The New Dad's Baseball Dilemma
What sucky team will my daughter root for?
I have one rule when it comes to rooting for sports teams: I always want the New York and Chicago teams to win. The one exception is the Brooklyn Nets. I could care less for them and wouldn’t mind them going back to New Jersey where they at least had cool-looking uniforms. The rule probably makes me sound like a fair-weather fan, but I can’t help that I have family from the North and South Sides of Chicago and my father’s first love when he moved to America was the New York Yankees. I grew up with White Sox, Cubs, and Yanks hats and shirts, and under the impression that all of those teams would remain mediocre past the 1980s when I started paying attention to the game. Then, of course, the Bronx Bombers added five more titles in the 1990s and 2000s, while the Sox and Cubs eventually broke their respective droughts in 2005 and 2016, respectively. Today, the Yankees are tied for the best record in the American League, while the Cubs look like they’ll scratch out a .500 season with a team full of guys I don’t care about. I’ve felt little connection to the team since that magical season a few years back, mostly because they went from being the team of the future to a sad version of old, subpar Cubs of old, except robbed of all the gritty charm of the old Wrigley Field and its surrounding neighborhood. There’s a big-ass screen in the outfield and Wrigleyville feels like a family fun tourist trap hell that I don’t want to go near. I saw that coming when the Cubs were marching toward the postseason in 2016, but I didn’t expect it to get so…lame.
The White Sox, my first true baseball love, meanwhile, suck ass this year. If you don’t pay attention, I mean they suck ass on a historical level. They suck so much ass, that I almost love them more for being so incredibly bad. I say almost because the ironic laughing I do after each loss started getting old sometime in the summer. At some point, you’re just a sad clown with a painted smile on the outside, but inside you’re crying as you wish the team could be good and stay that way for at least a few years. Chicago is such a high-and-low sports town that it’s actually an accomplishment that the White Sox have been so bad for so much of my life even compared to the Cubs, Bears, Bulls, etc. But this isn’t about me; it’s about my daughter.
My pure, sweet, innocent Lulu. She’s so lucky to not understand how horrible the world is, especially when you care about baseball. But one day, she’s going to have to find out, and it’s going to be after she pins her hopes on a single team and they almost surely let her down. What team will it be? She’s a New Yorker, so she could always go for the Yankees like her grandfather on my side—but I’d rather her cheer on the Mets if I’m being honest. I’m not a Mets fan as much as a Mets appreciator, but I feel odd steering a child towards an entity like the Yankees. It just feels like you’re born into entitlement; it’s as if you expect things will work out for you because you root for the Yankees. I like the team just fine, and would love them to win a World Series because that’s the ultimate NYC high, but the Mets feel like the right pick.
Buuuuuut… there are also the out-of-town variables. I believe you can be a native New Yorker and pick another team if you so choose, and I feel like her rooting for one of the Chicago teams would be a respectable choice. But, again, the Cubs feel like the team of entitlement, even though they’ve won a single World Series since 1908. That’s how everybody puts it, how the North Side team is “trendy, rich, beloved,” according to a recent New York Times article. The White Sox, on the other hand, are “blue-collar, neglected, uncool,” and I will always love that about them. The only problem is how bad they suck, and also, I feel weird telling my kid that we’re going to Guaranteed Rate Field to catch a ballgame next time we visit the city of my birth. The White Sox park ranks behind Crypto.com Arena for the worst name in pro sports, and as much as I like seeing a game there, it feels sad getting a kid interested in a team that plays there.
There have been other options presented to me: my wife and her family have been pushing hard for Lulu to get on the Red Sox train, but that is the only exemption from the rule I laid out above about how a native New Yorker can root for another team if they want. Boston is not included in that discussion and never will be. I love seeing games at Fenway and will gladly take her there, but, respectively, it just isn’t right. The other idea I had was for her to root for the Dodgers. Yes, they’re in L.A., but I visit there enough that I could take her to see a game or two at the ballpark I consider the best in baseball. I also have family who are lifelong fans of the team, and the Brooklyn connection runs deep; I still hear New Yawk accents when I go to games at Dodger Stadium. But then I start thinking about the entitlement thing again. The Dodgers are really good this year, and it feels a little gross to jump on the bandwagon when Shohei Ohtani is having one of the greatest seasons in the game’s history.
Some people might say that this should all be of little concern to me. My daughter is healthy and happy (thank G-D), and I should just concentrate on raising her. If she even wants to watch baseball, then she should just be free to pick her own team to cheer for. To which I say: that’s crazy talk. Indoctrinating your child into sports fandom is one of the American traditions I very much want to take part in, and if I’m going to do it, I’ll need to root alongside her. I’m going to have to finally decide on a single franchise to support after years of just being excited about “the Chicago and New York teams.” It’s a tough call, but the Diamonds are officially announcing they’re free agents and accepting offers.
Other things
Speaking of children: have you ever felt like going out to eat feels a bit childish? It’s actually sort of embarrassing how corny some newer places are, relying on whimsy and expensive takes on “comfort food” we ate as a child. Alan Sytsma at Grub Street took shots at the “Orlando-fication” of restaurants in NYC, and I’m glad somebody did because I thought I was going nuts.
The other day I got excited about Barbour teaming up with Flower Mountain, but I might be even more into the Wales Bonner x Kolon Sport collab.
There’s a very cool look at the history of the Village Voice Bookshop in Paris.
as a new new york resident, citi field does feel better, a bit more relaxed
i'm a rays fan and i love their stadium, baseball in the AC is amazing
It's pretty simple. Watch games and go to games with your kids if you can when they're old enough to share your love of baseball. Including minor league games, which are much cheaper and very fun in their own way. It's a great way to spend time with them, and ballpark food/snacks are awesome for kids even if they aren't really into the game.
But don't push a team on a kid. Let them decide for themselves. If they really catch the bug, it will be a lifelong relationship, so it should be their call.