Chris Sale
New but not new too. Sale finally broke into the Sox starting rotation and put himself into serious Cy Young conversation quickly this season. Even though they just signed/extended Jake Peavy to a two-year deal, Sale sold himself as the pitcher next year’s “best new Sox” GM Rick Hahn will build the staff around.

Audience choice: Robin Ventura

Best of Chicago 2012

Bernice’s

Too cheap for the Cell? This homey dive, a stone’s throw from the ballfield, is the next best thing. With its tin ceiling, year-round Christmas lights and copious knickknacks, plus dirt-cheap Old Style, this is a great pub for watching the Pale Hose. Live roots rock and honkytonk bands also make this a fun place to kill a Friday night. Open since 1965, this is one of the city’s last buzzer bars, where the front door is locked until you’re deemed worthy to enter. But once inside, you’ll find the regulars are a friendly crew–as long as you don’t mention the Cubs.

Bernice’s
3238 South Halsted
(312)326-9460

Audience choice:
Cork and Kerry at the Park
3258 South Princeton
(312)842-0769
corkandkerrychicago.com

Best of Chicago 2011

Carlos Quentin

A boneheaded injury kept the White Sox star outfielder in only 130 games this season, but thirty-six homeruns, a .288 batting average and a hundred RBIs can’t be dismissed. The 25-year-old might be the genuine outfield superstar the Sox have been seeking for a long time. Just don’t hit your bat in anger anymore, okay?

Audience choice:
Carlos Quentin

Best of Chicago 2008

It’s more unlikely than the Chicago 2016 Olympics

What would you rather see happen? A Cubs-Sox Series or the whole world infiltrate the South Side for two weeks? Less than two years ago the idea of Chicago hosting a global event as popular as the Olympics seemed absurd; now, as we’ve been instantly catapulted into the Earth’s consciousness with Barack Obama—the most powerful Sox fan in the history of baseball—elected prez, we’ll all be better off if we start studying the rules of water polo right now. Deep down, we don’t want the Cubs-Sox series because we cherish the fantasy so much. What would we do if it all came down to a best-of-seven? The rivalry would change, and we enjoy the rivalry too much to allow it to slip from us. Bragging rights? They’re fun, but not nearly as fun as the family spats, the trading insults with friends, the badgering at the workplace. It’s not the apprehension, it’s the pursuit. And lucky for us, the apprehension always seems too far out of reach.

Audience choice:

It’s still a fantasy….
Audience Comments: “All the black and blue shirts will make the stadiums look like big bruises (which is what a lot of fans would end up with during that series)”; “Cubs actually in the world series”; “It will forevermore be untainted by reality”; “At least we’re a city of dreamers.”

Best of Chicago 2008

Jimbo’s Lounge

If you spot a Cubs fan in Bridgeport’s Jimbo’s and he’s not bloodied up, be patient. A whole whirlwind of aggravation surfaced when it was announced recently that Jimbo’s may be closing sometime soon, as it’s by far the most beloved White Sox bar in town. Solid, blue-collar South Side booze and eats. Cubbie-blue beware, this is not your turf, and you’re in over your head. Remember when the bar was highlighted on national television during game four of the ’05 series? Yeah, it’s like that. It even calls itself the Anti-Cubby Bear.

3258 South Princeton
(312)326-3253

Audience Choice
Jimbo’s

Best of Chicago 2007

Talk-show host

Says Ozzie: “I’ve got two people here that drive me crazy. They are all over me, and I’m like ‘Shut up, you drunk.’ It’s easy to make moves when you’re drunk.” ; “Throw a rock at me and I will F-16 you.”; “That guy! He molests children!” If you can’t imagine this being dispensed daily as relationship advice, then you take talk shows too seriously.

Audience Choice
Gaucho at Brazzaz
Best audience comments: “Mayor Daley’s speechwriter”; “Cubs GM.”

Best of Chicago 2007

Darin Erstad

Call it the Grinder legacy of 2005. Since then, the White Sox have been intent on duplicating the hard-nosed play that earned them a World Series championship. So this year, they signed tough but oft-injured Darin Erstad and stuck him in centerfield over Brian Anderson. The result? Nearly half the season on the disabled list. But the important thing is Erstad’s a Grinder. He goes at it hard and sports facial hair. He even played college football. Granted, he was a punter, but who in the Sox brass is looking at details?

Audience Choice
Josh Fields
Best audience comment: “That’s ‘White Sock,’ numbskull”

Best of Chicago 2007