Morrissey Fouls Reinsdorf

In the middle of a loooong column about the history of the Chicago Blackhawks, Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey takes this shot at White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf:

As much as Hawks fans loved their team and their sport, they decided their sanity had priority. Many of them stopped going to the United Center. And it killed them. If you know a former Hawks fan, you know that. You know a person who aches for hockey but has sworn off the Hawks. Not the way White Sox fans had sworn off Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf before the 2005 World Series. It was worse than that.

You would think Morrissey could have found an example a little closer to home, what with Cubs fans all over Chicago sports-talk radio only a week ago swearing off the Cubs forever. Of course, those same fans swore off the Cubs in 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003, but last year they actually picketed the stadium (the Tribune didn't cover the protest), and the example is far more pertinent. Even when some Sox fans were pissed at Reinsdorf, they never swore off the White Sox. On the South Side we know the difference between the team, its stadium, its owners, and the media. On the North Side, those things are all the same thing, and when you swear off one, you've sworn off all.


(Thanks to Lone Ranger for policing Morrissey).