Undercover Sox Fan Survives Mission!

As many of you know (from past bragging), my brother is the MLB.com beat writer for the Toronto Blue Jays. Well, tonight was his first time in Chicago covering an enemy team, and from a different country at that!! (How did Canada even get into the All-American sport of baseball?!) Yes, it was the World Series CHAMPION (blogged here) Chicago White Sox against the Foreigners, aka, the Toronto Blue Jays. I was bummed to miss our Good Friday Service, but I really wanted to support my brother and be there for his first Chicago game as an MLB.com writer… and what better way to support this die hard Chicago fan than to show up dressed to the hilt as a Blue Jays fan?!??! (thanks to someone at church who loaned me the gear)

My sister Melissa tried not to walked tooooo close to me as I entered Sox territory dressed as a Blue Jays fan! I was very curious what the reaction would be from the Sox fans to my shirt, jacket and waving flag!

Here I am in my Blue Jays disguise! I really look the part, huh? I had people singing ‘Oh Canada’ when I walked by, but mostly just ‘looks’ – you know, like, ‘What are you doing here?’

I had a little trouble getting past security who tried to throw me out. I claimed to be a Sox fan undercover and they asked me to name a Sox player. Which I couldn’t, but then, I couldn’t name a Blue Jays player either! “Ozzie! Ozzie! I yelled.” Finally, two sore shoulder blades later, they finally released me. But it was no better when I got into the stands….

I was ruthlessly attacked my maniac Sox fans there as well! I pleaded with them to not judge a fan by his clothing… but they said no true Sox fan would allow the enemy’s logo to touch them! I barely escaped with my life!

But the real reason for the visit on this historic day was to see my little brother at work. See him there in the Press Box?? Squint and you can see him in his green shirt. (Click on the image for an enlargement)

OK, here is enlarged and enhanced, does that help? Right in the center, second row back, hand on chin, green shirt.

Here is Jordan from the other side, he is actually on the phone with Melissa in this shot. THAT’S MY BABY BROTHER!!

This is a super zoomed in shot… but see him contemplating how he can be writing for a foreign government’s baseball team and still call himself an American. :-)

He was able to pull himself away and come down to say hello. This is my dad, Jordan and Blue Jays Me before the game.

Also along tonight was Melissa (my sister) and her husband Keith. Both are Sox fans and have had Sox season tickets in the past, but something is amiss in their parenting since both their kids are Cubs fans…. under the influence of their Uncles, of course!

Tonight was Calendar Night, and I got my brother to sign my calendar! I am thinking of selling it on ebay and seeing what I can get for it! He went off to work, and I went for a walk to explore the park since I’ve not been to this park in over ten years!

First stop was the men’s room. Steve Tanner would enjoy knowing that the hand dryers are not electronic with scrolling advertising screnes, but are just boring manual towel dispensers. Guess I won’t be getting any free Sox tickets for blogging the hand dryers at US Cellular Field!

I managed to walk down VERY close to the field for a few pictures and to see how the fans with the best seats responded to seeing me in my Blue Jays stuff down there. Not too bad, Sox fans are good sports. I did, however, find another church leader who was skipping the Good Friday Service! (Who shall remain safely anonymous if my demands are met!) I walked up to him and said, “So, you are skipping the Good Friday Service?” And he seemed a little surprised to have a pastor (at the game) asking him that. But he had a good excuse too. He had bought the tickets at an auction for Katrina relief at our church, but it was still amazing to find someone you knew among 31,000 in attendance!

Next, I went up to see the Stadium Club. (entrance to this exclusive club came with my tickets!) I had missed meal time, but it was cool to see a fancy restaurant layered so that every table had a great view. Best of all, it was air-conditioned.

I even met a Blue Jays fan… but I didn’t tell him I was imposter… I let him think he had met another Canadian. Poor guy. He finds one friend, and its actually an undercover Sox fan! I didn’t have the heart to tell him. I had two drunk girls come up to me and claim to be from Canada, but I’m not sure they knew where they were from. I passed on taking a picture with them to avoid trouble with the wife. :) One other guy we saw from a distance had an “I love Canada” hat on – but other than that, it was Sox territory. Since the restaurant was closed, I went upstairs to see the bar… bad idea.

I got jumped by a bunch more crazy Sox fans who didn’t believe my claims to Sox fandom!! It was then that I realized that during my walk the Sox had lost their 5-2 lead, and were now down by a huge margin!!

11 to 5!? Things were not looking good for the Sox, so fearing I may not get out of the park alive, I slipped into a store and bought myself a Sox jersey, hid my Blue Jays apparel and turned my hat backwards, so only those behind me would see my Blue Jays logos.

I made it out alive having survivied my mission as an undercover Sox fan dressed as a Blue Jays fan. Plus, I embarrassed my family – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Read my brothers report on the game:

Blue Jays Win Third Straight with Power

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Kidologist

Karl Bastian is the founder of Kidology.org, the creator of ToyboxTales.com, and the author of OrderoftheAncient.com. His personal website is Kidologist.com He is Big Kid with a passion for equipping and encouraging those who minister to children.

13 Comments:

  1. Nice non-automatic hand-dryer photo! :)

  2. Hey Karl, I had a blast at the game with you last night even if you were a Canadian for the night!:-) Great Blog. I love all the pictures. I have one correction to make. Tricia is the Cubs fan and Parker is the Sox fan. At least that’s what he was saying last week. :-) The Sox will always be the better team hands down. Love ya, Melissa

  3. For the record, Melissa, when we all picked up Parker from the babysitter, he was wearing a CUBS shirt, and a Sosa one at that!

  4. That’s a hand me down from his sister and she probably told him to wear it, knowing her.

  5. There’s nothing wrong with Canada.

  6. Karl, I just asked Parker why he was wearing a Cubs shirt yesterday and he said I was in a hurry and the first thing I saw was the Cubs shirt. When asked if he likes the Cubs he said NO. I like the “White Sox, White Sox, World Series winners.” He said that chanting and dancing while saying it, so now you know why he was wearing a Cubs shirt yesterday.

    later,
    Melissa

  7. I have a Blue Jays shirt for Parker to wear now. Because after this year, he can chant “Blue Jays! Blue Jays! World Series winners!” ha, just kidding. I had fun seeing you guys at the game. You’re allowed to embaress me at 1 game out of 162 each year.

    See you tomorrow night.

  8. Tannerman,
    Talk to me after you have lived in Canada!

  9. I’ve got Canadian in my blood, so I can’t bash the mother country. Go CFL! :)

  10. I AM living in Canada now, and there’s nothing wrong with it… OK, maybe they do things a little differently, eh…

    I have been assimilated!!!

  11. Karl, Karl, Karl,
    One of my favorite movies lines is as follows: “He’s not crazy…but he’s a carrier.” I do believe the producers might have been thinking of you.
    On the other hand, what gentle souls the White Sox fans must be to allow you to leave the stadium in one piece. After seeing one too many SNL skits about Chicago sports, I expected a more violent response.
    Tim

  12. Hey Karl,
    I read this post a little late but I need to tell you that the Sox were in trouble with Lyle Overbay. He played in our farm league team here in Missoula called the Missoula Osprey. They are a part of the Arizona Diamond Backs. Every time the team hit a home run in the 7th inning everyone in the park got a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. If Lyle was playing we knew everyone would be getting a pizza! He is also a super Christian and went to our church when he was in town! I have his baseball card from when he was an Osprey! Maybe your bro will get a chance to do a story on him and submit it to Sports Spectrum magazine someday!

  13. looks like an interesting trip, i was strolling through pictures of US Cellular Field and happened to pass by this. Nice!

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