I know it is purely hypothetical, but who would you root for if the Red Sox and Cubs were to meet in the World Series this year? Or would you not really root for either of these long suffering teams and hope for an exciting series?

Cubbies! They were my favorite NL team growing up (before the Brew Crew switched from the AL) -- we could catch all the games on WGN-AM out of Chicago.

Twenty Major Events Since the Cubs Last Won the World Series.

CUBs and Sox? isn't that like the last sign in the book of revelations?
Kidding I think the Sox

Please... The Red Sucks acted like they had already won the World Series last night. Grow up, Boston... It's only a Wildcard--you still had a losing record to the Yankees this season (9-10) and finished second to them for the sixth straight season. I think the Yanks and the Athletics will have something to say before this is all over. Also, the Cubs got right back into a dead heat with the Astros after losing yet another clutch game.

I was watching ESPN yesterday, and Todd Walker was being interviewed after beating the O's, and he said something like, "Now we're off to Oakland to kick some ass!" Oh please, do they really think it'll be that easy beating both Oakland and New York?

Don't be a hater, dog. The Red Sox have had to sit out the past three playoffs, so of course, they're excited to be back in the mix. In their defense, a 9-10 record is barely a losing record.

Not to mention their record against the Os was a less-than-impressive 10-9.

What about the Yankees 2-6 against Chicago, or their getting swept by Toronto AT YANKEE STADIUM?!

Look, we could go on and on about records vs. specific teams. What matters is the number of wins you put on the scoreboard. Boston has the FIFTH best record in all of MLB, THIRD best in the AL. They only have 2 fewer wins than Oakland. When you're talking about a 162-game season, what's 2 game? It's just noise. (Unless you're a Cubs or Astros fan.)

It's root root root for the Cubbies...

Seriously, the Cubs were the first baseball team I ever cared about, and I'm nervous that a team with pitching this good is going to wind up as an 'almost in the playoffs' team. I would be a wreck like I was a few years ago when this happened, but if they tied and played a one game playoff, that would be really exciting.

Best answer I've heard is from writer Derek Zumsteg: the Bosox, cuz the Cubs' price-gouging ticket plan that was exposed this summer is evil evil evil...

Erm, details please? I'm interested because the Angels new owner, Artie Moreno, actually lowered ticket prices for certain sections, which is unusual. Of course, the dugout level seats still cost $1,800 a game.....

I voted "Neither, I just want an exciting WS". There's just something about the Cubs that I don't like--see: Sammy Sosa--but they do have hottie Mark Prior.

Actually, I hope the Cubs make the playoffs and the WS is a Cubs/Sox thing. It could make for some good drama. Game 7 at Fenway? That would be cool.

[ September 26, 2003, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

You can't have a Red Sox-Cubs series. It's no good. One team or the other, but not both. The best stories involve good vs. evil, or David vs. Goliath, or whatever. Who cares about a matchup of David vs. David? Or its opposite, the two New York teams, evil vs. evil. wink

Sox.

Joe has a point, but I like the idea of a win-win situation. I was hoping for a Red Sox-Phillies matchup since I'm originally from the Philly area and now live in the Boston area.

So Red Sox, duh.

** Varitek Update: After last night's game, Jason Varitek was quite the dork. The newspeople were interviewing guys and Varitek kept walking up and pouring beer on them. Not just one guy, but many. That in and of itself is not so bad, but he did it in such a dorky way. I can't really describe it; he was just TOO into the pouring rather than the celebrating, if that makes sense. Alas, he did not shed his shirt. I'm told that he is usually very reserved so that might explain things.

Johnny Damon did, and he is surprisingly buff.

I would root for the Earth to open up and swallow all 25 players before the first pitch is thrown. It would be for the good of mankind. You see, if either of these teams actually won a World Series it would surely be a sign of the apocalypse.

Cubs. The Red Sox won the WS more recently than the Cubs.

Bill, I am truly amazed on how little media attention this Cubs ticketing scam has gotten. Sure, there have been reports here and there about it, but only in the Chicago newspapers, with the Tribune virtually ignoring it. The Sun-Times has run a few columns about it, but their biggest hit was a front page lead-in explaining that the Illinois Attorney General's office has been closely following the big class-action suit against the Cubs.

What the Cubs have done here is unprecedented and truly sneaky.

MLB has had some of their top officials testify, and the contradictory testimony has made things worse for the Cubs in terms of a possible criminal prosecution. As the IL. A.G. explained, the penalty prescribed by IL. law states that such a business caught doing what the Cubs have been doing shall lose its license to operate.

Can you imagine that? The IL. A.G. having to "shut down" the Cubs? Granted, that'd never happen, but it's deliciously appealing to this White Sox fan.

Cubs - or - Red Sox?

I'd have to root for the Sox.

The curse,,, that damned curse,,,

Babe Ruth Bucky Dent Bill Buckner

The Sox have endured more pain! frown

Too true! The Cubs are always mediocre, but the Red Sox have learned the delicate art of teasing their fans into thinking "This may be the year," only to disappoint. We Sox fans feel like we have battered wives' syndrome. "Maybe they'll be different this time..."

Hmmm... all that beautiful green ivy at Wrigley, vs. that big Green Monster at Fenway. Gotta go with the Monster!

I'd be thrilled to see either of these teams make it to the World Series, but I'm afraid the prospect of BOTH going that far might be asking a bit too much of the Baseball Gods. To paraphrase an old saying, you can't kill two curses with one wishbone.

Erm, BillW, MIB, anyone, what is this Cubs ticket scam about? I couldn't find anything online in a quick Google search. Thanks.

I would like to see the Sox win in a series with the Cubs. I just want to see that Babe curse done away with. I do agree that is it's unfortunate that one team would still have to endure another losing season, but hey that's life.

I know the fans in Boston and Chicago have been suffering for decades, but a World Series between them seems a remote possibility to me. Now that Seattle has been eliminated, I'd prefer to see Minnesota vs Atlanta, but a more realistic scenario is New York vs San Francisco, and if that's the case, the Yankees get my support.

Jim Allen,

Where to begin?

Let me try to summarize it.

[Post truncated.]

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Discussion of the Chicago Cubs Ticket Scandal has been moved to a new thread, courtesy of MIB. - Outsports moderator

[ September 27, 2003, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

Red Sox v. Cubs in the World Series?

If Red Sox win ... it puts to rest 85 years of annoying Ben Affleck-narrated pathos about the alleged "Curse". Good riddance.

If the Cubs win ... it would destroy their entire reason for being ... y'know ... the whole "lovable losers" tag.

Tough call.

Well this poll is resolving NOTHING so far! wink As of right now, we are evenly split at 10 for the Sox and 10 for the Cubs.

Nothing's gonna be resolved if the Cubs don't sweep their doubleheader today. An exciting day in the Windy City! (at least the Brewers did their part as spoilers last night.)

btw .. MIB and Bill W, thanks for the info on that awful ticket scheme (I had heard nothing about it out here.) And the owners wonder why the fans hate them so much.

Oh my! Exactly! I'm not a Boston native, and in the 5 short years that I've followed baseball I've had my fill of all this 'curse' BS. There is a contant (but thankfully not too frequent) barrage of 'news' stories about the strange things Bostonians are doing to break the curse. My number one reason for wanting the Red Sox to win is to stop this dreck.
Number two is its cool to see everyone around town all happy and stuff.

DC, you're welcome. I've had some folks PM me about it. Perhaps I should start a separate thread on it, since this thread is about the Cubs-Red Sox stuff.


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Thanks, MIB, for starting a new thread on the topic of the Chicago Cubs Ticket Scandal. - Outsports moderator

[ September 27, 2003, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

I've finally decided: I would have a slight preference for the Red Sox to win, because the Cubs fans seem to be too happy with the "lovable loser" thing. Sox fans have truly suffered more.

You and I both... we'd have to have a party or something.

That said... it's obvious my choice is the BoSox. As was said by others before, it seems the Red Sox fans have suffered more while the Cubs relish their "lovable loser" status. And, at least among fans I have met, Red Sox fans seem more dedicated to the team. They live and die with their Sox. Cubs fans enjoy their team, but most Cubs fans I know tend to be more casual baseball fans who are more excited about barhopping in Wrigleyville after a game than whether the Cubs win or not.

They're all a bunch of unemployed losers anyway.

Seriously, you could turn on the lights in Wrigley Field on a mid-January evening, serve beer, and 38,000 blathering idiots would show up and not be able to ever tell there was no game that night.

Morons all.

I go for Boston - they are sooo excited - Like a little kid at Christmas- reminds me of Cleveland in 95 & 97! SIGH.

It would be great for either of them to win -- great fans in Chicago and Boston -- they deserve the World Series after all of these years. As for the "curse" being a source of civic pride (or something like that) -- I think it's more of a coping mechanism -- like booing is for an Eagles fan

I dunno... not even winning a pennant for 58 years? That seems like more suffering to me.

If there are some Cub fans who winkingly embrace losing (like that hideous humorist on that hideous CBS Sunday Morning show -- anyone see that?), it seems to me the Bosox have at least as many quasi-literary masochists. If they met in the WS, the fans of the losing team would be MORE unbearable than ever... "We lost to ____!"

[ September 29, 2003, 08:03 AM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

I'm an Os fan (unfortunately), so I have to root AGAINST the teams in the same division. Particularly if they're the Yankees or the Red Sox (though I loathe the Blue Jays even more than I have a general sense of disdain toward the Red Sox).

Since both teams seem to be cursed, something awful is bound to occur: here's what I see happening:

Sox lead the series, 3 games to 2. The airplane carrying the Cubs crashes, killing the entire team. Bud Selig cancels the Series out of respect. Even though the Sox are leading the Series, no winner is declared. Sox fans have to live with the knowledge that they were just 1 game away; Cubs fans mourn forever.

Oh please, don't tell me how horrible I am. I'm only presenting a possible scenario.
wink

And I'm not even the first: didn't George Costanza bring this up once -- how odd it was that an entire pro sports team had never been wiped out in an airplane crash?

On the other hand, if this actually happens, you heard it here first.

[ September 29, 2003, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: Jerzoid ]

Thanks for not killing off the Red Sox, at least.


Yeah, weren't they cute?



[ September 29, 2003, 10:48 AM: Message edited by: redsoxbreath ]

Wasn't that one of Lee Elia's quotes during his infamous profanity-laced tirade (about two minutes before he was fired as manager) when he said the only people who attended Cubs games at Wrigley (this was before they started playing night games there in '88) were "unemployed losers"?....that's one sure fire way to lose your job -- insult your paying customers! (even if it does go down as the most unbelievable meltdown in sports history)...that one and Hal McRae's tantrum in KC when he totally went off after a reporter simply asked him if he thought about pinch hitting George Brett in the 9th inning always leave me in stitches.

As for the topic of this thread, I reluctantly would have to pull for the Red Sox to defeat the Cubbies (which I'm CERTAIN will not happen, of course) primarily due to the Larry Luchino/Theo Epstein former Oriole front office combo (back when O's management actually knew what they were doing) -- and besides, Theo is so darn cute too (oh, is that not supposed to factor into the equation? my bad ).

As long as neither Steinbrenner's boys in the Bronx nor arrogant Bobby Cox' Braves win it, though, I'll be happy.

Well, what do you know? I open the paper this AM and what should there be in the sports page but a snarky article about the Red Sox and Cubs "Curse". I didn't even know about The Goat until 5 minutes ago, though, so that's a weak-ass Curse. I like this bit in the article: Indeed. Strange that the excellent Mike Penner didn't mention the Angels Indian Burial Ground Curse, which held that since Anaheim Stadium was build on said Indian Burial Ground, they were cursed. In more fanciful versions, Gene-Autry-was-a-cowboy kinds of stuff was added, but that's just silly.

I never knew the Red Sox had a chance to sign Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays but didn't because they were black. Any more info on this?

[ October 01, 2003, 08:56 AM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

The Boston Globe ran a series of articles a few years ago about the Red Sox' legacy of racism.

[ October 01, 2003, 03:44 PM: Message edited by: redsoxbreath ]

Go Cubs ! Tho the RedSox always have hotter guys, they at least have been to the Series more than the Cubs.

RSB, thanks. Mitigating factor: the Robinson Sox tryout was 2 years before he broke the color barrier with Brooklyn. Non-mitigating factor: why not do it in Boston in 1945? And what about Willie Mays? If it was after 1947, there's no excuse.