartman Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:08 pm
White Sox - because my Dad & Grandfather were fans also.
Comment by Stones Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:11 pm
Sox. They were there for us as employers and as the local team to root for. They gave us free tickets when we got good grades in school. They showed us how to lose, and how to win. They showed us that being television celebrities isn’t the only thing baseball is about. They showed us that being the center of attention is not as important as focusing on doing your best.
Blagojevich loved the Cubs. Empty suits seem to love other empty suits, don’t they? In 2005 when the Sox showed everyone how to win the World’s Series, they were still shunned by our governor. How twisted and sick was that?
And The Cell! Beautiful! Comiskey might have had the tradition, but The Cell is fantastic! Better than television. Better than Wrigley.
Sox!
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:15 pm
Cardinals - family is split between Cards, Sox and Cubs. Have to stick with the team that consistently puts a classy and successful product on the field. Plus the DH is what is wrong with the game, so while I’ll root for the Sox, they will always be in second place until the pitchers pick up a bat.
Comment by A.B. Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:15 pm
cubs
Comment by shore Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:30 pm
Cardinals. I was born and raised here in the metro east, and my dad took me to my first game at Busch Stadium in 1982. I was hooked. Although, it’s been pretty easy to be a Cards fan with the way they keep winning.
Comment by eastsider Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:32 pm
WHITE SOX…I’m a southsider so it comes with the territory. That and I met my husband at the Old Comiskey.
GO SOX!!!!!
Comment by Vote Konerko Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:37 pm
White Sox-my Dad is a White Sox fan (heck he was a Chicago Cardinals fan).
Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:40 pm
White Sox, runs in the family, expect for that one brother. Probably adopted.
Comment by keepitsimple Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:53 pm
I stopped following baseball after the 1972 strike, and have stopped following any sport that has had a strike since then. I am down to watching golf, where a set of independent contractors compete.
Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:57 pm
Sox. my parents were fans. and in the 50s and early 60s, the Sox were the winning, drawing team in Chicago. past that, it was the fireworks upon a homerun, the walk down under (and
once upon a time) on the catwalk at Comiskey, and the occasional player that held my interest. gary peters’ grand slam (I believe the only one by a White Sox pitcher), the
third base work of Pete Ward, Horlen’s no hitter. 1977. South
Side Hit men. Na Na, Hey Hey. 1983.
someone creative should tell the story of 1967 and how the
season ended. the heartbreak of the Sox that season is a
compelling competitor to the 1969 Cubs season. if only
we had won a piece of the double header at the end of the
season. I can still see the sky as I pleaded to the car
radio for a difference.
black and white, and sometimes silver, forever. 2005, still
a great memory.
Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 12:59 pm
Hey Hawks Fan you may want to check your post for errors. Bo Jackson was NOT on the 1994 White Sox. I love it when Sox fans say that Cubs fans don’t know baseball and are only beer drinkers at beautiful Wrigley Field. Well looks like it’s HawksFan round to buy beers.
Comment by Jeter Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 1:01 pm
I’m a lifelong Cubs fan. My 82 year old father is too. Neither of us has seen a championship, but we witnessed some of the greatest feats of futility and ineptitude anyone can imagine. In my lifetime alone, there was the collapse in 1969. Losing home field in the playoffs in 1984 due to lack of lights (and Leon Durham’s error). I had tickets for the first night game, which was appropriately rained out. The 1988 All Star Game at Wrigley. Will Clark destroying Wrigleyville almost singlehandedly in 1989. Kerry Wood’s brilliant 1998 season. The utter self destruction against the Marlins in 2004. And the collapse of this year’s team in year one of the Rickett’s era.
It’s not that I like losing, it’s just that this team of mine keeps finding new and creative ways to do so. Anybody can root for a winner. It takes guts and character to support a team that is synonomous with failure.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 1:29 pm
As the name suggests — Orioles fan. It’s been a painful relationship since 1997. I was a teenager in the glory days of Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray, Brady Anderson, Mike Devereaux, Mike Mussina, Gregg Olsen, Mickey Tettleton (the 1989 Why Not? Season) and Raffy Palmeiro before he started lying to Congress. Now a beautiful ballpark is half empty while an incompentent owner continues to keep the team hopelessly in the cellar, while destroying one manager after another. Sigh.
Comment by Baltimoron Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 1:33 pm
Cardinals fan. Live in Chicago now (adopted Sox since then), but grew up in Metro East. Also became a Cardinals fan from an early age because my Grandpa was a Cubs fan and my Dad is a Mets fan, naturally.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 1:51 pm
Sox, as were my parents, and we lived on the NW side of Chicago. Mom’s two favorites were Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio.
Comment by persnickety Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 1:55 pm
His favorite team was the 1988 Dodgers? He was 5 years old. Also, “born into it” kind of like his family business.
Comment by Cubs2010 Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 1:59 pm
Now that I’ve moved to Chicago (16 yrs ago), I’m a die-hard Sox Fan, and obviously the WS team a few years ago is my favorite. That said, I grew up a Dodger fan, and I agree with Plummer on the 88 team. In fact, I showed the video of Kurt Gibson’s home run to my 13 year old this weekend. It was a fantastic story and such a clutch play. If you haven’t reviewed the story lately, do a google search. There is a video of Gibson talking about it, and if you look long enough, you can find the video of that entire bottom half of the inning. REALLY cool stuff.
Comment by Ghost of John Brown Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 2:13 pm
Red Sox. Remember when they used to be an east-coast version of the Cubs? No longer.
Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk were both nice to me when I was a kid. Dave Kingman was a jerk.
That stuff matters.
Comment by Jake from Elwood Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 3:07 pm
Cardinals. My Dad’s folks moved to the Illinois Valley Area when he was just a small child. They were from Festus, Crystal City Area just South of St Louis. They and many other families moved to follow the glass plate factory when it closed in Missouti and opened up in this area. As a result there is a big contigent of Cardinal fans in this area. My Dad and I used to listen to the games on a small transistor radio as we worked on whatever project he had going. At that time Harry Carey was the announcer for the Cards. I saw Stan Musial play in St. Louis and saw Bob Gibson pitch the year he pitched a part of the inning with a broken leg. so beiong a Cardf fan is a family tradition.
Comment by Irish Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 3:36 pm
Sox.
Like VanMan, I remember getting free tix for good grades and attendance.
And I remember a lot of pretty decent teams (besides 2005). Those AL West battles with the McGwire/Canseco A’s teams were fantastic.
Comment by FillB Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 4:11 pm
BTW - Plummer’s answer is completely cringeworthy and incredibly dumb. As he talks he jerks and seizes non-stop and looks like he’s lying to the rafters. His smile appears forced and fake. He looks so uncomfortable and unsure. Finally, his pitch is like him; wild, high and to the right.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 4:44 pm
The fictional, Rockford Peaches, from the movie “A League of Their Own”. I’ve been to real baseball games and it’s always been a boorish experience. When I went to Cooperstown, NY., it was a trip to the Chautaqua Institute and the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown. http://www.glimmerglass.org/ It’s all about the experience, lovely bed & breakfasts, all over the place. Illinois should take a clue. Why didn’t we support Andy Shaw’s B&B located Near North? We need to be more welcoming, less threatening.
But no, we’d rather focus on killing each other. Does the media ever think how we appear to the rest of the world? The only view the world has of us, is what you guys in the media give them.
If the sporting facillities were made more female-friendly, like adequate-number-of and CLEAN bathrooms, maybe I’d like baseball games. I refuse to use a porto-potty. I’d rather find a bush and some leaves, because it’s CLEANER and smells better!
Comment by HatShopGirl Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 4:45 pm
The White Sox. I missed a few good Sox years in the 1980’s while living in New Jersey. And witnessed quite a few bad Sox years after returning to Chicago. But people are usually quite surprised that I am able to discuss the composition of the 1959 White Sox roster. That was an awesome complete team, which included a large number of awesome individual players.
Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 4:47 pm
Cubs. I had two older brothers who were Cubs fans and they didn’t brook a lot of dissent in my young and impressionable days.
Plus, Channel 9 came in best out on the farm, so we were a Channel 9 family: Orion Samuelson, Ray Rayner, Garfield Goose, Family Classics, Jack Taylor…
You could sometimes pick up Channel 44 for Sox games and Johnny Sokko.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 6:07 pm
The (First Place) Texas Rangers and the Chicago Cubs.
Sox Sux
Comment by Doug Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 6:25 pm
Go Twinkies!! Two reasons; first reason, the cubs are always breaking my heart. Secondly I live in Minnesota and my girlfriend sat next to Joe Mauer in high school.
Comment by Visual Manager Tuesday, Jul 6, 10 @ 6:26 pm