Let’s start this off by stating I am a die-hard White Sox fan. I’m sure you’re waiting for the long line of biased information and rambling opinions I am about to spew, but let me state another fact: In 2003, I flipped out when the Cubs blew the National League Championship Series. Another year in the Second City, and another year with no championships to show for it.

So there you have it. I’m a White Sox fan and I was definitely on the Cubs bandwagon two years ago. But, was it really a bandwagon? Or was I enthralled by a team that captured the hearts of a city that has waited incredibly – almost unfairly and impossibly – long for a World Series? I was a whopping negative 25 years old when the White Sox first went to the World Series; Now I’m 21 and my dream has come true. What do I have to show for my team going to the big show? A thousand friends who bleed Cubby blue and still insist the Sox will blow it.

Growing up in Chicago, I understand teams without Michael Jordan eventually blow their chances with a mistake or foul ball interference or a swinging third strike that could have gone the other way. But my point is, do I need to be told they will blow it? Does the past really mean anything?

The only thing I can think of that my friends are really saying to me is, “I’m jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, and I can’t let up until this jealousy fades.”

The same people who told me the Sox were going to blow their 15-game lead told me the Sox were going to get swept by the Astros. Their new reasoning? The Astros were good enough to beat the Cubs. Maybe, dare I say it, the Cubs aren’t a better team than the White Sox?

They were in 2003. This is 2005. In 1908, the Cubs won the World Series. They were better than the White Sox … in 1908. Throw everything you believe out the window and wait until next year, because this year in Chicago, the White Sox are the better team. That’s not a biased view. That’s fact. That’s why the Sox are two games from the trophy and the Cubs are at home watching, if they can bear it. That’s why the day the Cubs can become free of injuries, controversies and Dusty Baker is the day they become better; the day they make it to the final round with the Sox at home panting, “I’ll root for them – if they make it to the Fall Classic.”

I’m a die-hard White Sox fan, but when the Cubbies reach the series, I’ll be there, wearing my Sox hat, cheering them on.

It’s not fair-weather if your team is out of contention and sitting at home.

Cubs fans, join the bandwagon if you’d like, but next year, you better be off it, just like I was off yours in 2004.

(My bad for the cheap shot on Dusty Baker.)

Patrick Sanford

Senior, economics major