I'm a Crosstown Cool Kid

I can cross another thing off my Chicago Bucket List: Attend White Sox-Cubs Crosstown Classic game.

After my radio debut and the crushing USA World Cup loss, I headed to the game with Greg who recruited me to join him because he had an extra ticket. The game started at six. We got there around four.

Four is also the number of important things I learned on this day:

1. People tailgate at baseball games in the Midwest. And do they! Guess that's what happens when your baseball team actually has a parking lot. The tailgating party we attended was stocked with all kinds of food from taco dip and chips to brats and burgers to cookies and Twizzler bites. I was thoroughly impressed. I probably should have eaten more of the food there seeing I had only eaten a PBJ sandwich all day and started drinking to keep up with the crowd. Let's just say I remember that the White Sox won thanks to Paul Konerko's homer in the eighth inning, but not much else from in between.

2. There is a game called "Bags" that is very popular here. Pretty much everyone had a set at their tailgating party. It's kind of like the washer game, but in this one you try to throw beanbags into a single hole cut out of a big wooden stand. Most people had theirs painted White Sox, Cubs and Bears themed. Some even had one side Bears, one side Cubs with matching bean bags. This game is everywhere. They even have tournaments in the bars during the summer.

3. When one team is mediocre and the other is awful (guess which one is which), the trash talking boils down to "Hey nice shirt... it sucks."

4. Fans at U.S. Cellular Field are much nicer to you when you're not wearing the opposing team's gear, or any gear at all. Not hot dog throwing incidents from what I can remember. But that's not saying too much.

I also discovered that there really are Red Sox fans everywhere. I made friends with the group of guys sitting next to me in the stands. I became good friends with the Cubs fan in the group because he also loved the Red Sox (he looked a lot like suspended Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano so I kept calling him Carlos). This guy named his son Boston because he was born around the same time the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. I honestly thought he was lying but his friends assured me he wasn't. And I thought all the people who named their kids Trot and Brady were die-hard!

I was there to witness the White Sox winning the first annual BP Crosstown Cup. People care so little about this new trophy that the stadium was nearly empty by the time the Sox were given the award on the field. And it's not just because BP is the unfortunate sponsor. It's because it's a dumb idea.

It's also a dumb idea to drink lots of beer and not eat all day. Let's just say Sunday was a little painful. Evidently, I learned five important things that day.