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This is pretty scary...cause in my case...very very true.
Cubs fans unbalanced? Well ... yeah
By Dave Wischnowsky
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 29, 2005, 10:44 PM CDT
On Thursday afternoon, hours after the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers to clinch the American League Central title -- finally -- Tribune staff reporter Mike Conklin contacted an assistant professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University.
And to Dr. Robert Burton, the question was posed: "If a Cubs fan living in Chicago pulls against the White Sox, does it indicate he or she might be mentally unbalanced?"
To which this dyed-in-the-wool Cubs fan immediately thought …
Well, duh.
Of course, I'm mentally unbalanced.
I'm a Cubs fan.
I hardly need to root against the White Sox in the playoffs to reach that conclusion. Fact is, I was automatically diagnosed in the early 1980s when I walked through the turnstiles at Wrigley Field for the first time.
"Here's your complimentary Jody Davis batting helmet, kid. Welcome to a lifetime of misery. Go Cubs!"
Like peanut butter and jelly, crowds and Ikea, and Chicago and road construction, the words "Cubs fan" and "mentally unstable" go hand in hand.
When one of those hands isn't dropping a routine pop fly, that is.
I like to fancy the big "C" on the Cubs cap lying in my closet as being a red badge of "courage" (97 years of it … and counting). But I know it's much more likely that it stands for something else …
Crazy.
And I'm not the only one.
"There's a huge imbalance in Cubs fans," my buddy Ryan Gaines, a fellow Wrigley Field masochist, said matter-of-factly when I called him Thursday night, just to confirm that -- heck, yeah -- we're insane.
And darn proud of it.
"A lot of people -- you and I included -- can't make rational decisions," Gaines said, with a hint of pride, as he explained the plight of the 3,099,992 poor souls who visited the loony bin the corner of Clark & Addison this summer.
Ah, only in Wrigleyville is sickness a reason for celebration.
As for Dr. Burton's official opinion on the mental state of Cubs fans cheering against the White Sox, he said: "If the teams are not directly competing against each other, the idea of a Cubs fan rooting against the White Sox becomes a little pathological.
"Technically, it probably stems from some unresolved sibling rivalry kind of thing. Otherwise, you have to wonder what a Cubs fan has to gain by pulling against the White Sox. Not too much, really, unless it's to feel better about himself. If the White Sox lose, then they're both in the doghouse."
C'mon Doc, this is Chicago. When it comes to Cubs and Sox fans, misery doesn't just love company.
The misers openly root for it.
On both sides (although, I contend that Sox fans cheer against the Cubs harder than vice versa).
I openly admit, however, that I will indeed be rooting for the White Sox to stumble next week. Just like my White Sox friends -- all two of them (I'm joking! ... Well, kind of) -- openly cheered for the Cubs to fail in the playoffs in 2003.
I expected nothing less.
The way I see it, like the Hatfields and the McCoys, there's at least one thing Cubs and Sox fans can agree on.
Disagreeing.
Don't you agree?
Dr. Burton, though, apparently thinks we should all just get along.
But, really, what's the fun in that?
"A resolved sibling rivalry would let you enjoy the success of your neighbor, or whomever, and root against each other only when you're going head-to-head," he said. "Any kind of sibling rivalry is commonly referred to as arrested development. Then, you get history and other issues layered on top of everything, and it can compound things.
"I personally pay more attention to whichever team is succeeding."
Well, that would mean, most seasons, he must not pay any attention at all.
Oh, Chicago baseball ... you gotta love it.
Cubs fans unbalanced? Well ... yeah
By Dave Wischnowsky
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 29, 2005, 10:44 PM CDT
On Thursday afternoon, hours after the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers to clinch the American League Central title -- finally -- Tribune staff reporter Mike Conklin contacted an assistant professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University.
And to Dr. Robert Burton, the question was posed: "If a Cubs fan living in Chicago pulls against the White Sox, does it indicate he or she might be mentally unbalanced?"
To which this dyed-in-the-wool Cubs fan immediately thought …
Well, duh.
Of course, I'm mentally unbalanced.
I'm a Cubs fan.
I hardly need to root against the White Sox in the playoffs to reach that conclusion. Fact is, I was automatically diagnosed in the early 1980s when I walked through the turnstiles at Wrigley Field for the first time.
"Here's your complimentary Jody Davis batting helmet, kid. Welcome to a lifetime of misery. Go Cubs!"
Like peanut butter and jelly, crowds and Ikea, and Chicago and road construction, the words "Cubs fan" and "mentally unstable" go hand in hand.
When one of those hands isn't dropping a routine pop fly, that is.
I like to fancy the big "C" on the Cubs cap lying in my closet as being a red badge of "courage" (97 years of it … and counting). But I know it's much more likely that it stands for something else …
Crazy.
And I'm not the only one.
"There's a huge imbalance in Cubs fans," my buddy Ryan Gaines, a fellow Wrigley Field masochist, said matter-of-factly when I called him Thursday night, just to confirm that -- heck, yeah -- we're insane.
And darn proud of it.
"A lot of people -- you and I included -- can't make rational decisions," Gaines said, with a hint of pride, as he explained the plight of the 3,099,992 poor souls who visited the loony bin the corner of Clark & Addison this summer.
Ah, only in Wrigleyville is sickness a reason for celebration.
As for Dr. Burton's official opinion on the mental state of Cubs fans cheering against the White Sox, he said: "If the teams are not directly competing against each other, the idea of a Cubs fan rooting against the White Sox becomes a little pathological.
"Technically, it probably stems from some unresolved sibling rivalry kind of thing. Otherwise, you have to wonder what a Cubs fan has to gain by pulling against the White Sox. Not too much, really, unless it's to feel better about himself. If the White Sox lose, then they're both in the doghouse."
C'mon Doc, this is Chicago. When it comes to Cubs and Sox fans, misery doesn't just love company.
The misers openly root for it.
On both sides (although, I contend that Sox fans cheer against the Cubs harder than vice versa).
I openly admit, however, that I will indeed be rooting for the White Sox to stumble next week. Just like my White Sox friends -- all two of them (I'm joking! ... Well, kind of) -- openly cheered for the Cubs to fail in the playoffs in 2003.
I expected nothing less.
The way I see it, like the Hatfields and the McCoys, there's at least one thing Cubs and Sox fans can agree on.
Disagreeing.
Don't you agree?
Dr. Burton, though, apparently thinks we should all just get along.
But, really, what's the fun in that?
"A resolved sibling rivalry would let you enjoy the success of your neighbor, or whomever, and root against each other only when you're going head-to-head," he said. "Any kind of sibling rivalry is commonly referred to as arrested development. Then, you get history and other issues layered on top of everything, and it can compound things.
"I personally pay more attention to whichever team is succeeding."
Well, that would mean, most seasons, he must not pay any attention at all.
Oh, Chicago baseball ... you gotta love it.
:tongue:
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