I dont know how it happened, but somehow I went to Saturdays Cub game at Wrigley and went to yesterdays game at The Cell for the White Sox. And after seeing both stadiums, both teams, and both teams fans in such a short span, these are my impressions:
Damn, how could you not be a Cubs fan in this city? I mean, they call it the friendly confines for a reason. We sat up close near home plate and I'm pretty sure we were sitting around a bunch of regular Cubs season ticket holders and we were embraced like we were instantly part of the family. We arrived at the bottom of the first inning right when Sammy was hitting and as soon as we sat down....POWW...he hit a drive deep to left center that just floated right over the fence behind the bleachers and the place went nuts as if they had just won the world series. I instantly gave out at least 2 dozen high fives to the ppl sorounding me and I became instanly confortable knowing I was around nothing but dedicated Cub fans. I dont think I've ever heard a crowd roar like that in my life. (well, actually I have from a few other trips to wrigley last year) But for some odd reason it felt like I had never been there before.
The place was packed to the very last seat in the second balcony. You can literally see the few ppl in the last seats in the bleachers in center field and each and every single individual was into the game pitch by pitch as Kerry Wood basically dominated the mound throwing almost nothing but strikes.
The thing I noticed about Wrigley was that it was'nt much to look at, as in the form of electronic scorboards or mascots or catchy advertisments lined against the OF wall. It was nothing but the green grass, the vintage, hand operated scoreboard, the ivy on the wall and the game thats happening before your eyes. Since there was'nt much to look at, you had no choice but to keep your eyes glued to the game...pitch by pitch, out by out, ining by inning. The electricity in the stadium was truly a marvelous spectacle to be apart of as in a few instances, when Kerry Wood needed that last pitch to end the inning, the crowd all at the same time screamed "Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Kerry....and it sounded so loud and so syncronized that you just knew Kerry Wood heard it perfectly clear and it may have given him a boost of confidence and adreniline and he got that pitch he wanted and the crowd just goes bananas. That, is something I never been apart of. As you all know, the cubbies won and the crowd of 38,000 or so all left in a drunken, party atmospheric mele in which it seemed that these ppl will party remenisint to the party scene in the Matrix 2. Babies will be concieved, ppl will be injured, some will be locked up, some will be in a coma and some will just wake up in a unknown location. Now, I see why the Cubbies have the worlds greatest fans.
Now as for US Cellelar field. The changes to the stadium are great. It certainly looks diffrent than past years now that they've added a roof on the upper deck. It looks more complete now. More like a finished project that they've been tryna accomplish since the place opened. It truly looks beautiful now. The colors have changed and the place looks more like a older establishment than a high tech stadium it looked like at first. They've added old school players to the OF walls, its a new electronic scoreboard under the new center field patio deck which indeed does offer a great view of the action. The center field looks completely revamped and lively than the big black nothingness that was there in years past with little busches growing to bring out some more eye candy in the park.
Speaking of eye candy, it sure is hard to watch a game in the Cell. Scoreboards everywhere displaying diffrent animations and difrent player stats and diffrent little trivia and games which can really tak you out of the game tryna to suck everything in. My first trip to the Cell, I dont think I watched the game. The scoreboards and other attractions took me out of the game I was tryna watch. Now that I'm use to it, I pay more attention to the game but for a newb to that park, it'll be hard to pay attention to the game because of all this eye candy.
Anyway, the fans of the Cell are a mixed bunch. Out of the 17,000 ppl there(yes, just 17,000 compared to 39,000 at wrigley) I would go as far to say that only 40% of the ppl there were actually true and blue White Sox fans. 60% were probably fathers or couples taking they're kid out on a trip to the baseball park because its a cheap ticket, easily available and you have less hassle than at Wrigley.
So it may have seemed as if barely no one was into the game as the fans at Wrigley were. We sat in the second row somewhere near right field and Jose Cruz got so close that I could of whispered "you're a bastard" in his ear and he could of heard me loud and clear. Well, I'm sure he heard alot of the comments that the fans yelled out ot him but alot of ppl just were'nt into the game. It was young kids everywhere (mostly because of the promotion that kids get into the park for a dollar on sundays) but those kids were just yelling and screaming for the nature of yelling and screaming. Not really paying attention to the game, just waiting for some fireworks. No one seemed to give a rats *** that the Sox were losing early into the game. (On a few occasions at Wrigley, if the Cubs were losing, you would literally see ppl with so much concern on they're face that you could of sworn they had some money on the line) But as for theSox fans, it was just a nice day to see some baseball.
As the OF scoreboard filled up with these lil mini games like races between some pizzas, everyones attention was focused on the suasage pizza taking the lead while Carlos Lee was at bat swing for the fences. And I came to the realization that no one came here to see a basbeall game, they came to be entertained. Baseball is a rarely entertaining sport, only in certain aspects per person, ie, pitcher duel, pitcher/batter matchup, or the stats. Entertaining plays dont happen much in baseball so in order to draw ppl to the park at the Cell, you need all this flashy scoreboards and graphic animations to kee ppl entertained whereas in Wrigley, the game of baseball is the only attraction there. Ppl did'nt come alive until the very last inning. The sun suddenly showed its face and it was like a Omen. The Sox battled back from 3 down to win the game and I almost saw flashes of Wrigley field, only that it takes a close game for that to happen.
Now to summarize these 2 stadiums, I can see why the Cubs have had a loyal following even during the low times. The community, the passion for a team, the passion for the game are what makes up a Cubs fans DNA. As for the lowly Sox, who at times are in the same position as the Cubs, nothing goes on but a nice day at the park. No passion, no dedicated community, no nail bitting, nothing but a cheap, easyily accessable ticket for a baseball fan to watch the proffesional game played.....for some. Others like myself are they're to watch they're favorite team in action. I feel like a little fish in a big pond when it comes to being a Sox fan. Even at the Cell, ppl did'nt know half the players whereas Wrigley, the fans religously knew what shoe size each player all the way down to the groundskeeper's size was.
Oh yea, sorry for the long winded post. What started off as impressions, turned into a rant.
Damn, how could you not be a Cubs fan in this city? I mean, they call it the friendly confines for a reason. We sat up close near home plate and I'm pretty sure we were sitting around a bunch of regular Cubs season ticket holders and we were embraced like we were instantly part of the family. We arrived at the bottom of the first inning right when Sammy was hitting and as soon as we sat down....POWW...he hit a drive deep to left center that just floated right over the fence behind the bleachers and the place went nuts as if they had just won the world series. I instantly gave out at least 2 dozen high fives to the ppl sorounding me and I became instanly confortable knowing I was around nothing but dedicated Cub fans. I dont think I've ever heard a crowd roar like that in my life. (well, actually I have from a few other trips to wrigley last year) But for some odd reason it felt like I had never been there before.
The place was packed to the very last seat in the second balcony. You can literally see the few ppl in the last seats in the bleachers in center field and each and every single individual was into the game pitch by pitch as Kerry Wood basically dominated the mound throwing almost nothing but strikes.
The thing I noticed about Wrigley was that it was'nt much to look at, as in the form of electronic scorboards or mascots or catchy advertisments lined against the OF wall. It was nothing but the green grass, the vintage, hand operated scoreboard, the ivy on the wall and the game thats happening before your eyes. Since there was'nt much to look at, you had no choice but to keep your eyes glued to the game...pitch by pitch, out by out, ining by inning. The electricity in the stadium was truly a marvelous spectacle to be apart of as in a few instances, when Kerry Wood needed that last pitch to end the inning, the crowd all at the same time screamed "Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, Kerry....and it sounded so loud and so syncronized that you just knew Kerry Wood heard it perfectly clear and it may have given him a boost of confidence and adreniline and he got that pitch he wanted and the crowd just goes bananas. That, is something I never been apart of. As you all know, the cubbies won and the crowd of 38,000 or so all left in a drunken, party atmospheric mele in which it seemed that these ppl will party remenisint to the party scene in the Matrix 2. Babies will be concieved, ppl will be injured, some will be locked up, some will be in a coma and some will just wake up in a unknown location. Now, I see why the Cubbies have the worlds greatest fans.
Now as for US Cellelar field. The changes to the stadium are great. It certainly looks diffrent than past years now that they've added a roof on the upper deck. It looks more complete now. More like a finished project that they've been tryna accomplish since the place opened. It truly looks beautiful now. The colors have changed and the place looks more like a older establishment than a high tech stadium it looked like at first. They've added old school players to the OF walls, its a new electronic scoreboard under the new center field patio deck which indeed does offer a great view of the action. The center field looks completely revamped and lively than the big black nothingness that was there in years past with little busches growing to bring out some more eye candy in the park.
Speaking of eye candy, it sure is hard to watch a game in the Cell. Scoreboards everywhere displaying diffrent animations and difrent player stats and diffrent little trivia and games which can really tak you out of the game tryna to suck everything in. My first trip to the Cell, I dont think I watched the game. The scoreboards and other attractions took me out of the game I was tryna watch. Now that I'm use to it, I pay more attention to the game but for a newb to that park, it'll be hard to pay attention to the game because of all this eye candy.
Anyway, the fans of the Cell are a mixed bunch. Out of the 17,000 ppl there(yes, just 17,000 compared to 39,000 at wrigley) I would go as far to say that only 40% of the ppl there were actually true and blue White Sox fans. 60% were probably fathers or couples taking they're kid out on a trip to the baseball park because its a cheap ticket, easily available and you have less hassle than at Wrigley.
So it may have seemed as if barely no one was into the game as the fans at Wrigley were. We sat in the second row somewhere near right field and Jose Cruz got so close that I could of whispered "you're a bastard" in his ear and he could of heard me loud and clear. Well, I'm sure he heard alot of the comments that the fans yelled out ot him but alot of ppl just were'nt into the game. It was young kids everywhere (mostly because of the promotion that kids get into the park for a dollar on sundays) but those kids were just yelling and screaming for the nature of yelling and screaming. Not really paying attention to the game, just waiting for some fireworks. No one seemed to give a rats *** that the Sox were losing early into the game. (On a few occasions at Wrigley, if the Cubs were losing, you would literally see ppl with so much concern on they're face that you could of sworn they had some money on the line) But as for theSox fans, it was just a nice day to see some baseball.
As the OF scoreboard filled up with these lil mini games like races between some pizzas, everyones attention was focused on the suasage pizza taking the lead while Carlos Lee was at bat swing for the fences. And I came to the realization that no one came here to see a basbeall game, they came to be entertained. Baseball is a rarely entertaining sport, only in certain aspects per person, ie, pitcher duel, pitcher/batter matchup, or the stats. Entertaining plays dont happen much in baseball so in order to draw ppl to the park at the Cell, you need all this flashy scoreboards and graphic animations to kee ppl entertained whereas in Wrigley, the game of baseball is the only attraction there. Ppl did'nt come alive until the very last inning. The sun suddenly showed its face and it was like a Omen. The Sox battled back from 3 down to win the game and I almost saw flashes of Wrigley field, only that it takes a close game for that to happen.
Now to summarize these 2 stadiums, I can see why the Cubs have had a loyal following even during the low times. The community, the passion for a team, the passion for the game are what makes up a Cubs fans DNA. As for the lowly Sox, who at times are in the same position as the Cubs, nothing goes on but a nice day at the park. No passion, no dedicated community, no nail bitting, nothing but a cheap, easyily accessable ticket for a baseball fan to watch the proffesional game played.....for some. Others like myself are they're to watch they're favorite team in action. I feel like a little fish in a big pond when it comes to being a Sox fan. Even at the Cell, ppl did'nt know half the players whereas Wrigley, the fans religously knew what shoe size each player all the way down to the groundskeeper's size was.
Oh yea, sorry for the long winded post. What started off as impressions, turned into a rant.
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