October 8, 2008
Cubs Fan Auctioning Off Loyalty
A Sox fan would never stoop to this level...
Cubs "fan" Scot Moore has decided that he's had enough with the North Siders and their continued futility, so he placed his baseball loyalties up for bid on ebay. The auction (#120313290200) no longer appears on ebay's site, but bidding reached $455 on Tuesday. The 30-year old Wheaton native, who currently lives in Minneapolis, says "I can't take it anymore. I get too invested." So he plans to burn the remains of his Cubs memorabilia, sport the jersey of the winning bidder's team, and donate the proceeds to some Minneapolis theater troupes.
The Sox fans in the Chicagoist office have now added Mr. Moore to the growing list of reasons why we don't just love the Sox, but also hate the Cubs. Your team is your team -- no matter what. You can't just dump your team because they break your heart over and over. You can't just bail on them because they didn't win, even in a year you really thought they had a chance. We came of age during the nadir of Sox success, back when guys like Ivan Calderon led the team with 14 home runs and the team was lucky to win 70 games. But we stuck with 'em anyway. Eventually, they did reward us for our loyalty. Hopefully, Mr. Moore's lack of faith in his team will damn him to an eternity of supporting losers... and ones that aren't even lovable.
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The only reason a Sox fan wouldn't do this is that his loyalty is never stretched to the breaking point. It never gets worn out. They (and by "they" I mean myself included) love their team want them to do well, but never EXPECT them to do something grandiose like win the World Series. Any Sox fan who says they expected the team to win it all in 2005 is mostly likely lying. Conversely, you couldn't spit in Wrigleyville without hitting a Cubs fan who EXPECTED them to win it all this year. Sox fans will defend their team but they want their team to give them something in return or it's no go. Put a lousy product on the field and Sox fans will stay away in droves. Doesn't mean they don't root for their team, just that they ain't blindly buying crap. Not to say they're more discerning than Cubs fans, just more pragmatic I think. For them (us, me) it's a two-way street: I'll show up but you gotta meet me halfway and put a decent team on the field. Conversely, there have been many years where the Cubs have put a less-than-stellar team on the field and recorded sellout crowds every game of the year. It's that kind of almost blind devotion that results in people getting so exasperated with them that they "sell" their loyalty. Cubs fans need to MAKE the team earn their loyalty. Every year.
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I don't think it's fair to say that Cubs fans are somehow less loyal than Sox fans (or any other fans, for that matter). Sure, I had a brief moment of: "Never again, I'm done" last weekend (although I directed that more at Baseball as a whole than the Cubs specifically), but I'm over that and looking forward to the spring, albeit with a bit of dread. And that's despite them losing my entire life, and for my parents' entire lives as well. And I don't know of any Cubs fans that would sell their loyalty...Mets fans, sure, but Cubs fans, no.
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If Sox fans are so loyal how come they can barely fill the Cell during the week?
Be careful with your curse: What if he became a Sox fan?
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If Sox fans are so loyal how come they can barely fill the Cell during the week?
Like I said, we love our team but we ain't buying crap. Do you recall the "deal" Reinsdorf had to make with Sox fans to get them to come back. He actually said he was told to put a decent product on the field and fans would return. He did and they did.
And don't mistake "loyalty" with a filled ballpark. There's a reason so many tour buses are lined up around Wrigleyville every game and it ain't all about loyalty.
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If Sox fans are so loyal how come they can barely fill the Cell during the week?
Like I said, we love our team but we ain't buying crap. Do you recall the "deal" Reinsdorf had to make with Sox fans to get them to come back. He actually said he was told to put a decent product on the field and fans would return. He did and they did.
And don't mistake "loyalty" with a filled ballpark. There's a reason so many tour buses are lined up around Wrigleyville every game and it ain't all about loyalty.
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Like I said, we love our team but we ain't buying crap.
I guess playoff team = crap.
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There are a lot of quality musicians that play small shows in Chicago while Jimmy Buffett easily fills Wrigley too. Hmmmm quantity over quality. I suppose there's no accounting for taste.
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As for the auction, I think it's kinda clever and it's cool he's giving the money away. Call me a phoney Sox fan for not being bothered by it I guess.
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I guess playoff team = crap.
So you're saying the ballpark wasn't filled? Even on the rainy make up game day they sold out...
And are people still hung up on attendance numbers? Fine, the Cubs beat the Sox in sellouts while the Sox beat the Cubs in World Series rings in the past century. Everybody happy now?
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So you're saying the ballpark wasn't filled? Even on the rainy make up game day they sold out..
Um...that may have been one of a handful of games they actually did sell out.
"even in a winning year with an MVP candidate, U.S. Cellular Field attendance is slipping:
The White Sox, who have been sitting atop the AL Central, are seeing a decline from an average of 33,141 at this point last season to 30,831 in 2008, a drop of 7.49 percent."