The baseball season has begun in earnest on the South Side of Chicago, and like every team that has not sprung ahead to a division lead in the five or six games since the season started, the White Sox have been met with criticism for their seemingly lackluster start to the 2010 season.
Admittedly, I am one of those prone to being critical of the Sox, sometimes undeservedly so. I have found that I am not alone in my cynicism, though, as there seems to be an increasing number of fans willing to reprobate the players, coaches, front office personnel and generally the White Sox organization as a whole.
However, there remains a large group of Sox fans--be they pre- and post-game radio hosts, reputable columnists, congregating fans or even White Sox personnel--unwilling to engage in talk disapproving of our beloved team.
And indeed, those that are in a position to do so have shown a propensity to attempt to retard the growth of such upheaval by whatever means necessary: hanging up on and patronizing callers to sports talk shows, banning message board posters for their views, telling the criticizing fan-base to become Cubs fans (thank you, Ozzie) or simply waiving a dismissive hand whenever talk of general Sox Sucktitude arises.
Through personal experience, I have come to find that these people ("Defenders", let's call them) have a set of counter-arguments already in place to deal with those unhappy with the performance of the White Sox, and this list is intended to help you, the criticizing Sox fan, in identifying and dealing with Defenders.
Some of these arguments are timeless, able to be applied at a moments notice to suffocate arguments condemning the Whtie Sox, regardless of who is actually on the team, who is managing, the ballpark, run environment, etc.
Others however, are products of a specific environment, usually reserved for use in the most desperate attempts to cover up, and make excuses for, the most egregious of errors by the South Siders.
As far as specific ranking in this piece goes, the arguments posed by Defenders are ordered from least- to most-hated retorts based on the current state of the season, meaning that the tenth argument on this list will not always be less-abrasive and stupid than the first.
Really, just like exchanges with the most abhorrent Defenders, this list is a fluid one, with rankings being little more than general placeholders.
So then, let's get started with the top-10 reasons Defenders say you cannot be critical of the Chicago White Sox.
- Login to post comments