Sox fans find Cubs anything but lovable
BY JIM MASTERS
Times Correspondent | Friday, October 10, 2003
And even though the Cubs are playing in the National League Championship Series, no "true" Sox fan would cheer for the "lovable losers," according to some of the region's most ardent Sox fans.
Count Griffith's John Zuklin among those Sox fans wearing a Florida Marlins jersey this week.
"No true Sox fan can root for the Cubs," Zuklin said. "I compare it to the Bears and the Packers, Notre Dame and Purdue. You can't be fans of both."
If the Cubs went another 95 years without winning a World Series, that would be fine with Zuklin, who feels the Cubs receive more media attention than the Sox. Sunday obviously wasn't a happy day for Zuklin when the Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves to win the National League Division Championship Series. It wasn't all doom and gloom around the Zuklin household, though, as his wife, Trish, is a die-hard Cubs fan.
Jim, a 47-year-old Dyer resident who asked that his last name not be used, said that growing up on the South Side, there's no question where his loyalties lie. Jim said he's surrounded by Cubs fan "like a virus," and is further stung by the Sox's late season swoon.
He believes the Cubs' young pitching phenoms, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, won't carry their team through another series. However, he remains a Sammy Sosa fan because of his early playing days as a member of the White Sox.
"I don't believe any true Cubs fan will root for the Sox when they make it to the series next year," he said.
Well, either that's not the case or there are a lot of Cubs fans on the South Side, as Grandstand Sports, located a stone's throw from U.S. Cellular Field at 35th and Wallace, reported brisk sales of Cubs merchandise this week. The Florida Marlins stuff was selling, too, an employee said.
Also put Dave Wills, host of the White Sox pre- and post-game shows on WMVP Radio (AM-1000), in the "Cubs-hater-no-matter-what" category.
"People who say they're rooting for both teams are only lying to themselves," Wills said. "This South Side Irish guy says go White Sox and whoever plays the Cubs."
Wills said he's cheering for the Marlins not just because they're playing the Cubs, but for his ties to the team while broadcasting Kane County Cougars games from 1991-95. Wills said he forged many friendships with people working for the Marlins organization while he was with the team's minor league affiliate, including Cubs general manager Jim Hendry.
"Seeing the Cubs lose (Tuesday) made me sleep a little easier," Wills said.
Highland resident John Priess said he would be rooting against the Cubs if it weren't for the fact that his father, Harry Priess, died last week. Priess said he's cheering on the Cubs because his father, who lived in Lakes of the Four Seasons, was a lifelong Cubs fan who attended the team's last World Series appearance in 1945, and is not here to do it himself.
Perhaps Harry Priess won the final Cubs-Sox debate with his son, who referred to a Times editorial cartoon last week of a man in a casket with a smile on his face wearing a Cubs hat. Showing the cartoon to visitors at Friday's wake helped him bring some light moments to an otherwise sad occasion, he said.
As soon as the season is over -- and he believes the Cubs will win it all -- Priess said he'll be back to rooting for the Sox and keeping the remote control away from his Cubs fan wife, Dina, when both teams are on TV at the same time.
"I hate the Cubs with a passion," Priess said. "But for my dad, go Cubs!"
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