jojo. in transit.

I cried watching the White Sox game last night.

I’ve never been a huge sports person, but my boyfriend is heavily invested in sports and at any given time of the year is in multiple fantasy leagues. His two main teams across all sports are the Chicago White Sox and the Miami Dolphins. Honorable mention to the Chicago Bears.

I grew up a casual cubs fan. No one in my family followed sports much aside from the Bulls in the 90s.

Anyway, I’ve been to more Sox games than I can count in the last 3 and a half years. During this time, the White Sox have had a rough go of it and a historically bad season.

With that context in mind, watching them come up this year, has been thrilling.

One of the coolest things about the team this year, is how young they are. Including Braden Montgomery, the reason I cried last night, the white Sox have called up 12 rookies from the minors. That’s unusually high..maybe a record? And you can just feel the energy.

The white Sox have two Japanese players that I have been loving watching- most notably Munetaka Murakami. He’s injured at the moment, but has been doing amazing.

Another notable player (to me anyway) is Tristan Peters. He played with the Savannah Bananas for a short time which is pretty cool because it’s unusual to play on the bananas as a stepping stone to the mlb and not a career alternative or ending point. And I’ve really wanted to go to a Bananas game.

Then there’s a bunch of other guys I’ve been getting to know like Vargas, Antonocci, Benetendi, Meidroth, etc.

Lastly, there’s a player, Vasil, who started bringing a toy magic wand into the dugout. He pretends to cast spells on the other team (and maybe our team too?) and it’s just become a whole thing. Essentially, morale is high, the boys are having fun, and it is just so fun to watch.

Last night we were tied going into extra innings- then the braves were up a run. We had just one last chance to turn it around. One runner was on base when Braden Montgomery was up to bat. Again, this was his debut night. And just when they needed him the most…HE DID IT. He hit the home run for the walk off win.

And I just kept thinking how amazing is that..for a young player to do exactly what he needed to do under so much pressure. I was just so overwhelmingly happy for him. He had 30 friends and family at his first mlb game and that’s how he finished it. It felt like a movie. With all the teammates rushing the field and cheering him on. It was just too much for me to handle.

In short, I guess I like sports now.

Chicago botanical garden