White Sox embarrassing on and off the field

By S.C. Zuba
Sports Columnist

The White Sox organization ought to be ashamed of itself.

There is absolutely no excuse for the pathetic display of baseball the White Sox have put on for the past two weeks. This team went from being in the thick of the competition for first place, to falling more than 10 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins.

The White Sox entered a six-game home stand Sept. 14 against the Twins, and, at that point, they trailed Minnesota by three games.

One thing needed to happen: The White Sox needed to sweep. Instead, the White Sox were swept, while giving up 26 runs over the three-game series. It didn’t stop there, though. Next up were the Detroit Tigers, who strolled into Chicago and took three more games from the White Sox.

After the back-to-back sweeps, it was clear the White Sox were not making the playoffs. They couldn’t win, and Minnesota couldn’t lose. That series against Minnesota started a stretch where the White Sox lost eight of nine games and fell embarrassingly out of contention.

During this stretch, the Twins proved why they deserve to win the American League Central. The White Sox, on the other hand, proved how much of a circus this organization could be.

Not only was the team becoming the laughing stock of the league for faring so poorly when it mattered the most, but the general manager and manager decided it was the best time to start taking shots at one another.

Reports indicated Kenny Williams was tired of Ozzie Guillen leading his club. Then, Guillen said he’d be willing to manage elsewhere if he wasn’t wanted. Then, Williams said Guillen could stay. Then, in a shocking turn of events, Guillen entertained the idea of managing the Cubs.

The Cubs? For someone born and bred to be with the White Sox? What a joke.

This fiasco is as unprofessional as it is embarrassing to White Sox fans. There are few other organization that start throwing the kitchen sink around when its team starts to lose a few games—the White Sox, apparently, are one of them.

But back to the team. As a fan, it really bothers me when a team gives up when it’s out of contention. Do the White Sox have a chance at making the playoffs? No. But do they have the chance to play good baseball for the remainder of the season? Yes.

They owe it to the fans. The fans who bought tickets in April when it was 40 degrees; the fans who go to The Cell and spend a few hundreds dollars on a game; the fans who religiously watch every game of the season at home on TV—The White Sox owe it to these fans to finish strong.

In contention or out of contention, they’re making millions—so play like it.

Share your thoughts with S.C. Zuba via e-mail at samuelczuba@gmail.com.

From the Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2010 issue