For a kid who was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, this is as good as an original Gino's East deep dish pizza or a Chicago hot dog with double sport peppers.
Sorry, Houston fans, but this romance goes back a long way, to the days when the White Sox gave out free tickets to grade school kids for perfect attendance or straight As. (I rarely had perfect attendance, but always got some tickets.)
I grew up in the Bill Veeck (as in "wreck") era: yellow baseballs at night, disco record destruction night (resulting in a riot and a forfeit), baseball players in shorts (not a pretty sight!). The Sox never won much of anything, but there was no better place for a kid to hang out than old Comisky Park where Dad let you have a swig of his beer or a puff on his cigar.
Comisky Park was one of the manmade wonders of the world - seats that put splinters in your hindquarters, posts that obstructed nearly every view, except from the box seats, sticky floors, cheap beer, horrid bathrooms. The bleachers even had a shower on a pull chain, not to mention hordes of guys with pot bellies and no shirts. The whole place smelled like a subway - an odiferous combination of beer, cigar smoke, and urine. Sorry, I'm getting a little nostalgic. Please forgive me; it happens in middle age.
I never thought I'd see the day when the White Sox would bring World Series gold to Chicago.
Last night was awesome! Since the Astros never really came to play in the WS, I imagine that the celebration started early in Chicago. Last night might have been the only time when Cub fans can throw aside their indifferences with the Sox fans and celebrate. After all, they may never know what it feels like to win a postseason series. If and when the Cubs win the W.S., be sure to look in the sky? Why? Because that is when Christ will come on the clouds of heaven. :)
Posted On: October 27th, 2005 at 7:46pm by revcwirla
Actually, the sign of the eschaton would be an all-Chicago World Series: Cubs vs White Sox. Too good even to think about. I would go to Chicago just to be there. A soliid week of pizza, Italian beef sandwiches, hot dogs, and Polish sausage.
For anyone who saw Uribe's catch of the foul ball in the 9th: Those Astros fans sure were nice not to interfere. In Chicago, they even interfere with the home team!
Posted On: October 28th, 2005 at 2:41am by Andy Monro
I went to a White Sox game in 1983, and I got to see my favorite player, Greg Luzinski, hit multiple home runs. Like you, I'm really jazzed about the Sox winning it all, even if I was just a suburbanite.
It sounds like we're on the same wavelength about food, too. While watching the team's victory celebration with champagne spraying everwhere, I wanted to eat an italian beef or a decent hot dog. Did you know that they just opened up a Portillo's in Buena Park? I'm thinking that I'll have to go after church on Sunday the 6th.
Posted On: October 28th, 2005 at 9:45am by revcwirla
Let's make it a post-Bible class lunch outing. Portillo's it is! Great hot dogs. For those traveling through Midway Airport in Chicago, Gold Coast Dogs in the food court has a terrific version of the Chicago-style hot dog. Gino's East, now located in the rennovated Planet Hollywood and owned by a restaurant corporation isn't nearly as good as its former 100 E Superior location when it was owned by two taxi drivers. (Obvious change in sausage suppliers.)
Suburbanites count as honorary Chicagoans, except in high school football.
I would also have to bow down to Portillo's. I am a St. Louis native, but I have ate there several times whenever my wife and I went to visit her brother while in college. IMO, Portillo's has the BEST hot dog I have ever tasted!
Now if I can only get them to sell their food in St. Louis! Yum!
Posted On: October 28th, 2005 at 10:33am by revcwirla
But St. Louis has Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, which will certainly be on the menu at the heavenly banquet. I've been known go on a "Drewes run" when the temperature was below freezing.
St. Louis is the best baseball town I've ever experienced. Cubs fans are loyal, Sox fans are fair weather, but Cards fans are absolute religious fanatics. I know no other place where the fans applaud a great play by an opponent. The new version of Busch stadium looks terrific!
Thank you for your wonderful comments! I am a huge fan of Ted Drewes and have also stood in freezing weather eating a frozen custard. It was beyond reason, but surely it is a "foretaste of the feast to come!"
As a diehard (religious fanatic) of the Cards, I also appreciate your acknowledgement of the St. Louis fans. We love our baseball here and the new stadium will be a testiomony to our "lovefest" of our national past time...
Absolutely! We can treat some of our Orange County friends to a taste of Chicago.
Lesley and I will be going to the Chicago area for Thanksgiving, so we'll try and catch all of the food staples then. Of course, many of the restaurants (including Portillo's and pizza places) ship their food across the country. So, maybe for my graduation or birthday I can get a pizza delivered from 2000 miles away.
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