The Curtain Descends...

Well, the Ticker-Tape has been swept off LaSalle Street, Halloween is right around the corner, Indiana has done it's last funky "daylight-savings-time-but-without-any-actual-time-change" thing, NFL teams are gearing up for the second half, and the buzz now is surrounding how can the Sox re-sign Paul Konerko?

That's right, the 2005 edition of White Sox coverage here at Sox-Irish is officially in the books. AND WHAT A SEASON IT WAS! The cherry on top came when I opened today's special section of the Tribune (and you know what team the Trib owns) and what to my wondering eyes should appear but: The Wrigley Field sign, with its famous "Home of Chicago Cubs" grammar, flashing a "Congratulations" to the White Sox. Game, set, and match, Southsiders.

That's all for Sox-Irish's coverage of your WORLD CHAMPIONS for this season. But we'll be back next year with wall-to-wall coverage as the Sox begin a truly foreign idea to Chicagoans: a baseball championship defense.

In other news, Charlie Weis is now set to be the highest-paid coach in all of football, locked up at ND through 2015 in an attempt to quiet those "Weis is heading back to the pros after one season" rumors. He is currently preparing the Irish to face the reeling Tennessee Volunteers this weekend...

The Day After...

A really cool thing happened this morning: I woke up, and it wasn't all a dream.

THE SOX ARE THE CHAMPS. Championship parade set for tomorrow in the heart of the Loop...

Messages from the Fans...

Sox fans are a tight bunch. Cubs fans like to mock that the Sox are a franchise only rejects and ghetto thugs could love, but the Silver and Black run deep through families of every stripe, race, creed, and economic bracket in the city of Chicago. Too long we've been waiting, and this season, especially in the last two weeks of September when all appeared to be lost and a certain idiot columnist referred to the Sox as "Choke-Job Theater", we united as one.

And tonight, we celebrate as champions...

A few words from fellow Sox fans...

From Zippy @ South Carolina...

"This is for Shoeless Joe, for Minnie Minoso, for Luis Aparicio, for Carlton Fisk, for Frank Thomas. Ozzie Guillen, Harold Baines, Joey Cora, Harold Baines, Greg Walker. This is for the South Side of Chicago, for the team that's been the bastard stepchild of Major League Baseball and the forgotten team in it's own city for too long. Scott Podsednik, Aaron Rowand, Jermaine Dye. Tadahito Iguchi, Juan Uribe, Joe Crede, Paul Konerko, AJ Pierzynski. Orlando Hernandez, Mark Buerhle, Jon Garland, Jose Contreras, Freddy Garcia, Neal Cotts, Dustin Hermanson, Damaso Marte, Cliff Politte, Luis Vizcaino, Bobby Jenks. Geoff Blum, Willie Harris, Pablo Ozuna, Carl Everett, Chris Widger, Timo Perez.

This is White Sox baseball.
2005 World Champions

WHAT A TEAM!!"

From Jarred @ Purdue...

"I'm so fucking happy right now."

From Terry Heidkamp, My Father...

"I never thought I'd see the day."

From Paul Sigfusson @ Indiana...

"Go Cubs."




Haha...okay Paul, we'll keep an eye out for a Red-Line Series in 2006. How sweet would that be? MAYBE as sweet as tonight.

Crack open a cold one Chicago White Sox fans...the sweetest swig of championship glory after the longest drought of our lives!!!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

LET'S GO, GO-GO WHITE SOX
We're with you all the way
You're always in there fighting and you do your best
We're glad to have you out here in the middle west

We're gonna root root root root White Sox
And cheer you on to victory
When we're in the stands we'll make those rafters ring
All through the season you will hear us sing

Let's go, Go-Go White Sox
Chicago is proud of you

White Sox
White Sox
Go, go White Sox

Root root root for the White Sox
We'll cheer you on to victory
When we're in the stands we'll make those rafters ring
All through the season you will hear us sing

Let's go, Go-Go White Sox
Chicago is proud of you

White Sox
White Sox
Go, go White Sox

Let's go, Go-Go White Sox
Chicago is proud of you






MORE TO FOLLOW WHEN I'M NOT ON AN ADRENALINE HIGH!!!!!!

WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!!

YOU CAN PUT THAT ON THE BOARD,

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!

ONE MORE WIN

The following sentence has not been written in 88 years:

A CHICAGO BASEBALL TEAM IS NOW ONE WIN AWAY FROM CAPTURING THE WORLD SERIES TITLE.

Think of all the great players who have donned the pale hose: Luis Aparicio. Nellie Fox. Minnie Minoso. Chico Carrasquel. Dick Allen. Robin Ventura. Bo Jackson. Carlton Fisk. Harold Baines. Billy Pierce. Luke Appling. Wilbur Wood. Goose Gossage. And, think even of Shoeless Joe and Buck Weaver.

The Sox have tradition. They just, unlike their Northside brethren, refuse to allow the notion that it is cursing them from beyond the grave. Year after year of Sox failure has been explained by the actual rationale of any sane baseball player and fan: "We simply don't have what it takes." Unlike Wrigley and Fenway, the population of Comiskey has no belief that they are simply meant to suffer. They recognize a terrible team when it walks up and introduces itself.

And more often than not, the Sox have over the past 88 years been a terrible team. The bright flashes of '59, '83, '93, 2000. Snuffed out by one cold dose of reality after another. Not a hex or a fluke fan deflection of foul ball, just reality.

And now, in October of 2005, the White Sox are ONE WIN AWAY from a whole new era of Chicago baseball. A CHAMPIONSHIP era.



Oh, by the way...Sox win tonight 7-5 in 14 innings, the longest game in World Series history at 5+ hours. Woo hoo.

We're Halfway There...

WHOOOOAAAAAH, LIVIN' ON A PRAYER!!!!!!!

Seriously, we ND students love our Bon Jovi.

And the White Sox are halfway to heaven, up 2-0 in the World Series. Jon Garland vs. Roy Oswalt tonight in the best overall pitching matchup of the Series. I still think Houston's pitching is too strong for them to go quietly, so I look for the Astros to get the Series back to the Southside, which is where Mark Buehrle pitches a perfect game to deliver a Game 6 victory for the Sox and a championship for the first time in nearly nine decades.

OK, "perfect game" might be shooting a little high, but with your team TWO wins away from the title for the first time in your life, your father's life, AND your grandfather's life, a little optimism goes a long way.

Brady Quinn solidly alone in 4th place in the ESPN Heisman Watch. Not like he has a chance at winning, but it's nice to see him getting some publication.

WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!

Another knock-down, drag-out on the Southside goes to the Pale Hose, this time by a score of 7-6, thanks to a confusing "hit by pitch" call on Jermaine Dye, a Paul Konerko slam, a Bobby Jenks let-down, an off-line throw to the plate, and finally.............



America's new "Mr. October", Scott Podsednik, with his 2nd homer of the postseason to walk off with a White Sox winner. This after a grand total of NO home runs in the first 162 games.

Let's Go Go Go WHHHHHIIIIIIITTTTTTTEEEEE SOX!

Rolling Along

In the words of Darth Vader, "All too easy."

OK, fine, 'easy' is the wrong word, but the Irish pull away from the BYU Cougars thanks to a sick SIX touchdown throws from Brady Quinn. He is getting very close to locking up an invite to New York for the Heisman Presentation.

AND THE SOX...well, they chase the Rocket early and grind out a couple of runs to defeat the Astros 5-3 in Game One. Joe Crede comes up big not only with a tie-breaking homer but also with several key defensive plays. Sox up 1-zip with Buehrle going to the hill tomorrow night...

Miscellaneous

Hm, what's going on today...

Oh, wait, THE WHITE SOX ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!!!! WOO-HOO! Game 1 pits two former Yankees, Clemens & Contreras, in a battle to see who can make The Boss feel more miserable. Tomorrow at 7:00 on Fox. Do it, ChiSox.

Charlie Weis has spent all week talking about BYU as the "home opener" of the second season. Well played, CW, well played.

The final word on ND-SC: a really kickass highlight video of the game can be downloaded here. It's a little bit slanted in ND's favor (I mean, the guy DID morph Darth Vader's helmet onto Pete Carroll's body), but no matter which team you were rooting for last Saturday, you will enjoy it. The music is John Williams' main theme from Episode III, "Battle of the Heroes". Couldn't have done it better myself.

WHITE SOX-ASTROS

One team now stands in the way of the White Sox and the end of 88 years of frustration, and their name is the Houston Astros.

On paper, a slight edge WOULD go to the Astros thanks to their pitching. But that was before the White Sox starters decided "Bullpen? We don't need no stinking bullpen!!!" and held the Angels to 11 runs over 5 games while pitching all but 2/3 of the innings in the ALCS.

It's a tossup. But I'm a White Sox fan and I think we have a slightly stronger offense. Pale Hose in six. LET THE NON-STOP GLOATING OVER CUBS FANS BEGIN IN (HOPEFULLY) 10 DAYS!!!!

Tales from the Campus Bizarre (not to be confused with the Bazaar): Getting locked out of your own room and having to sleep in the Dillon Lounge before finding a cleaning lady to open your door at 8 the next morning is lots of fun. No, really, it is.

18 Minutes..

That's how long it took for all the White Sox World Series tickets to sell out. I never had a chance. I've got a couple thin hopes via eBay, but I'm not holding my breath.

You get a better view on TV anyway...riiiiiiigggghht.

OH CRUEL FATE!!!!!

Brad Lidge was ONE STRIKE away from delivering the Astros to their first World Series ever. One strike. He allows a single to David Eckstein. Still one out away. Then he walks Jim Edmonds. Getting a little nervous now, I mean, let's face it, Albert Pujols is up next.

And what does he do?

HITS A FREAKIN' 3-RUN HOMER TO GIVE THE CARDS A 5-4 LEAD. Can they hang on? You hope for Lidge's sake they don't, but what an NLCS this could yet become.

Updated 10:49 -- Cards close it out. Don't bring down Busch just yet.

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE WHITE SOX WIN THE PENNANT!!!!! THE WHITE SOX WIN THE PENNANT!!!!! THE WHITE SOX WIN THE PENNANT!!!!! THE WHITE SOX WIN THE PENNANT!!!!! THE WHITE SOX WIN THE PENNANT!!!!!



Unbelievable. This feels so damn good, the perfect antidote to yesterday's "ecstacy-to-agony-in-seven-seconds-flat" feeling.

The White Sox are in the World Series for the first time in 46 years, leaving the Cubs alone in their infamy as the only team to go more than 4 decades without a pennant.

They have a full week to prepare for their opponent, likely to be the Houston Astros but don't write off the St. Louis Cardinals just yet, even if they are down 3-1.

The quest for tickets begins, and it's gonna be an uphill climb for sure...haven't found a site offering for less than $1000 a pop. Wish me luck.