White Sox fans (Oakland: metra, title, station)

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by MannheimMadman

I went to the Sox game last night - attendance was pretty good for a Thursday night, I thought - 25K and change.

The real problem was taking the red-line home after the game. For some really weird reason, it was WILDLY over-crowded. I had never been so tightly packed in to an EL car before. And it's not like I've never taken the red line to/from a Sox game before. What's funny is how 90% of the train empties at Jackson.

I've similar experiences at the Cell after Sox games, but it's always after a Sun afternoon game; the subway is quite packed ( just like Boston), and yes, quite a few exit at Jackson, like me, to take the Blue Line northward. Come to think of it, I usually see a bunch of White Sox fans standing on the platform at Cumberland, ready to make the long commute to the South Side for the game..

[Thepreacherswife]

Originally Posted by Plzeň

Yep, that's correct. In terms of driving distance (according to google maps), Wrigley is 6.6 miles from The Loop, and the Cell is 5.4.

Wonder where that is measuring from and the route is. Wrigley is at Addison/Sheffield (3600 N/1000 W) which is 4 1/2 miles north of Madison and 1 1/4 miles west of State, so I could see 6 miles max (drive west to Halsted and north to Addison).

Sox park is at 35th and Shields (3500 S/324 W) which is 3 1/2 miles south of Madison and let's say 3/8 miles west of State. No more than 4 miles of driving.

[TheCalifornianWriter]

Originally Posted by LakeShoreSoxGo

You mean like the Dodger and Angels stadiums?

Now that you mention it, yeah. I mean we have buses/subways to get there, but people in cars come from all across the Southland to the game, hence the parking lot. In our metro, we need them.

[TheCalifornianWriter]

Originally Posted by Drover

The Cell and Wrigley Field are nearly equidistant from the Loop, and if anything the Cell is a tiny bit closer. I think Wrigley Field just "feels" closer because of the contiguous dense urban development along the shoreline from downtown all the way up through (and past) Wrigleyville.

Thanks for pointing that out. You're right. The route we took to get to Wrigley was very urban and compact, as well as contiguously built up. I felt like we were back in LA (minus the skyline) driving to the Sox stadium.

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by Thepreacherswife

Wonder where that is measuring from and the route is.

You can google it yourself in less time than it took you to proclaim your wonder.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by TheCalifornianWriter

Thanks for pointing that out. You're right. The route we took to get to Wrigley was very urban and compact, as well as contiguously built up. I felt like we were back in LA (minus the skyline) driving to the Sox stadium.

I bet you took the expressway down then. When you're looking down a corridor that's 14 lanes and two RR tracks wide, it's easy to get a sense that you're driving through wide-open spaces. There's no similar way to get to Wrigley from downtown. Even if you take Lake Shore, there's a wall of urban development immediately to your left.

If you had taken Halsted Street down toward the Cell, you might have gotten a different picture. Once you get 2 blocks west of the Cell, you're in the thick of a neighborhood that's 15,000 people per square mile.

[LeotheOrangeCat]

The gentification of Lakeview accounts for difference in the attendance between the Cubs and the Sox. Before that the Cubs' and Sox attendance were comparable. See Lee Elia's 1983 comments about the 3,000 fans that were at Wrigley Field one day in 1983.

With the gentrification, young people from Iowa, Michigan, etc. with disposable income that liked to get drunk moved into the neighborhood and Wrigely Field became an event rather than a place to watch baseball.

Print it.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by LeotheOrangeCat

The gentification of Lakeview accounts for difference in the attendance between the Cubs and the Sox. Before that the Cubs' and Sox attendance were comparable. See Lee Elia's 1983 comments about the 3,000 fans that were at Wrigley Field one day in 1983.

With the gentrification, young people from Iowa, Michigan, etc. with disposable income that liked to get drunk moved into the neighborhood and Wrigely Field became an event rather than a place to watch baseball.

Print it.

That's the cliche line that Sox fans use to make themselves feel better. But it doesn't explain why the Cubs have higher TV viewership, a far wider-reaching audience, higher merchandise sales, and a 50% higher franchise value.

[LeotheOrangeCat]

Originally Posted by Drover

That's the cliche line that Sox fans use to make themselves feel better. But it doesn't explain why the Cubs have higher TV viewership, a far wider-reaching audience, higher merchandise sales, and a 50% higher franchise value.

the tv viewership is WGN vs. pay tv (ontv); the higher value comes from greater attendance and greater tv

the historical attendance figures are not a cliche

[Alicia Bradley]

My brother-in-law recently took off on his his motorcycle on a whim, driving all night from Reno, NV to Oakland, CA just to catch a White Sox 'away' game. Immediately after the game he returned home on his motorcycle and slept just 2-3 hours before work the next day. So, yes, some of them are quite.. devoted.