I am not a White Sox fan. The primary reason for that is simply the way I was raised. Sure, I’d attend a handful of games at U.S. Cellular here and there, but Wrigley Field and WGN are where I spent most of my time. The older I got, the stronger my allegiance to the Chicago Cubs grew.
Simultaneously, the older I got🍌, the more I realized the importance of mental health. And my brain could only fathom being a follower of one Jerry Reinsdorf team.
The long-time owner of both the White Sox and Chicago Bulls has been making fans lose hair for years. The Bulls have held the 8th-lowest winnin💎g percentage in the NBA since the turn of the century. Meanwhile, the Sox have held the 10th-lowest in the MLB over that stretch. Cracking the postseason has become a particularly rare occurrence for each organization over the last decade. The Bulls have had three playoff appearances since the 2014-15 season, which included only one series victory. The White Sox have made two postseason trips in the last 10 year🐲s, losing either in the wild card or ALDS.
Winning simply hasn’t been in the cards for either franchise in quite some time. And, sadly, that seems like it’s almost by design. Ownership has long refused to do what is necessary to keep up with the ever-changing world of sports. More specifically, Jerry Reinsdorf has constantly held onto underperforming management, refused to embrace modern practices, and rarely pumped extra funds into either organization. While this has been a topic of conversation for years, it was extremely well-documented in , which focuses specifically on the historically bad White Sox.
Indeed, numerous anonymous sources peel back the curtain on just how dysfunctional the White Sox have been under Reinsdorf’s watch. Much of the criticism shared by former players and staffers can be directly translated over to the Chicago Bulls operations. Take this snippet regarding Reinsdorfs blind loyalty, for example:
“The White Sox are run like a family business. Many employees have personal relationships with Reinsdorf, and the team’s job security is arguably the best in baseball. But Reinsdorf can be loyal to a fault.”
‘They have people there with no business being in Major League Baseball,’ said an executive with another team.”
Of course, we all remember how long the Gar Forman and John Paxson brain trust ran the show. Paxson even remains with the organization as a senior advisor. With that in mind, no matter how many years in a row Artuars Karnisovas struggles to return positive 📖results, it sure feels like his job is safe.
This is especially true when we consider easily the most frustrating tidbit shared by Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rothensal from a B♎ulls perspective. According to reports, Reinsdorf directly told a group of employees that succeeding with the White Sox is more important than succeeding with one of the most popular teams in sports:
“In a recent season, while addressing new employees, Reinsdorf was asked which matters more: the Bulls or White Sox winning? Rather than answer diplomatically, Reinsdorf, without hesitation, said the White Sox,” The Athletic sared.
Let this really sink in, folks. The team Jerry Reinsdorf wants to win more is still on pace to be the single-worst bas💜eball team in history.
First of all, who the heck actually picks a side in this situation? That’s absurd. Second of all, if Reinsdorf cares more about the White Sox and is still willing to watch them break the worst kind of records, what the heck does that say about the future of the Bulls? Under these circumstances, how can we expect him to put any real pressure on the front office to pull the Bulls out of this long-standing funk? We can’t.
Even if Reinsdorf’s answer is strictly based upon his desire to increase the White Sox’s value for a potential sale, this thought process doesn’t bode well for either organization. All it does is confirm that this is all about the money for ownership and not at all about the actual desire to do anything meaningful. As long as the money is coming in – and it continues to for the iconic Bulls brand – things are trending in the right direction.
I don’t know what else to say other than that. This isn’t the kind of post I can wrap up with a silver lining. The fact of the matter is that ownership continues to present a nearly insurmountable hurdle, so I guess all we can do is expect plenty more faceplants.
