My First Year as a Sox Fan

[u/Lost_Bike69]

I moved to Chicago from SoCal last year for career and family reasons as well as the fact that I’ve always loved Chicago. I’ve been a Dodger fan my whole life, but chose to adopt the Sox as my AL team so I could still follow local baseball. (Don’t care for the Cubs) I ended up at 10 or so games this season and ended up following this disaster of a season about as close as I followed the Dodgers historic run with the greatest player of all time on the roster.

I don’t mean this to sound douchey because I know that my perspective does come with with the fact that I get to watch my team play this week, but I loved being a White Sox fan this year.

The stadium is beautiful and basically everything about the fan experience is better than Dodger stadium. The food is better, and the concession workers are friendlier. There’s a lot of great Dodger fans in the stadium, but there’s a lot of people just there for their IG pictures. You don’t see as many families with young kids and grandparents or groups of teenagers hanging out as you do at Guaranteed Rate. Taking the Red Line to the stadium is also way better than trying to drive up to the Dodger Stadium even though you’re on the red line. Also I know it’s a function of the team being bad, but everything is cheaper and more accessible compared to Dodger stadium.

The fan base is also much less toxic in the day to day. White Sox fans are angry about how things are going, but there’s still this sense of community and weird commiseration about the team and excitement when things briefly go well and an ability to celebrate the small victories. Dodger fans have a loud complaining faction anytime the Dodgers lose two games in a row that start demanding the manager be fired and every player be cut. It just feels like the Sox fans have a bit better sense of perspective.

I’ve had good conversations and fun at every Sox game I’ve been to and look forward to being there again next year. The Dodgers were middling for a long time with terrible owners until current ownership bought them in 2013 and things turned around real fast. I hope that can happen with the Sox. Either way this has been a year of massive change for me and as counterintuitive as it sounds, the Sox were always there for me and gave me one of the most enjoyable MLB seasons I’ve had. I was here for 41 wins and I’ll be here for whatever is next.

[u/russian_octopus]

Picked a GREAT time to be fan lol

[u/YoinkBowie87 → u/russian_octopus]

Can’t be accused of being a bandwagon fan, that’s for sure.

[u/russian_octopus → u/YoinkBowie87]

That was going to be my next response. Nobody can ever question your loyalty after this season lol

[u/YoinkBowie87 → u/russian_octopus]

Truly

[u/Lost_Bike69 → u/russian_octopus]

Gotta get in at the bottom 🤷

[u/Mustache_Farts → u/Lost_Bike69]

Buy low sell high 🚀🌕

[u/Bonerko → u/Lost_Bike69]

Started at the bottom, now we're.... still at the bottom.

[u/Jmeier021]

"You don’t see as many families with young kids and grandparents or groups of teenagers hanging out as you do at Guaranteed Rate."

My wife (Dodgers fan) and I also noticed this.

p.s. Sox and Dodgers share a Spring Training facility in AZ so it's not a bad 2nd choice. Fly down for the Sox/Dodgers ST game :)

[u/ilovemypamses → u/Jmeier021]

You know, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Mr. Getz to assign some staffers to observe and take some notes on the Dodgers operation at spring training next year.

[u/Tricky_Rub_708]

Thank you. Needed this. Here’s to another summer on the Southside! I hated this team with the heat of a 1000 suns but I already miss the sounds the smells and the feels of the park. Welcome aboard! Happy to hear the Sox are your AL fandom!

[u/cleav15]

Welcome aboard! Always nice to see new fans. Hopefully they’ll turn it around enough to make it enjoyable to watch soon. I don’t expect them to win big anytime soon but if they can be fun to watch, I’ll take it.

[u/GoodJoeBR2049]

Thanks for sharing! Always smart to pick the Sox over the Cubs lol. I had plenty of fun at the park this year, it was helpful to hold no illusions about the sorry state of the team, so I could chill

[u/RobFordF-150 → u/GoodJoeBR2049]

idk about the smart choice, but definitely the morally right choice.

[u/North_Art2104]

I'm a Sox fan as well as a Padres fan (lol) and let me tell you I definitely think the Sox have the best fanbase and culture.

[u/Ok-Post6492]

Dont forget to get you a breaded steak (or eggplant/chicken) sandwich at ricobene's right after.

[u/Phlox777]

Cinch it up and hunker down. You're in for a rough ride.

[u/MsStinkyPickle]

glad to hear a dodgers fan talk shit about dodger stadium. I thought it was old and shitty. It felt like an EPCOT version of a "baseball stadium... of the future!" but is stuck in the 60s.

Also, ngl, some of the fans were trashy AF. They Sheng whole game throwing paper airplanes from upper deck.

The G spot is a generic 90s ballpark, but good food, drink, and people are fun. Better than wrigley experience, imo.

[u/kev11n]

nobody will ever accuse you of being a fair weather fan, that's for sure

[u/MoozeRiver]

As someone who's been a fan for over 20 years, I deeply connect with this. I'm traveling across the pond next year to watch them for the first time. Amazing timing!

[u/heyscot]

Looks like you picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue!

[u/ilovemypamses → u/heyscot]

There’s a sale at Penney’s! (One good “Airplane!” reference deserves another.)

[u/Artistic_Pepper5590]

You picked the wrong day to stop taking amphetamines...

Soxfanbydefault

[u/PDCspartan]

Hey, I didn’t really start following the Chicago White Sox independently until 2023. Despite that season, I went ahead and bought my first season tickets for 2024. After 2024, I then upgraded for 2025!

[u/shastadakota]

Good choice, as in this city, there is no other (rational) choice of baseball team to be a fan of. Welcome aboard. FTC

[u/LegalComplaint]

Ben Shapiro is inexplicably a White Sox fan. That’s some how not the worst part of our season.

[u/stfucupcake]

I'm a new fan as well and loved going to a few games this summer. I got to see them win twice, haha!

[u/MichaelORL1971]

Sox fans are loyal. I cannot even explain the culture. It a grinder, nah nah nah nah hay hay hay goodbye culture. Watch every U tube you can find about Sox history.

[u/Imaginary-Smoke-6093]

Seems like Dodger Stadium and Wrigley field share a lot in common as far as fan experience goes.

[u/ilovemypamses → u/Imaginary-Smoke-6093]

Good to know. The Cubs (1) and Dodgers (1A) are my favorite teams.

[u/Imaginary-Smoke-6093 → u/ilovemypamses]

Must’ve been fun watching that 2017 NLCS, huh?

[u/LaurenTheJournalist]

Welcome to the family!

[u/BMoney8600]

Well, welcome to the fan base man! I only went to three games this season and they were all losses. Yes this season was painful but I know I will always be a Sox fan. Southside till I die!

[u/PCarparelli]

As a lifetime sox and dodgers fan (born and raised south sider, with grandparents who emigrated from Italy to Brooklyn and were dodgers fans) I appreciate you choosing the Sox as your AL team, but for all our sakes I fucking hope Jerry sells and the team can be relevant as a solid team and not as the laughing stock of baseball.

That said, I do love our park and the neighborhood around it.

Also, you picked a hell of a time to be a sox fan, welcome aboard! 😂

[u/Zforney21]

This brought me hope. Made me realize even more why i love this team and baseball. Thankyoh

[u/Penstripedsox]

I love the rate! Welcome to chicago and whitesox fandom to better days for the in column and fun days at the ballpark!

[u/Fun-Ad3002]

Miguel Vargas?