How We Got This Way

White Sox fans are somewhere between Robinson Caruso and the Tom Hanks’ character in “Cast Away.” It all depends on who has the better island. The outside world couldn’t care less, as evidenced by The Athletic’s decision last summer to dump Sox beat writer James Fegan. “Let them read about the Cubs,” seems to be their reasoning. And now Jerry Reinsdorf wants to leave 35th and Shields, where the Sox have played for the past 113 seasons, give or take. Good lapdog that he is, Commissioner Rob Manfred has added his two cents, saying a South Loop stadium could be transformational for the franchise. Yes, whatever’s best for the franchise. Funny, but I don’t see much effort being made to gauge fan sentiment, which has never been a Reinsdorf strong point, assuming he ever had an interest in doing that. My sense is that many if not most fans feel they’ve been fooled once, and don’t want to fall victim a second time. For them, the location of the stadium matters far less than the quality of play by the home team in that stadium. Nobody asks our opinion, unless maybe we have full season’s-tickets plans. It makes a person feel invisible, and resentful, that’s for sure. But the island sure has a nice beach.