City Gears Up for Cubs-Sox Series

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jun 15, 2009 2:20PM

Our two beloved baseball teams face off this week for the first time this season, and as usual the hoopla and hype over the series begins well in advance of the first pitch. Never one to shy away from taking the first shot, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen let his true feelings for the Friendly Confines be known on Sunday: "One thing about Wrigley Field, I puke every time I go there." He continued, "That's just to be honest. And if Cub fans don't like the way I talk about Wrigley Field, it's just Wrigley Field. I don't say anything about the fans or anything now. But Wrigley Field, they got to respect my opinion. That's the way I feel."

OK, got that? Ozzie doesn't like Wrigley. Which is certain to anger some Cubs fans, but Ozzie doesn't care care if they hate him for it, "They don't feed my kids. If they hate me, that's cool." So now the media can start fanning the flames of the first non-story controversy of the crosstown series to get fans from the North Side and the South Side all worked up. And Sweet Lou's response to Ozzie.

While Guillen's trying to fan the flames across the city, the Trib takes a look at the demographics of Cubs and Sox fans -- as well as our other pro sports teams -- and says that we're not the different after all. Both Cubs and Sox fans tend to be male, white and have high incomes. A higher percentage of Cubs fans are married, while more Sox fans are married with children. Cubs tend to have slightly more Republican fans than the Sox do. And while Cubs fans were more likely to have donated to political candidates or social causes, the Sox faithful are more likely to give to religious institutions. So much for the stereotypes -- they claim. Given that their polling of 4,000 people defined fans as people who had "attended a game within the past year," perhaps they didn't get a representative sampling of Chicago sports fans. How many of us are true fans, but because of the high prices and high demand for tickets, mostly watch our teams on TV at home or in our favorite watering holes? We're guessing more than they realize.