Cubs, White Sox have Chicago jazzed for baseball

Cubs backer Mike Jacques was even more to the point as he had his picture taken outside Wrigley Field.

"Don't like them, despise them, not a big fan" of the White Sox, he said.

In Southern California, fans of the Angels and the Dodgers - also both with '08 postseason berths - don't seem to get angry, or even think about the other much at all.

But in Chicago, the rivalry has long been a bitter, and loud, one.

Nearly a century before banners at Sox games not-so-affectionately referred to Cubs fans as "Yuppie Scum," the Cubs were getting under Sox skin.

Cait Murphy, who wrote "Crazy '08," about the Cubs' last World Series win in 1908, noted the Cubs of that era "might be the greatest team in National League history and they carried themselves with a swagger that other teams did not appreciate."

The Cubs team that played the White Sox in that World Series was widely considered unbeatable after winning a record 116 games while losing just 36. The year before, the Cubs won an exhibition series between the teams and promptly plastered their ballpark with a self-proclaimed "City Champions" banner.

"No one gave the White Sox a chance, including the Cubs," Murphy said.

The Sox, with an offense considered so feeble they were known as the "hitless wonders," stunned the Cubs in what remains, she said, "one of the greatest upsets in World Series history."

And this year?

"It's been all about the Cubs going to the World Series (and) the White Sox were expected to finish last," noted Sal Pecoraro, 31, who also stood in line for Sox gear Wednesday.

Over at Schaller's Pump, Sue Weber, whose family has owned the South Side watering hole since 1881, said she hopes this postseason gives both teams' fans something to cheer about during a time when news from Wall Street and Washington has brought little joy.

"It takes everybody's mind off it, it will be something to feel happy about," Weber said.

And if the unthinkable happens and the White Sox and Cubs make the 2008 World Series a Chitown affair?

Chaos and mayhem, fans say.

"The most devastating thing to ever happen to the city," said Chuck Whitmer, a Sox fan who watched Tuesday night's game at Jimbo's bar on the South Side, adding such a riotous event would spell doom for Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

But Weber said if the city can handle the bedlam brought by a crosstown Series, it can handle anything.

"It would be good practice," she said.

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Associated Press Writer Karen Hawkins contributed to this report.