City Celebrates Sox with Parade and Rally

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Oct 28, 2005 8:55PM

Chicagoist has a day job, but since a White Sox ticker tape parade happens less than once a lifetime we had to sneak out of the office for a few hours to catch the White Sox ticker tape parade and rally. The Loop was a sea of black and silver as hundreds of thousands of Sox fans showed up to show their love for the newly crowned World Campions, and we got to be there in person.

The White Sox festivities began with a caravan of double decker buses filled with players, White Sox staff and their families. They rode past cheering crowds throughout the South Side, starting at U.S. Cellular and continuing through Bridgeport, Pilsen and Chinatown before entering the Loop for the ticker tape parade along LaSalle.

The parade culminated with a rally at LaSalle and Wacker where players, manager Ozzie Guillen, GM Kenny Williams, Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and Mayor Daley addressed the crowd. The mystery surrounding the missing ball was solved, as Paul Konerko presented the ball to Reinsdorf -- bringing him to tears.

While much of the post-World Series talk has centered around Paul Konerko's free agency and whether he'll stay with the White Sox, he sure made it sound like he intends to stay in Chicago. When talking about how to win over all the doubters, "The only thing I could come up with is maybe we'll have to do this one more time next year," he said.

When the White Sox repeat next year -- and they will -- Chicagoist expects those responsible for throwing the ticker tape to be better trained. We dodged too many huge clumps of ticker tape falling from the sky. It's supposed to look like rain, not a meteor shower. We'll forgive you this year because we know you're out of practice. But next year, no excuses!

For those who couldn't attend the parade, you can bid on a little bit of history.

View Chicagoist's team photo coverage here.