Monday, April 7, 2008

According to my sources (AccuWeather) it is going to be 55 and partly sunny on Monday afternoon as the first pitch crosses the plate at U.S. Cellular Field on Chicago’s historic South Side. Of course these same sources said that it was going to rain all weekend, and caused me to cancel my normal Friday morning car wash at the Prudential Plaza Garage. No big deal, I’ll just get one on Monday and have one of the cleanest cars in the lot at the old ballgame. I am a little irritated that the TV weather people haven’t been making the big-ass deal about the opening day weather for the Sox that they did for the Cubs, but I guess it wasn’t Opening Day. The caps make all the difference.

I am writing this on Sunday afternoon before the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game featuring my beloved White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. When I lived in Detroit, I was a Tigers fan. That’s how I roll; I try and fit in. When I first got to Chicago, I went with the Cubs, since I grew up in Los Angeles and had National League leanings. That went pretty well up until the time I started making fun of WGN and Wally Phillips. The Tribune Company was a much smaller outfit back then, and they focused a lot of their energy on hating me, and generally making my life difficult. Now, of course, I write for the Tribune, and I’m a Sox fan. It’s funny how life turns out sometimes.

The Sox seem to be off to a pretty good start, and I like the fact that Ozzie has put Carlos Quentin in left field. I also like Nick Swisher in center field. Before Kansas City’s win over the Twins on Sunday, the Sox were in first place. Big deal, you Cubs fans say? My answer to that is yes. As far as I can recall, the White Sox were NEVER in first place last year. Sure they’re sharing first place with the Royals, but I’ll take it where I can get it. I sure hope the Royals don’t get too hot. I sell and give away about thirty games a year to friends, family, and charity. A lot of it is based on the Royals sucking and the Tigers and Cleveland dominating. Maybe I can get those Royals tickets back.