If Your City Has Two Teams, You Pick One To Love And One To Hate
A lot of people are saying I look rattled in this video. Ya wanna know why I look rattled in this video? Because I was completely fucking rattled in this video.
But it's not for reasons you'd guess. When our social media guy Danny pointed out Cusack to me and I "accosted" him, I was really just going up to him to bust his balls for a minute and say what's up. Friendly little digs between a coupla Chicago guys amirite?? That's obviously not what happened though. I was rattled because he IMMEDIATELY became defensive at my question and threw an obscure player with 6 career HRs over a 10 year career at me that was done playing before I was even born.
The sheer randomness of MIKE SQUIRES threw me off my A game. THAT'S why I was rattled. Cusack wasn't fuckin' around. He was ready to drop some 1983 AL West champion knowledge on someone last night, and that someone just randomly happened to be me. That's why I was completely shook. I was just like "uhhh wtf?? did John Cusack just throw a Mike Squires fact at me???"
It was like he was anticipating being called out for it, knew what he was doing was completely lame, and had that Mike Squires factoid ready to go like a loaded gun. Just sitting there thinking to himself, "god, I know it's a sorta bad look to wear a Sox hat after being seen in Cubs gear 100x over the last handful of years. Better get some 1983 White Sox players ready to go when I inevitably get called out for it!!!"
In the end I don't actually give a shit who he roots for and I don't give a shit he played a White Sox player in a movie.
HOWEVER.....Yes, he is on my banned list:
Which is a list that's meant to be taken completely in jest. As you can see, former presidents, a girl that spins a wheel on a game show, and others are on the list, a list that's meant for entertainment purposes. I'm not the gatekeeper of White Sox fandom. I just like to fuck around on the internet.
Now at the same time I'd be lying if I said it doesn't irk me when Cusack solely pops up at Sox Park when the Sox are finally good after parading around in Cubs hats and singing "Go Cubs Go" from 2015 through now.... after seeing him sing "Go Go White Sox" during the 2005 World Series run. That is... actually, actually annoying as fuck.... but I ain't losing sleep and wouldn't even think about John Cusack unless I ran into him on the street.
Our friend Sam Panayotovich nails it:
In the end the guy can do whatever he wants in spite of me thinking it's lame as fuck. Sure, I've heard from people inside both the Cubs and White Sox organizations that Cusack name drops himself and demands the best seats for premium games for both teams, but whatever. If I had any level of fame I'd LOVE to pull the "do you know who I am?" card too, even though I fully recognize how douchey a move that is. I'd just wear that douchiness on my sleeve and not hide behind some guise that he's just some die hard watching his boys play in a playoff game.
To me it's simple: In Chicago, you have two baseball teams. You pick one to love and you pick one to hate. I get that Cubs fans don't really give a shit about the Sox all while Sox fans LOATHE the Cubs on the other hand, but our two baseball teams have had literally 1 championship a piece in 200+ combined years of baseball. As someone who eats, drinks, breathes, eats White Sox baseball I think it's a lame move to just hop on board now that they're good again while abandoning the Cubs. I was MISERABLE watching the White Sox until 2020. Now I reap the benefits of what was an awesome rebuild. Like I told him, part of the fan experience should be being a miserable fuck when your team sucks.
Pink hats are lame. Cusack can fuck off.