CUBS OR SOX, WHOSE SIDE YOU ON?

Today's column was supposed to be me bragging about the Chicago Cubs' first win in their first playoff game vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers (and something negative about the White Sox, just because), but we all know what happened by now.

So I will withhold my peanut gallery banter (until the Sox lose their first playoff game, haha).

What this is instead is the start of what will be a daily rundown of game facts, amusing stories and rambling thoughts and predictions (however outlandish) about our crosstown rivalries: the mutual like and dislike we all share in one way or another for ours and the other guy's teams.

For the next several days, maybe couple of weeks, we will use The Sports blog to share our feelings about the Cubs and Sox, and we'd like you to give us your feedback, too.

Register on the site (if you haven't already) and write away, anything that's on your mind about the playoffs, this past season and beyond. Do the Cubs suck? Do the Sox stink? We'll leave it up to you to decide.

In the meantime, Sox Guy and I (Cubs Guy, of course) will carry on, like Matthau and Lemmon, Hatfield and McCoy, heck, Ike and Tina for all I care. All we want you to do is to blog on our blog and we'll edit out the profanities.


IT seemed like clear sailing following DeRosa's two-run homer early in the game Wednesday, but once Loney belted the grand slam over the center-left field wall, it seemed downhill from there.

Sure, I am a huge die-hard Cub fan who was hoping for an eleventh-hour comeback, but I'm also a realist. Although I am never one to leave early or flip to another channel when the going gets tough, I was already thinking about Thursday night's game, er, victory.

One thing's for sure (in an ideal world): the Cubs are destined to go all the way, eventually beating (I hope) the South Side Hit Men in a nail-biting, down-to-the-wire World Series. I am sure some of you vehemently disagree.

That's where me and my publisher, Scott, differ -- in our Major League Baseball allegiance, which for the both of us have been lifelong commitments. While this relationship, passed down from my late mother, has sometimes (OK, often) let me down, it remains close to my heart. Yes, I bleed Cubbie blue. Some years much more than others (Thank you, Padres).

Upon running into Steve Palmer Wednesday evening just before the game (he runs Palmer Place Restaurant & Bier Garten on La Grange Road with his brother Phil and their mother Ruth), I asked him to share the story of his own Cubs upbringing.

While my Mom was not a fan of going to the games, she religiously kept the Cubs score every season as far back as I can remember, and I have the theme books filled with scoresheets and stats to prove it. We attended when we could, my brothers and I, but mostly gathered around the TV with friends for big games, whether at a bar or Mom's living room.

For Steve and Phil, their earliest intro to Cubdom consisted of weekly summertime trips to the Friendly Confines, where they would visit, with Mom, on Ladies Day -- which Steve recalls used to be a free day for women every Tuesday -- and they were free, too, cause kids under 12 also got in for nothing back then.

They'd park the Chevy Caprice over by the old convent just north of the Wrigleyville firehouse on Waveland, and walk down the alley to the left field entrance and into the park to get their scorecards and pencils, a stone's throw away from where they'd hang out after each game for autographs as players drove home.

"We'd each have handmade ham and cheese sandwiches on rye bread, Phil and I, some potato chips wrapped in cellophane and a can of soda wrapped in tin foil, all in a brown paper bag ... and that was our lunch at the ballpark," he reminisced. "Those were my first Cub memories."

Though Ruth was from Elwood, Ind., she came here in the 60s and quickly became a Cubs fan. Her team loyalty is evidenced by the club's decor throughout her restaurant -- on the walls, in the windows, in the hearts and souls of their best customers. When the White Sox made it to the Series in '05, Steve (always the diplomat) took out an ad in the local paper letting Sox fans know they, too, were welcome to cheer on their team at his establishment.

"As long as the Cubs win, everybody's happy," he said. "There are three seasons at Palmer's. There's Christmas, St. Patrick's Day and baseball and we change the pictures on our walls three times a year. Some of the mementos on the walls are antiques and quite collectible."

As Steve played family ombudsman at a business after-hours at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory up the street (see The Business blog) just prior to Game 1, his manager Gus and crew were proudly hanging up "W" signs on walls and windows and Phil Palmer was at work directing staff to get ready for the big night -- customers gathering in the back room and garden to catch the first playoff game.

Although Steve was vague about what he might do when the Cubs win the National League pennant and make it to the World Series alongside the White Sox (a ham and cheese, chips and soda special, perhaps?), Rocky Mountain owner Jean Kuhn made a promise she intends to keep.

"I'm a Chicago fan," said Kuhn, who has other interests but who made sure to have the big stuffed bear out in front of her store dressed in Cubs gear this week. "How cool would that be?"She pondered for a moment, then announced (just to me, mind you): "I might make a Sox and Cubs caramel apple if that happens. Yes, that's what I'll do."

Now, I don't know how many sweet tooths are going to buy a black and white or blue and red candied apple, but it's the thought that counts.

Anyway, I digress.

This Cubs Guy (that's me) will be glued to the television or radio every step of the way and on Thursday, Cubs Guy will be viewing the Cubs' first win over L.A. with his brother from their not-so-cheap seats high above first base. And I'm sure Helen Pluta will be watching from above.

Steve, on the other hand, is staying in La Grange for the playoffs, tending to his customers. If his team makes it to the Series, he promises to be there with his mother and brother, if for just one game.

Now that's team spirit.