Hello White Sox World! Blogging, the Big Hurt, and another Big Bat
I sure picked an eventful day to start my blog about the Chicago White Sox! Not only did the Sox retire the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas’s jersey number 35 today, they also officially now have Manny Ramirez after claiming him off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers…But more on that later.
I am a blogger from Northbrook, Illinois, and I am a life-long White Sox fan. Now, anyone from the Chicago-land area must be asking themselves what a girl from the northern suburbs of Chicago is doing rooting for the southside Sox over the northside Chicago Cubs. Well that’s just the way I was raised, and I’m glad I was because it’s nice to actually win playoff games every once in a while.
My family has had White Sox season tickets since 1992, the second year of the new Comiskey Park, now U.S. Cellular Field. I was almost three years old at the start of the 1992 season, and even then at such a young age, White Sox baseball became a part of me. In my younger years, I referred to the ballpark as “The Screamin’ Place,” and loved it for the excitement and sights and sounds. I had to cover my ears for the fireworks, of course, whenever Frank Thomas or one of the other Sox sluggers hit a homerun. The big booming noises were scary for childhood me.
As I got older I began to really appreciate the game and the intricacies of it. I played softball for many years, so I understood all the force outs and tagging up rules that many girls my age never paid attention to. It wasn’t until I was 12 years old, however, that my love for White Sox baseball really took a serious turn.
Like many devoted Sox fans, my family attended the annual SoxFest convention every winter. The year 2002 was no different, or so we thought. My parents and I were waiting for the opening ceremonies to begin when a couple women with White Sox credentials around their necks started talking to us about or relationship with the team. Based on little 12-year-old me with my pigtails, complete with White Sox hair scrunchies, they understood that we were serious about our team.
The two women chose me to go up on stage and catch a ball from pitcher Mark Buehrle to kick off the SoxFest weekend. I was then invited to throw out the Opening Pitch on Opening Day of the 2002 season! Standing on the mound at U.S. Cellular Field and hurling the ball over pitcher Gary Glover’s head (He’s 6’5”.) was a dream come true. That whole experience changed my life and helped me realize what I wanted to do with the rest of it. My goal was, and still is, to work for the White Sox.
Flash forward almost eight and a half years, and here I am at the University of Southern California, working to get my degree in Public Relations with a focus on Sports Media Studies to make my dream of working for the White Sox come true. That, my online friends, is why I am writing this blog. I want to share my love and knowledge of White Sox baseball, as well as learn some things myself.
I plan to fill the blog with White Sox news updates, trades and transactions, current standings, and other little tidbits of information I see interesting or important for the typical fan to know. I’ll also throw in a little bit of White Sox history. We wouldn’t be the playoff-contending team we are today without the foundation laid out by our history, and I believe it is important to acknowledge that.
For now, I’ll leave you with the fact that the White Sox are only 4.5 games behind the first place Minnesota Twins in the American League Central Division, but the new addition of batting hero Manny Ramirez should help the White Sox in their fight to regain first place.
Fun Fact: Before playing on the Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny played for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. The White Sox next 2 series are in Cleveland and Boston, respectively. Manny should feel comfortable hitting a few homeruns in his old territories, don’t ya think?
The White Sox Blog vs. Yours Truly
If I do say so myself, I think I’m pretty awesome, but I am not the only blogger who specializes in White Sox culture. Shocking, I know. Recently, I have come across a blog appropriately called The White Sox Blog. This anonymous blogger is a female fan, like me, with the ambition to track and record all things White Sox with the hopes of being able to blog a World Series championship. (Man, that 2005 win seems like a long time ago!)
This blogger posts almost daily (with one seemingly uncharacteristic recent 10-day hiatus), and mostly provides updates on the day’s game, with some of her own opinions along the way. She uses a very endearing kind of sarcasm and humor that can make even the most painful of games entertaining to read about.
An example of this would be the heart-wrenching game on August 18th in Minnesota, a town the Sox are not known for playing well in. Pretty much, the score went back and forth between each team leading the game. The White Sox nation thought we had it in the bag with Alexei Ramirez’s homerun to tie it up in the 9th and his go-ahead RBI single in the 10th. But oh wait! Then came former White Sox player, current Twin, Jim Thome to knock a walk-off homerun against his former team. (And cue my heart breaking.) The White Sox Blogger decided to show this with pictures.
The White Sox Blog is by no means an academic piece of literature. (The “About” section flat out said there would be an “occasional overlooked typo” or “sloppily researched fact.”) It is, however, written by a well-informed fan who seems to know what is going on in the White Sox world, and her opinions seem genuinely knowledgeable. And I’m not just saying that because she agrees with me that the Sox should have kept Scott Podsednik as lead-off man and left-fielder instead of Juan Pierre. (Read why here.)
The blog is a fan’s opinion written out, probably partially for her own entertainment and benefit, but also to inform other fans on how their team is doing. It’s not as straightforward as a curious fan might get from a Major League Baseball affiliated website, but it is a more user friendly means of getting the necessary information (as long as the reader knows the acronyms for baseball statistics). Most of her little details come in the form of humor, which makes the blog more enjoyable to read.
The White Sox Blog is actually somewhat similar to what I am aiming to do. It gives the gist of what’s happening on the field with some personal thoughts as well with some sarcasm and sassy zing thrown in along the way. I however hope to give less of a play-by-play and more opinion and inside the clubhouse and office information. Box scores can be found anywhere. I want to take my readers on more of a personal ride and take them deeper into the White Sox organization than they might get to go with another blog. I may only be 21, but I have 21 years worth of White Sox knowledge and experience that I can’t wait to share with the world.
Voice:
Voice: Not Just for Radio and TV Announcers
All great sports announcers have their own distinct voice. Whether they’re giving the play-by-play or commentary on the television or the radio, they maintain their voice throughout their careers. And I’m not just talking about what their voices sound like. It’s the tone, the language, the word choice and the unique phrases they use that made them famous and distinguishable.
Ken “the Hawk” Harrelson, a long-time White Sox television announcer, could easily say that the bases are loaded. Instead, he uses his own catchy phrase, “the sacks are packed with Sox.” Or whenever there’s a White Sox homerun, you hear his distinct cheer of “You can put it on the boooooard…YES!”
The written voice is no different (…minus the vocal aspect of voice). Writers use their “voice” to convey their character through the written word. There is a blog called South Side Sox that does an excellent job of showing examples of written voice. The blog itself actually has a few writers, and with each one, you can sense a different tone and style of writing.
One specific post starts us off on a catchy and clever note with the title “Sahx Sweep Sawx, Streak to Six,” playing off of the pronunciation of “Sox” with the stereotypical accents in Chicago and Boston, respectively. The play on words and alliteration grab the readers’ attention with gusto. At least it did for me! I assumed going into reading the post that it would be very witty and smart, and I was not let down. Along the same lines of it being smartly written, it was definitely written for the informed White Sox fan. Only an informed fan would know that “Stoney” refers to Steve Stone, one of the White Sox television announcers, and Q is short for Carlos Quentin.
He maintained his catchy voice from title to end, which really helped round out and conclude it. After he explained how the White Sox beat and swept the Red Sox, he said
Superb! That’s a bingo!Enjoy the day off tomorrow, if you got it.Detroit coming up in a few hours.
It was a crisp, smart, straight-to-the-point conclusion that let the reader know he was done, but left us ready for more.
Another post in the South Side Sox blog with a strong voice was called “Bizarro World (An August White Sox Review).” The voice of this author was above all things sarcastic, and bitter as well. The best example of this was in the passage that read:
Try this one on for size. The White Sox led themajorsAL in runs for the month of August. Like the sound of that? I do. Haven't heard that in awhile. Normally such info would cause even Mayor Daley to run through the streets of Chicago naked…
By using the strikeout technique on the word “majors,” the writer is indirectly mentioning and practically mocking the fact that the White Sox only led the American League in runs in August and not the National League as well. The excessive sarcasm that followed led to the unfortunate explanation of how even though the White Sox led the AL in runs, they still had an under .500 record for the month.
He solidified his bitter sarcasm with a simple “hooray.” Period. By placing a period after this usually joyous celebration of a word, he is removing all excitement from the word, which gives it a mocking tone. He then stated, “We now take an intermission for a rant.....” once again confirming his harsh voice.
Both of these voices work well with the topic of baseball. The witty and clever writing keeps the fans intrigued and entertained, while the sarcastic tone can often reflect the feelings of the fans when the team isn’t playing so great. A sweet and happy voice when writing about a team playing under .500 in a month would probably not sit well with angry fans. A slightly bitter attitude, however, would mirror and validate the fans’ outlook.
Let’s hope we don’t need any more angry posts this season…
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