Sox Fest Part 1

I attended my first and last SoxFest over the weekend. Thanks to a friend of a friend who works in the Sox front office, I got free tickets. I would never have paid for such an event.

The fest was creepy....really creepy. Lonely old women shuffling about aimlessly with stuffed animals in Sox jerseys, looking for autographs. Truly an Auto Show-type crowd. And the hotel smelled like ass.

There is a difference between 'fans' and 'fanatics'. Fans follow the game. Fanatics are adults who wait 10 hours in line for an autograph on their stuffed animal.

Upon arrival friday, I walked into one of the seminars just in time to hear Scott Reifert pushing his blog. The discussion was very narrow, and centered on his blog - which is just a PR vehicle for the team. It would've been nice if he could've expanded the discussion into non-traditional media, etc... He tried to make himself sound hip which, compared to the likes of Ed Farmer, I guess isn't so tough to do...

The fans weren't much better, and were asking the stupidest questions. One genius was trying to do the math on the number of seats lost in the renovation. He didn't make his point very clearly, but I guess it had something to do with ticket availbility, and that if there were more seats, then maybe he could get a ticket. Another fan presented Reifert and crew with his ideas for stadium renovations. But the biggest kook of them all was the woman who complained that the Sox didn't reward their loyal fans with post-season ticket availability. Reifert and did a good and accurate job of noting that the post season is really an MLB event, and the Sox really don't get many tickets - often the Sox have to beg borrow and steal from other teams and corporate sponsors just to meet past obligations. If I understood the discussion correctly, the Sox aren't even offering up post season tickets to people who are now buying FULL season ticket plans. Their comment was simply "You're too late." OK, back to the crazy woman. Her crack pot idea was to have the team install some kind of "frequent fan" attendance program, issuing cards, installing scanning machines, etc..., then, a fan who is "loyal" in her agruement, demonatrating that loyality by attending games, would be able to purchase post-season tickets. Talk about a day late and a dollar short! Lady, the Sox have MULTIPLE season ticket packages for all budgets that allow you to do just that (or used to, anyways). What an idiot. Frequent fan program. Fuck off!

Despite his reputation for being a salty dog, and God's gift to humanity, I never really had an opinion one way or the other on Ed Farmer - he calls a good game and more likely to crack a joke about his playing days than glorify them. ... until I heard him speak friday night. Whenever he couldn't think of something to say, when his wit failed him, he'd promptly end his thought/sentence with ".. your world champion Chicago White Sox" and the crowd, predictibally, went nuts. Farmer was pandering at best.. and it got worse. When the subject of John Rooney's departure came up, Farmer aggeressively barked "He quit!"... twice. From people close to the negoitations, I heard that while Rooney was calling the Score's bluff and holding out for more money, Farmer may have stabbed Rooney in the back by cutting a deal with the Score. Who knows if its true. But knowing Farmer's reputation, I wouldn't doubt it. One more thing on Farmer, he's definately got a face for radio.

I'm not quite sure Chris Singleton fully understands what he's gotten himself into. But what the fuck do I know? I'm on the outside lookin in, so I could definately be wrong on this as well. Either way - good luck Chris.

Saw Konerko - with his hottie wife - trying to make his way thru the crowd. It must be surreal for him to see som many people wearing his jersey. Sounds like Thome is hell bent on winning.

I tried to attend the pitching seminar with Brandon McCarthy, but unless you were standing right next to a speaker, you couldn't hear a fuckin word - there was just too much noise down in that basement.

As the fest wound down, I headed up to the bar. I saw the SoxTalk gathering - the site administrator's wife is a dead ringer for Elizabeth Berkley- but didn't bother to introduce myself.

Around 10 pm, I saw Bill Melton working the bar. Ozzie Jr. was there as well. A side note on Ozzie Jr - I hear people within the orginization speak very highly of him.

I think some of the players weren't in the bar because they were downstairs in a roped off section - Jermaine Dye's birthday party. They players probably also wanted to avoid the dorks with face paint and the creepy fanatics with stuffed animals lurking on the fringes, seeking an autograph (or 5).

I did meet Ron Kittle who was shilling for his 1) baseball bat benchs 2) his book. He was just a super nice guy who was taking time to talk to everyone.

The garage sale is a pretty good deal - they do it up right. I'm not much on bats, but the helmets were fairly priced. The jerseys were also a steal - I saw some official, non-game used, non-numerical jersey for $75 - about half of the retail price. They also sell all kinds of cool left over adornments from park, like ads and press passes and World Series tickets. Plus, the money goes to charity, so its for a good cause. Believe it or not, I heard people were looking for Man Soo Lee jerseys.

Some of the criticisims I've heard of the Fest - too crowded, no maps - are justified. That said, I didn't experience any issues. But I don't think I'd go back.