When I was six or seven, my buddy Frankie Russo and I would spend every afternoon hanging out on the corner of US 41 and Church St.  Just about once a week, we would witness a fairly decent car crash. 

As the memories of my youth waft through my head, it brings to mind that today starts this year's second and final series between the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs.  Usually, if you are a Chicago baseball fan, you get fired up.  You get the clothes out, you wear the hat to work and you delight in any misery that you can inflict on a fan of the other team.

This year, with both teams being so dismal, it's hard to get excited.  Two very bad baseball teams playing to see which one of them is worse.  The Cubs, who can't beat the worst team in baseball, even with the tying and winning runs on base, and the Sox, who haven't won a series since taking two out of three in Oakland a month ago.

From the perspective of a Sox fan, if the Sox win, you take solace in the fact that the Sox can actually can beat somebody, anybody. If the Cubs win, you write it off as "We stink anyway, what does it matter?"  There are no illusions of "maybe they'll beat the Cubs, go on  a massive hot streak and get back in the race." 
And bragging rights?  What does getting back to eight or seven under .500 even remotely have to do with bragging rights.

Yes, this will no doubt be what will be determined "a playoff atmosphere." And, you'll hear the fans of both teams making a lot of noise.  And no doubt, I may unleash the occasional expletive  while viewing the game on TV (of course, I do that all the time anyway, so nothing new there.)  But, I think fans of both teams are a bit empty knowing that whatever the results are this weekend, it's still a dead end.  Neither team is going to turn their season around because of it, win or lose.

For Sox fans, it is an especially somber occasion, because it is most likely the last time that three key components of the 2005 World Series champion team will play for the Sox against the Cubs.  While Jermaine Dye, Tad Iguchi and Mark Buehrle may face the Cubs in the future (and possibly later this year) the odds of them doing it in a Sox uniform after Sunday are slim to none.

So, Chicago baseball fans enjoy the weekend.  It's the Sox and the Cubs.  It's Chicago baseball, 2007.  And it sucks.