Sinking in

One team dog

"In the evening there is a sunset sonata comes to the cities
There is a march of little armies to the dwindling of drums
The skyscrapers throw their tall lengths of walls into black bastions on the red west
The skyscrapers fasten their perpendicular alphabets far across the changing sliver triangles of stars and streets"

--Carl Sandburg

I've been meaning to post the below entry for a few days...

I took the day off on friday and joined the throng of humanity in the Loop for the Sox parade and rally. I thought the 'neighborhood' parade idea was a good one, and I've enjoyed the pictures I've seen from Bronzeville, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Chinatown and Greektown. I saw the tail end of that portion, watching from an uncrowded perch on Union Station near Jackson and Canal. I was able to actually see tha players and even screamed out Pablo Ozuna's name. After the buses passed, I hightailed it over to LaSalle. A lot of people watching on Jackson had the same idea. In fact, take a look at the Sox parade pictures from the Looper photo blog - it looks like Devyn and I were almost right across the street from each other.

I wound up on the north side of LaSalle, on Monroe. I got there just as the buses started going by and the crowd, even at that mid-point of the parade, was at least 30 deep. So, I was glad I got to see at least something back on Jackson.

After the parade passed, I crossed at Jackson and played in the ticker tape. I marveled at the sheer numbers of Sox fans. Bandwagon jumpers or not, it was great to see so many fans. Speaking as someone who attend a few of the fireworks at Taste back in the early 1990s, I think the "1.75 million" figure might be just a bit inflated, but so what- it was still a lot of peop0le, a lot more than I think anyone expected.

I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere near the stage, so I took the time to do something I've been meaning to do for a few years now - see Millienium Park. It was refreshingly uncrowded.

Some time later, after the parade and rally were long over, I walked across Michigan Ave and was heading west on Randolph, when I saw about a dozen Sox fans running down the middle of the street (it wasn't one of the streets that was closed, either). I turned to watch as they headed towards Michigan and realized what they were running towards - the Sox buses were on Michigan, heading south - rapidly - returning the Sox contingent to the southside. I raced down Randolph, and got about 20 yards from Michigan when the last bus drove by, with one of the Sox players - couldn't say for sure, but I think it was Konerko - holding the championship trophy, high above his head and pumping it and down against the backdrop of a cloudless October sky.

That's when it finally sunk in.

White Sox - Champions!