The North and the South

Chicago baseball commands a loyalty for one side or the other, North Side or South.  It really is a kind of civil war that can pit brother against brother, if not father and daughter.

The loyalties trace back generations, to when the Cubs drew from surrounding North Side neighborhoods, generally prosperous and WASP.  In contrast, the White Sox were blue collar and anything but Protestant—Catholic mostly, but also Jewish and black.  Again, it was a neighborhood thing.  Only the class differences have changed since the Sox played their first season in 1901.  Just don’t expect Sox fans to act as though they’ve got money.  Their ancestors would rise from the dead and beat the crap out of them if they did.

There is one demographic with class implications, though, that’s still relevant.  The Cubs draw younger, unmarried fans ready and willing to spend their disposable income while the Sox have more families in the stands.  Moms and dads aren’t in the habit of spending a day—or night—at the ballpark drinking away yet another home-team loss.  That as much as anything explains why the Cubs have drawn so well over the last fifteen years or so regardless of their record.

And by hiring Joe Maddon, it looks like they’ll outdraw my Sox in 2015.  The Sunday newspapers ran so much Cub stuff you would’ve thought it was the start of the season already, not early November.  Nothing like a picture of Maddon and Tampa players holding a python to send a message to the South Side—this guy is going to steal your coverage.

The best Sox fans can do is look for the silver lining.  Chicago sports media always falls for the big personality, like Mike Ditka or Ozzie Guillen.  It also falls for the new guy in town because he’s not the old guy and maybe he’ll have a fun personality, too.  Think Dusty Baker, Lou Pinella and Marc Trestman.  When things go south, it can happen incredibly fast, with sports folk leading the charge to tar and feather the latest old guy.  This I hope is Maddon’s fate.

Or not.  Before long, the Cubs will announce how great season tickets sales are going; the Sox will probably keep that a secret.  But the team isn’t so dumb as to think it can just keep chugging along.  If they don’t win, families and everyone else will avoid the Cell like the plague (which would turn it into the ideal site for an Ebola quarantine, if nothing else).  When the Cubs introduce Maddon tomorrow, the clock starts ticking for general manager Rick Hahn and manager Robin Ventura.  They ignore it at their own peril.