On at least 27 spring and summer days, my fine day is spent in and around U.S. Cellular Field, home of the World Champion Chicago White Sox. I take not a small amount of pleasure in writing this for the baiduhai, corporate sibling of the other baseball team in town. That team is supposed to have the fun market cornered, but if fun is defined as something other than “get hammered in one of 100 bars,” I’d say my day has a fair share of amusements, diversions and, especially, Major League Baseball.
More Top Picks Best Walking Shoes For Underpronation Men
MORNING
If it’s a work day, we start out by driving from our home in Beverly to the spacious and convenient parking lots that surround the Cell, where we leave our car for the day, traveling by “L” downtown to work. The return trip is a breeze compared to fighting rush-hour traffic on the beleaguered Dan Ryan or any of its feeders or alternates. Kudos to whoever thought up Park and Ride.
AFTERNOON or EVENING
Depending on game time, we might allow time for tailgating with a cooler and portable grill (have I mentioned the spacious and convenient parking lots?), where beanbag games proliferate and a friendly atmosphere predominates. Or we might take a walk over to Grandstand (600 W. 35th St., 773-927-1984), a shop with a vast supply of all things White Sox. Among our purchases there: a reproduction 1972 Bill Melton jersey, a 1985 jersey (with 75th anniversary of Comiskey Park patch), a Jon Garland green pinstriped halfway-to-St. Patrick’s Day jersey and any number of T-shirts and hats. Allow enough time; you can be there for hours. Walk back down neighborhood streets and enjoy the mix of older homes and newer (and quite pricey) manses, or walk back through the lot just north of the park and visit Old Comiskey Park’s home plate.
If we haven’t tailgated, we select from any number of fine beers available and usually a kosher dog with grilled onions. The combination is sublime. Then it’s out to our seats and one of my favorite parts of the pre-game — the highlight video that precedes the team introduction. Set to music that includes a “Pirates of the Caribbean” soundtrack sample, it spans more than a century of highlights, the apex of which used to be the ’59 Go-Go Sox. Not anymore. Those pennant-winners — interspersed with replays of Carlton Fisk tagging out two Yankees in the same play and highlights of the Bo Jackson era — share the reel with scenes from October’s playoffs and World Series wins. These never get old, and I’m still misty when the team takes the field to AC-DC’s “Thunderstruck.”
Among the park’s interior attractions are the Hall of Fame, FUNdamentals deck for kids and, of course, the well-traveled World Series trophy.
For a really fine day, end with a White Sox win and plenty of fireworks.