Imrem: Chicago White Sox fans lose their go-to argument

Chicago White Sox fans learned a lesson last week.

You remember the White Sox, don't you? Yes, Chicago's other major-league baseball team.

The Cubs' victory in the World Series made Sox fans the only bigger losers than Cleveland Indians fans were.

Too many Sox faithful were heard declaring during baseball's postseason that they were pulling for the Cubs to win the championship.

Could a fan of any Chicago sports team be more misguided?

Last week's outcome means that Sox fans are argumentatively bankrupt in their rivalry with Cubs fans.

The time-tested principle still applies: White Sox fans never should pull for the Cubs, especially during the postseason.

Never ever.

And vice versa if the Sox ever qualify for the playoffs again.

Never ever.

Charlotte Hornets player Frank Kaminsky, a Sox fan and Lisle native, had the right idea when he mocked the Cubs on a visit to the United Center last month.

So did Sox first-fan Barack Obama when he skipped Cubs playoff games in Wrigley Field even when he was in the city.

It's a two-team town and never the twain's fans shall meet.

Obama congratulated the Cubs when they clinched the World Series title and invited them to the White House before he moves out.

Presumably grudgingly.

A good guess is that during the World Series, the president locked the doors to the Oval Office and sat in there sticking needles into Bryzzo dolls.

It might have worked if Obama also abused Jon Lester and Ben Zobrist dolls.

Until last week, Sox fans could hold their 2005 World Series championship over Cubs fans.

Cubs fan: “Our manager is Joe Maddon and yours is our castoff Ricky Renteria.”

Sox fan: “Yeah, but we won the World Series 11 years ago and you haven't won one in 108 years.”

A month ago that was “Game! Set! Match!” for Sox fans.

Not anymore.

Cubs fan: “We have a well-run organization from top to bottom, and yours is dysfunctional from the inside out.”

Sox fan: “Yeah, but we won it all in 2005 and you haven't since '08 … 1908 … na-na-na-na, hey-hey, goodbye”

A month ago that was “Checkmate!” for Sox fans.

Not anymore.

Cubs fan: “Hardly anyone in town even knows the Sox still play here, and people around the country know who we are.”

Sox fan: “Yeah, here, look at my ticket stub from a World Series clincher at Houston while the Cubs can't even buy a World Series ticket.”

A month ago that was “Yahtzee!” for Sox fans.

Not anymore.

For Sox fans, that one World Series championship in 2005 was better than anything Cubs fans could counter with.

Joe Maddon still hadn't accomplished what Ozzie Guillen did. The Cubs' decorated starting pitchers still hadn't done what the White Sox's rotation did in the '05 playoffs. The Cubs still hadn't tasted real champagne and ridden in a real parade to a real Grant Park rally like the Sox did.

That changed when the Cubs won the World Series, which is the primary reason no fans should root for their crosstown rivals.

Never ever.

Now the best that Sox fans can hope for is that the North Siders' title wakes up the slumbering South Siders.

The only way for the Sox to give their fans anything to talk about is to win another World Series.

Sooner than later.

Until then, White Sox fans will remain argumentatively bankrupt.