Crosstown Crosshairs

May 20, 2012

Sox, Cubs,  NATO

The whole world is watching.  And now it knows how bad the Cubs really are.

And how good the White Sox could be.

If they keep playing the Cubs.

On a hot spring weekend in Chicago when world leaders and angry protesters came to town for the NATO Summit, the White Sox unilaterally conquered the Cubs on their home turf, employing a scorched earth policy with victories of 3-2 on Friday, 7-4 on Saturday and 6-0 on Sunday on a day it was so hot at Wrigley Field that some of Sammy Sosa’s old hair gel became reanimated and was put in as a pinch-runner.

As thousands of protesters marched through Chicago’s streets confronting, and sometimes provoking, police over issues such as war, poverty, famine, climate change, overpopulation and Mark Zuckerberg’s curls, the Sox and Cubs kept their differences on the field, perhaps grateful that no riot gear was needed to protect Cubs hitters from angry fans who pay $60 a ticket, $7 a beer and have about as much chance of seeing a pennant winner as Luxembourg has of getting a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949.  The Cubs have not been to a World Series during NATO’s entire existence. The White Sox have played in two during that time, winning won and spilling beer in the other.

Where does baseball fit in?  Do the protesters who have many gripes and messages but seem to lack a unifying theme or coda get incensed thinking about millionaires playing a boy’s game?  Or was it that they just couldn’t get tickets?

Would NATO have fewer detractors if it was a coalition of outfielders and not armies?

No matter what side of the protest lines one stands on or even if it’s off to the side, which is probably where most reside, there most be accord that the world is a troubled place and would be better off with fewer bombs, guns and motorcades which shut down city traffic on a balmy Saturday when you’re already late for a Bar Mitzvah.

But where are the answers?  Can the world find security and liberty in the revived home run swing of Adam Dunn?  Are there peace and prosperity in the pride and integrity of Kerry Wood?

And poor Paul Konerko can barely see out of that eye.

The White Sox and Cubs now go their separate ways for another month.  When they meet again in June at Chicago’s best baseball park, U.S. Cellular Field, the Cubs will likely still be stuck near the bottom of their division and the Sox are a good bet to remain in their flirtatious orbit around the bountiful land of contention.

The NATO leaders and protesters will be long gone.  The streets of Chicago will be quiet.  The streets of the world will have disquietude.