Sox shower Cub fans with cold reality
On a muggy Friday, the White Sox did the mugging.
After scorching the Sox three straight games last weekend at Wrigley Field, the Cubs' bats went cold at U.S. Cellular. The South Side hitters got red hot and iced the Cubs 10-3 to kick off this weekend's final three games of the Crosstown Showdown.
The Cubs' hottest pitcher at home with a 9-0 mark, Ryan Dempster dropped to a chilly 0-3 on the road by giving up a Nick Swisher grand slam and a season-high 7 runs to the Sox in the third inning. Even with the big lead, Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye crashed into the fence to make the game-ending catch and set off the fireworks.
The warmest reception of the day went to basketball star Derrick Rose, the Bulls' top draft choice, who threw out the first pitch as 39,132 Cubs and Sox fans came together to cheer. Another Derrek, the Cubs' slugger Lee, drew cheers from Sox fans by rolling into two crucial double plays to extinguish Cubs' scoring chances.
A couple of hours before Mother Nature cooled down fans with a gentle shower, 10-year-old Justin Kranicki of West Chicago hit the bleacher shower in the concourse behind left-center field.
"It's not that cold, but it feels good," Justin said. "I was hot."
At 39, his dad, Jeff Kranicki, is old enough to remember when that shower graced the old Comiskey Park.
"I've been in the old shower," Jeff Kranicki said. He took a pass this time around, noting, "It's for the kids."
Or maybe the elder Kranicki, wearing a Sox shirt and hat, just wanted to see his son get his Cubs hat, shirt and pants wet.
"I was a Sox fan, but then a bunch of my friends were Cubs fans, and I didn't know that many Sox fans so I became a Cubs fan," Justin Kranicki said.
"It hurts a little," Dad admitted with a smile. "But he's still my son, and he has to make his own bad choices in life."
Tentative Cubs fans approached the shower as if they were Carrie at the prom. Many pushed the on button and then jumped away until they were 100 percent certain it was water that would drench them.
With hearts melting, guys didn't have much luck talking hot (read that any way you want) girlfriends into the shower, but plenty of hefty guys stuck as much of their bodies into the stall as they could. And a few Sox fans half-heartedly tried to throw Cubs friends into the shower and vice versa.
The rivalry on the field may be as heated as ever, but the icy relationship between Cubs and Sox fans has thawed.
The owner of Mickey Finn's Brewery in Libertyville, Cubs fan Brian Grano, provided three kegs of cold beer for a 9 a.m. tailgate party that drew nearly two dozen suburban fans split between Cubs and Sox. Grano noted that hot Italian beef and ice-cold 847 Suburban Wheat Ale can bring fans together.
So can sharing, according to the scene that brought lumps to the throats of tailgating Sox fans Mike and Michelle Beecher of Palatine.
"I'm kind of touched right now," Michelle Beecher said, pointing to the strangers in the next parking spot.
When Cubs fan Mark Fletcher, 35, of Bartlett ran out of fuel while grilling, his half-cooked brats were saved by nearby Sox fan Rich Cescato, 44, of Midlothian.
"He gave me extra propane and a light," Fletcher says, noting "the Palestinians and the Jews could learn something" from this show of human kindness.
Happy to help, Cescato says he has no animosity for Cubs fans since the 2005 season.
"Not after winning the World Series. That's all done," Cescato says. But he roll his eyes as he suggests "that 'Go, Cubs, Go' thing is getting annoying."
Not getting a chance to sing that song Friday was a disappointment for Andrew Szewczyk, 10, who took a pre-game dip in the bleacher shower while wearing all his Cubs gear. His Cubs fan Bartlett neighbor Will Rajewski, 9, opted to keep his precious Fukudome jersey dry.
Sox fan season ticket-holder Jose Roldan didn't care that much for the Fukudome jersey he wore in his front row seat of the bleachers.
"My Dad's a Sox Fan and He Lost a Bet! Go Cubs!" explained the sign held by Roldan's daughter, Charise, 26.
"We had a bet years ago and I had to wear a White Sox T-shirt and hat," explained Charise Roldan, who added that she became a Cubs fan after her high school choir sang the national anthem at Wrigley Field.
"Yeah, but she didn't have to deal with my colleagues," sighed Jose Roldan, as barbs from his fellow Sox fans rained down upon him.
The safest Cubs fan at Friday's game may have been 19-year-old North-Sider Oscar Alvarez, who wore a high-tech suit that made him appear to be a giant BlackBerry. He not only got cheers for giving away a BlackBerry, he also had pretty, flirty Sox fans patting his rear and pushing all his buttons.
While he had to protect the $6,000 suit from the rain, he said the sun, heat and humidity weren't that bad.
"It's pretty comfortable actually," Alvarez said from somewhere inside his costume. "They've got a fan in here."
Probably the only impartial fan in the ballpark.