Chicago's Un-Civil War

Wrapping up this weekend's event we saw one of the great rivalries in sports. I'll admit the first couple years of interleague play it was a made for TV event. Cub fans didn't care about the Sox and the same was true of Sox fans. The Cub fans were much, much happier watching the Cubs take down the Red Birds in the Lou than watching them defeat their southern bretheren. Then something happened. Everyone expected a rivalry that wasn't there. Then after a couple years when the Second City Series/Red Line series was in full effect a rivalry was born.



Fans happening down on Wrigleyville this weekend were witnesses to a very large party. The Friday night postgame celebrations on Addison St. in Chicago's Northside was described by WGN's Bob Brenly, the albeit slightly biased voice of the Cubs, as a mix between New Years, the Super Bowl, and Mardi Gras. Cubs fans refused to leave the stadium after Aramis Ramirez's walk off in the bottom of the 9th. These are the fans that love to sip on the warm Old Style, and they stop selling in the 7th. Despite that fact, the fans still packed the stadium soaking it up.

So the fans are in on it now, they bought into the rivalry. What about the rest of the sports world? Well Sunday night's game was the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball event. Next weekend when they renew the interleague play Saturday's game will be on FOX and Sunday's on ESPN. So the fans are on board, the media is on board. But what about the teams?

This weekend both teams added fuel to the fire that has been burning. On the White Sox side it sounded like this:

"The rats look bigger than a pig out there. You want to take a look? I think the rats out there are lifting weights." - Ozzie Guillen, Big Mouthed Manager

"They're idiots. It's like what Lee Elia said: 'Eighty-five percent of the people work, the other [bleeps] come out here.'" - A.J. Pierzynski, A-Hole Catcher

"Try not to smell all the urine over there ... That place is a [bleep] hole," - John Danks, No Name Pitcher

"[Cubs CF, Jim Edmonds] just had a good day, I don't want to promote the guy who's just hitting .218. He just had a good day." - Guillen again. Edmonds had just hit 2 HRs to help in the 2nd straight defeat of the Sox, was actually hitting .238 on the season, and is hitting .311 with 5 jacks since coming to Chicago, he had a slow start and no Spring Training.

So that's what the White Sox manager and players had to say about the Cubs Sox series. Of course the Cubs players and manager had to reply, so what did Cubs players and managers have to say?

"4 Hits, 4 Runs, 1 RBI, 1 Walk, 1 HBP, .363" - Kosuke Fukudome, Cub Outfielder

"4 Hits, 1 Run, .363" - Ryan Theriot, Cub Shortstop

"5 Hits, 4 Runs, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 2 Walks, .417" - Derrick Lee, Cub First Baseman

"2 Hits, 2 Runs, 2 HRs, 2 RBIs, 2 Walks, and 1 Intentional Walk, .285" - Jim Edmonds, Cub Outfielder

"1 Hit, 1 Run, 1 HR, 1 RBI, .500" - Mike Fontenot Cub Infielder

"5 Hits, 5 Runs, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 2 Walks, .625" - Eric Patterson, Cub Callup Outfielder hitting .143 prior to the series.

"6 Hits, 4 Runs, 4 HRs, 8 RBIs, 1 Walk, .462" - Aramis Ramirez, Cub Third Baseman

"3 Wins" - Cubs Starting Pitchers

And of course the Ying to Ozzie's Yang Manager Lou Piniella, ""Put it this way: I've only been in town a year and a half, and I certainly enjoy the competition against the White Sox, but I don't go crazy over it. I respect their team and respect their organization, but I just do what's best for the Chicago Cubs in my mind. I'll let it go at that. That's all I can do." He's 8-1 against the Southsiders in his Tenure as Cubs Manager.

Now I let myself get into the series a little bit and got excited and realized something prior to Friday's game. This series is similar to the Civil War. North versus South, Right versus Wrong, Good versus Evil, Classy versus Classless, Civilized versus Uncivilized. Much like the Civil War, the North won. Also, as with the Civil War, in history's rearview mirror those that cheered on the South will be ashamed and those who continue to cheer for the south after the fact will have less teeth and far less education.