Sports fans say they want escape from life's tensions, but mostly only want their own attitudes reinforced

I found myself enjoying some baseball this weekend, in the form of the college baseball tourney recently renamed for one-time Chicago Cubs star Andre Dawson.

The new namesake of HBCU tourney

That tournament played this weekend in the much milder weather of New Orleans gave the University of Illinois at Chicago Flames a chance to start out their season away from the Saturday afternoon snowfall we had in Chicago. But the rest of the schools participating were southern in nature, and most were the HBCUs of the country.

THAT’S AS IN Historically Black Colleges and Universities – the schools that date back to when black people were excluded from traditional higher education, so a class of colleges sprung up to create opportunities.

Those colleges aren’t exclusively black enrollment anymore, but there are some people who feel more comfortable trying to get a higher education in an environment where they’re not the minority. This weekend, places like Alabama State, Alcorn State, Grambling, Southern, Prairie View A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff got to show their stuff on the baseball diamond.

I’m sure there are going to be some people who will be offended that such a tournament is taking place. The Major League Baseball website is filled with nameless comments calling the tourney "a joke" and emphasizing they'd never heard of it before. But then again, they’re the ones whose idea of integration is that everybody act as though they were white.

They are the first to scream “racist!” (or their favorite taunt, “reverse racism!”) whenever something comes along that forces them to admit racial bias still exists. They don’t want to be called out on their own Archie Bunker-like tendencies.

Helping to advise new HBCU tourney

IT WAS NICE to see that Major League Baseball is giving this particular tournament some support and publicity. What with Dawson (who played college ball at the historically-black Florida A&M University) giving his name, and one-time Chicago White Sox manager Jerry Manuel serving as a consultant.

For what it was worth, it was nice to be able to ignore the Saturday snowfall that reminded us winter ain’t through by any means to see baseball being played – with the Flames overcoming a 4-3 deficit in the 9^th inning to ultimately win the ballgame 9-5.

Which makes me feel sorry for those people who are going to want to think I wasted my Saturday afternoon away by watching some lower class of baseball. One they probably think is not worthy of any public attention.

Wrong sport? Or knucklehDeaded fans?

Probably the same kind of people who get upset whenever anybody points out the declining number of black ballplayers currently on Major League rosters. They’ll argue black people just don’t play baseball that much, and we shouldn’t think it an issue.

LIKELY, THEY BELIEVE the lasting lesson of 2014 and the Little League World Series that the Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago is that a majority-black ball club can only win if it cheats.

Yet this kind of attitude isn’t limited to baseball and springtime. Take hockey, where also on Saturday several Chicago Blackhawks fans were ejected from the United Center for their racially-tainted taunts of visiting team players.

Specifically, of Devante Smith-Pelly, a forward for the Washington Capitals who is one of the few black players in the National Hockey League.

When he was sent to the penalty box during the game, Blackhawks fans taunted him with a reminder that they thought he was playing the wrong sport.

FOUR FANS WERE kicked out of the stadium and the Blackhawks issued an apology, yet the Internet is filled with rants (anonymous, of course) contending that people were too sensitive about the slur (which was “basketball, basketball, basketball).

Black Lives matter activists “can call for the deaths and killings of police officers and that’s considered free speech?... Enough of this out-of-control absurd political correctness,” one Chicago Tribune commenter wrote.

Now playing for Toronto, Granderson was on hand to root for alma mater Flames

Of course, the very phrase “political correctness” has become a way of judging one’s racial attitudes – the ones who toss it out usually are upset that they’re being called out for their own bouts of verbal nastiness. As though their free speech right entitles them to the last word on EVERYTHING!

The sad part is that it means we can’t get away from this racial nonsense even at the ballpark or the stadium. Even though the ironic part is that many sports fans claim they follow ballgames as a form of escape – what they really seem to want is to have their own close-minded thoughts reaffirmed.

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EXTRA: Chicago has baseball heroes; just not ones wearing Cubbie-blue

Two Chicago-area natives achieved some heroics for their professional baseball antics. Yet to the dismay of those amongst us who are Chicago Cubs fans, neither of them were wearing the baby blue of the Cubbies.

In fact, one of them was actually wearing that hideous Chief Wahoo symbol of the Cleveland Indians, and may well have written himself into the Cubs’ list of arch-enemies.

JASON KIPNIS OF the Indians hit that three-run home run Saturday night off Cubs pitching that gave Cleveland such a large lead that it is quite apparent that Sunday night’s World Series finale at Wrigley Field could be the series finale as well – unless the Cubs can somehow pull off loads of magic and go undefeated for the rest of the season.

Kipnis is a native of suburban Northbrook, and played his high school ball at Glenbrook North High School, where he was an all-around baseball star who also played both soccer and football.

And yes, his parents still live there. I’m sure there will be mixed feelings by the family, although Kipnis said earlier he hopes to win. He wants a World Series ring for himself more than he wants one for his childhood favorite team.

After Saturday, it certainly seems he achieved it.

YET KIPNIS ISN’T the only ballplayer with local ties to do well. For Major League Baseball officials announced that Curtis Granderson of the New York Mets won the Roberto Clemente Award – given to the ballplayer each year who engages in philanthropic achievements along with his on-field performance.

Granderson, when playing for the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees, has had his Grand Kids Foundation that helps raise money for efforts benefitting youth. It also helps that Granderson has not forgotten where he came from.

He was a high school athlete at T.F. South High School in suburban Lansing who later played college baseball for the Flames of the University of Illinois at Chicago. In fact, he has his off-season home in the Near West Side neighborhood that houses the university.

Kipnis and Granderson could be the local boys who achieve the honors this particular season and perhaps ought to be receiving the public attention, while Cubs fans frantically tear their hair out and try to figure what the chances are that this year’s Cubs can do a repeat of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.

THAT TEAM LOST three of the first four World Series games to the Baltimore Orioles, but came back to win the whole thing.

Of course, they had veteran leaders Willie Stargell and Manny Sanguillen, star slugger Dave Parker at his peak and quality pitcher John Candelaria, along with one-time star White Sox manager Chuck Tanner.

They also had the motivation of Sister Sledge, whose hit disco record “We Are Family” gave the team a strong motivational factor – one that the current incarnation of the Cubs don’t even come close to approaching.

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Despite the Cubbie dreams, this year’s World Series will have a White Sox tint

I find it humorous that the World Series this year – beginning Tuesday between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets – has as its Chicago connections players who did their Second City stint with the White Sox.

This was (at least according to the delusions of Cubs fans) the year that Wrigley Field would be the dominant presence and that we’d get a Chicago ball club winning a World Series title on its hallowed ground.

BUT THAT DIDN’T come to pass. After all, the Mets outplayed the Cubs last week. The baby blue overtones that will be on the field will come from the ball club from Kansas City, Mo.

Now since Chicago ball clubs in the World Series are such a rare presence (it has been exactly one decade ago on Monday since the White Sox blessed us with that victory over the Houston Astros), I usually focus some attention on which ballplayers on the league championship teams have Chicago connections.

This year, it means following the activity of Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon and Royals outfielder Alex Rios – both of whom have included the White Sox amongst the major league teams they have played for.

Although if we’re looking for Chicago connections, we’d also have to take into account Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson – who was born in suburban Blue Island, played high school ball in suburban Lansing then played college baseball for the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Curtis Granderson with a former White Sox star in Magglio Ordonez

MAKING GRANDERSON A guy who once played his home games on a ballfield in the shadows of the downtown skyscrapers – and in fact now has his off-season residence in the Near West neighborhood near the campus.

Considering that Granderson and Rios both play right field for their respective ball clubs, it would seem Chicago fans would be focusing their attention on that part of the ball field in searching for something local to observe.

I don’t know how many Chicagoans of the Cubs fan persuasion are going to be inclined to want to back Granderson, since he is a part of the reason it’s not the Cubs in the World Series this week.

 

Why he couldn't play so well in Chicago?

He had a .385 on-base percentage throughout the playoffs this month, although his batting average during the four games last week against the Cubs was a mere .200.

BUT IT COULD be something from Chicago if Granderson were to finally be on a World Series-winning team following the all-or-parts of 12 seasons he has played in major league ball. Only one of which was with a World Series-bound team – the Detroit Tigers who lost in 2006 to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Or else we could watch Rios, who during his all-or-parts of five seasons with the White Sox was one of the reasons that fans dreamed of having a chance at winning another championship to go with the ’05 pennant that still flies prominently over U.S. Cellular Field.

He finally made it to playoff baseball with Kansas City – and hit .368 with one home run and two doubles during the playoffs thus far. Which I’m sure will infuriate those White Sox fans (and cause Cubs fans to chuckle with glee) as to why the goof couldn’t play so well back then.



Reminiscent of one-time pitcher Wilbur Wood

Then, there’s the 42-year-old Colon, whose pitching for eight teams in both leagues includes two stints with the White Sox (2003 and 2009). The former of which was the year the White Sox nearly won a division title – only to fall to second place in mid-September behind the Minnesota Twins.

PERSONALLY, I’LL HAVE to confess to not realizing until this weekend that Colon was even still pitching in professional baseball. Although the New York Daily News reported recently how Mets relief pitcher Jeurys Familia (who’s 26) considers Colon to be his mentor.

Or there’s also Addison Reed of the Mets, whom the White Sox drafted in 2010 from San Diego State University, where he pitched for the Aztecs and the Sox thought he’d be the star relief pitcher of the future.

 

Coulda been a Sox star, 'sted of Met reliever

Instead, he did a couple of seasons with the White Sox before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks, then winding up as a part of the Mets bullpen this year.

 

Where the World Series will come up this week with Cubs fans wishing they were there and White Sox fans wishing those rummies could have played as well when they wore the Old English “Sox” script on their jerseys.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Am I the only one who thinks it odd that back in 2005, the World Series was complete by now, whereas this year it won't even start until Tuesday and won't be complete until early November?

EXTRA: 4-2 + 4-1 + 5-2 + 8-3 = Sweep

Yes, it seems that Chicago Cubbiness has retained its essential character. The final round of the National League playoffs resulted Wednesday in the New York Mets managing to thoroughly wipe up the floor with the Cubs.

Looks like the Post won't have to take it back

There won’t be anything resembling a championship in Chicago from 2015. The year 1945 is still the last time the Cubs were National League champions, while 1908 is still the last time the Cubs actually won the World Series.

THE CUBS LOST their fourth game of a seven-game series on Wednesday, and bringing the cinematic images of Marty McFly and Henry Rowengardner to the ballpark didn’t do a thing to add to the Wrigley Field aura.

Although perhaps it is good that there wasn’t a single person who could be the goat – no Leon Durham a la 1984 or Steve Bartman of 2003. In short, the reason the Cubs lost to the Mets after being up on the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals is because the Mets played better this week.

So now, the Cubs have another reason to think of the Mets as a ball club they detest. And not just because everybody enjoys a chance to dump on Noo Yawk any chance they get.

The Cubs lost to the Mets, and there wasn’t any black cat a la 1969 to blame! The New York Post won’t have to take back its front page from Saturday.
 

Still the ultimate goat

NOW AS I have written before, I’m an American League fan – kind of pulling for Toronto to come from behind to beat Kansas City, and whoever wins there to whomp all over the Mets.

Just think, a World Series between the U.S.’ largest city and that of Canada. It almost sounds like the real thing.

Personally, I think Cubs fans ought to be pleased. Because their favorite ball club outperformed significantly what any fan had any right to expect from 2015. Who knows? It may even be one of those years that develops experience that pays off in 2016 or ’17.
 

How long until Cubbiedom forgives him?

A World Series title then could make the stink of Wednesday wither away eventually.

THEN AGAIN, YOU never know what can occur. Let’s not forget the 1993 Chicago White Sox team that came close to an American League pennant and had many people convinced that ’94 was THE year!

I’m not saying we’re going to see a strike come ’16, but who knows what could go wrong.

If we want a local angle, perhaps we can root for hometown boy Curtis Granderson (of the University of Illinois at Chicago and T.F. South High School in suburban Lansing) to keep playing as well in the series as he did against the Cubs.

Although I wonder how many Cubs fans will be big enough to make that leap. Somehow, I doubt there will be many. Probably about as few as those Cubs enthusiasts who actually rooted for the White Sox back in 2005 when they gave Chicago a World Series victory in our lifetimes.
 

Cubs, or ...

SO NOW BASEBALL is over in Chicago. Although we still have the World Series, beginning Oct. 27 and running at least through Halloween and potentially through Nov. 4. Way too close to Thanksgiving for my comfort level.

... twins?

Which may be the big drawback to all the rounds of playoffs that allowed a third-place Chicago Cubs team to even qualify for postseason baseball this year – November ought to be for “hot stove” talk speculating about the future, not watching ballplayers enduring the chill of autumn wearing those hoods that make them look like refugees from the Blue Man Group.

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The Yanks are coming? Will A-Rod be with them? Or will we settle for “C.J.”

The Rodriguez fans despise

The arrival of the New York Yankees in Chicago each season is always a moment of excitement – sometimes the highlight of a baseball season.

Yet it has been just over a decade (the Yankees' first ball game after the World Trade Towers incident of 
Sept. 11, 2001 was in Chicago against the White Sox) since anyone nationally was paying attention to the activity at U.S. Cellular Field just because of the presence of the Bronx Bombers.

THE YANKEES ARE in town this week for a three-game series beginning Monday against the Chicago White Sox. Our city’s Sox are struggling to avoid 100 losses, while the Yanks are coping with severe injuries to so many key players that it’s a wonder they have a winning record these days.

The Rodriguez fans used to love

But the reason the Yankees’ arrival in town is a big deal is because of the third baseman Alex Rodriguez – who has been one of the injured. He has yet to play a single game for the Yankees this season. Although in recent days, he has been undergoing minor league therapy in Trenton, N.J., and theoretically could play his first major league game on Monday.

Which could mean the White Sox faithful (along with the Midwestern-based Yankees fans who make their one visit to “the Cell” when they come to town) will get to see Rodriguez – and heckle him unmercifully.

Do Yankees fans want to crop him out?

We could be treated to the spectacle this week (my brother, Chris, and I will be at the stadium for Tuesday’s game) of Chicago showing its contempt for Rodriguez at its most intense level.

THEN AGAIN, MAYBE we won’t.

Because Rodriguez is one of a few ballplayers who are suspected of using certain chemical substances to enhance their strength and make themselves appear to be better ballplayers than they would otherwise be.

But officials say that Rodriguez’ involvement, and efforts to cover up, may be at a higher level. Which is why the speculation is that Rodriguez will be suspended on Monday for the remainder of 2013 and the entire 2014 season.

The beginning of the big-money era

If it turns out that Rodriguez is able to play on Monday (the speculation Sunday is that he will appeal his penalty, and will be allowed to play while the appeal is pending), he’s in for a hellish experience. Although I suspect even if he’s not able to play, the fans who turn out on Monday (and to lesser levels Tuesday and Wednesday) will make their level of contempt known.

THERE’S NO WAY to shut up a sports fan who feels compelled to boo and razz someone!

I’ll be honest. When I’m at the ballgame, I’m probably going to be more focused on the level of intensity expressed against Rodriguez than I will be on the game itself.

The Yankees may be able to boost their quality of play this month and next and still qualify for a playoff spot (that’s more likely than the White Sox being able to turn 2013 into a season with a winning record). But it likely is a “lost” season for both ball clubs.

The heckling level will be more memorable than the game itself. Although considering it will be the first ballgame I’ve made it out to this season, it will still be a pleasurable experience just for being live baseball.

SO THE YANKS are coming. Oft-injured shortstop Derek Jeter is likely to be in the lineup on Monday – after having sat out a weekend series against the San Diego Padres. We’ll get to see former Chicago Cub Alfonso Soriano, who is trying to show that his Cub-like quality of play was a fluke. A victory or two this week would be the highlight of the White Sox'  season!

Coming back to the old neighborhood

Although the most memorable thing may well be center fielder Curtis “C.J.” Granderson – a Chicago-area native who plays for New York, but plans to spend some time this week with kids in suburban Lansing and Lynwood just to promote their interest in baseball as a game.

Considering how much of the contempt level felt by baseball fans for Rodriguez is because of his record-setting contract, it is nice to see at least one ballplayer who hasn’t forgotten where he comes from and is willing to give something back to his home community.

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