Time for Baseball Fans in Chicago to Get Behind the White Sox

Being a sports fan is a very fickle thing. It is also a proposition.

Teams want their fans to have faith in the entire product from the ownership to the players. Hell, even the hot dog vendors have to be shown a little love here and there.

Often in any sport, if you are a winning team, you’ll draw fans. The die-hards are more than willing to invest money in your team, and the casual fan gets a little curious. Here in Chicago it seems that everybody loves a loser just as much if not more than they love the winners.

Why do I draw that conclusion? Allow yourselves to look no further than the Chicago White Sox and Cubs.

The White Sox, pride of the south side of Chicago, are winners of their last eight in a row and 12 out of their last 13 games. The White Sox are 29-22 and are tied with the second-best record in the American League.

When you watch the games on television, the bleachers are halfway filled and there are a ton of empty seats in the upper deck areas.

On average the White Sox are 27^th in attendance, not even cracking the 21,000 (20,662) mark.

Not bad numbers for a basketball or a hockey game, but I am talking baseball here, folks—baseball in the third largest market in professional sports.

On the other hand, the Cubs, unfortunately pegged “lovable losers,” have one of the worst records in baseball despite being winners of three in a row. They come weighing in at 18-32, yet they rank eighth in attendance.

Over 37,000 (37,297) fans pack the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field on average. That is nearly a 17,000-seat difference in the amount of fans that visit the two Chicago ballparks.

While I understand the aura of attending a Cubs baseball game, I do not understand the undying love and respect for a team that is not currently winning and does not win consistently enough. It goes against the normal rules of being a fan, in my opinion, and in any other major city, losing would never be an option.

The Cubs are in stage one of the rebuilding process, and putting together the final pieces of a winning tradition are at the least two to three years away.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with supporting your team through tough times, but I believe that in the process of supporting the Cubs, there is something interesting brewing, something promising. There is something that is happening on the south side of Chicago.

White Sox GM Kenny Williams came out a few days ago and lobbied for the fans to come out. In his plea he cited the ability to improve the ball club if the stands get filled. Williams has either been praised or criticized all around Chicago for it.

In this case, I am on the side of Kenny Williams. Fans need to come out. Not just White Sox fans, and who cares if you’re a Cubs fan or not, as you can have an allegiance to your team yet support another. I am calling out any and all fans of baseball.

You can still go out and put on your team’s colors and buy some peanuts and Cracker Jack if you wish, but do not miss out on a chance to witness a team that appears on the verge.

Every empty seat counts.