The 108 Interview Series – NWI Steve

Here at the 108, it is our job….our duty to bring to you the great personalities of White Sox twitter, either via tweet / photo / video or blog post.  In continuing with the tradition of bringing you “the goods” from White Sox twitter we have our interview with NWI Steve, a terrific White Sox fan from “the Region”.  Steve has spent many a times watching games with the 108ers (and even spent some quality bar time with the boys, which we’ll get into later) and is always a fun time, whether it be talking White Sox or Seinfeld or Bar Room Talk, he’s smart and funny.  Anywho, let’s get on with this shits, ENJOY!

Likes

Favorite Game That You Were At – Blackout Game.  The electricity of a do or a die game was simply too hard to top since I didn’t get to go to a World Series game in 2005

Favorite All Time Player That Doesn’t Have a Statue On the Concourse – Mark Buehrle (I was a soft tossing lefty pitcher in college so he was my spirit animal)

Favorite Drink and Dinner at the Park – Anti-Hero and the Bacon Cheddar Pretzel Dog (put just about anything on a pretzel bun and I’m down)

Favorite Place to Sit – Scout Seats (only experienced it one time so far, but it’s pretty tough to beat the view and free food)

Favorite Uniform – 1990 Campbell Soup “C” uniforms.  that was the first uniform I really remember the Sox wearing

Favorite Giveaway – The 2005 Replica Ring (it’s cheesy but pretty sweet)

Favorite Theme Night  – Not a big theme night guy so I’m going to say Opening Day.  Finally being able to end that 6 month absence from the ballpark and the big tailgate has become my Christmas morning as an adult.

Dislikes

What irks you the most about White Sox fans?  While I enjoy some good-natured ribbing about the Cubs, I think too many people in the fanbase care more about beating them than they do about beating the division rivals.

What is the worst part of being a Sox fan? The fact that the team is overlooked constantly from a national perspective and having to hear the same attendance bullshit over and over again.

Worst part of the game day experience? The decision to get rid of the Pirates of the Caribbean intro video

What really grinds your gears? Being an AL charter franchise that has never gone to the postseason in back-to-back years

Least Favorite White Sox player of all time – Justin Morneau.  I will never forget when asked in 2006 about who he wanted to win the AL Central that dickface famously said “I don’t care who it is as long as it’s not Chicago)

Game Day

Most memorable experience as a White Sox fan – Being at Safeco Field on 4/21/12 for Philip Humber‘s Perfecto

Ballpark experience, how could it be better? – Bring back the Pirates of the Caribbean intro video, play the Howard Ankin/Ozzie “You need my mang” commercial at least once a game, reduce the price of upper deck tickets to say $10 so you can get more people in the park consistently,

Best Sox Park hack? For me it’s parking for free at Buffalo Wings and Rings (35th/Halsted) and using the free shuttle to get out of the $20 parking.

What brings you back for every game? I just love baseball and this is my team

Feelings on the wave? – I think an Executive Order should be signed banning it

Which Gate is your favorite to enter the park from? Gate 3.  I have a weird superstition where I walk past my legacy brick and tap it with my right foot before every game and then just head over to the gate (told you I was a quirky, weird lefty pitcher.  we sometimes do things that don’t make sense)

How Early Do You Get To Games? I usually like to get to games about 6:30 just to kinda unwind from the work day typically, and just take in the sights and sounds of the ballpark

What Do You Bring To Games? A smart ass sense of humor…

How Many Games Do You Go To Each Year? 30+

Section 108 Questions

What is your favorite baseball word? Cockshot (simply due to the fact that when you say it around a person who doesn’t understand the context they take it to mean something it isn’t…yes I’m a child)

What is your least favorite baseball word? BUNT

What get’s you excited about the White Sox? The possibility that we COULD be entering the Golden Age of White Sox baseball if this rebuild works

What makes you sad about the White Sox? The never making the postseason in back-to-back years thingy, and when asked by an out of towner if I’m a Cubs fan when I say I’m from the NWI suburbs of Chicago…

What sound or noise at the ballpark do you love?  The fireworks going off after a White Sox winner

What sound or noise at the ballpark do you hate?  The sound of people doing the wave

What is your favorite Hawkism? YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD, YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!

Why did you drink MySoxSummer under the table at Growlers back in March 2018? It just kind of happened organically, I didn’t set out to do it on that magical day, one beer just kinda led to the next and well…he ended up passed out in a van

What’s your greatest fear about the “rebuild”?  That they guessed wrong on the prospects and they will turn into the AL version of the Pirates from 1993-2013

What is there about this team that excites you the most?  The fact that there could be 4-5 legitimate “Superstars” on the next core.  The Sox haven’t had a legit superstar since the Big Hurt

Give us a #HotTake about the rebuild. I think just about every aspect of 2018 has been “worst case scenario” between the injuries and, to this point, limited development out of key pieces

Favorite White Sox Twitter Account (Besides @fromthe108) and why? @FutureSox – with the big league team not providing much value at this point, the emphasis on the minor league levels and the development of players there, that account is a must follow for in-depth analysis.

Person from White Sox Twitter that you’d most like to meet and why? My guy: The Moncada Armada (@HashTagReggie), simply because he has a smart ass sense of humor that is very similar to mine

Favorite Non-White Sox Twitter Account and why? Nihilist Arby’s – although I think the account has taken a step back in recent weeks, the subtle dark humor makes me laugh hysterically

What do you like best about @fromthe108 ? It’s just a fun group of guys that love the Sox and love having a good time.  Everyone in the group is very welcoming and overall, pretty damn hilarious.

Favorite White Sox related blog or podcast and why? Future Sox, again due to the emphasis placed on the minor leagues right now that blog is a must to stay up to date on what’s happening in the system

What is your favorite alcoholic drink?  Be specific.  Rum and Vanilla Coke.  From the first time I had Vanilla Coke as a teenage I was hooked on it.  I know it’s an acquired taste but I had many a tailgate in my early 20s when I would polish off a Fifth of rum with Vanilla Coke.

Favorite cut of Steak?  Prepared? I’m a New York strip guy cooked medium

Gimme an “Uncle Rico” moment from your prior sports playing past. My junior year of high school I had a 10k start against a team ranked 8th in the state (4A Indiana)

Where would you take @ChiPartyAunt out on a date? Since she’s a simple gal, a pregame Polish at 35th Street Red Hots, a ballgame, and a special Polish after the game…

Favorite performance enhancing drug? HGH, simply because it helped Barry Bonds head expand so much in his late 30s

Who do you hate more Jim Belushi or John Cusack? Cusack.  That shithead got to go to a World Series game and I didn’t…and I’m very bitter about it

Happy Ending

What Other Chicago Teams Do You Enjoy  – Blackhawks.  I’ve given up on basketball and football entirely so the Hawks build a bridge for me from winter to baseball

Favorite Chicago Sports History Moment – 10/26/05

Favorite All-Time Sox Broadcaster – Hawk.  I know he has a lot of “haters” but he’s the voice of Sox baseball that I grew up with, so even though that crazy old coot has slipped a lot in recent years, he’s still our guy.

Any Stories About Running Into or Meeting White Sox Players? Other Chicago Athletes? I met Yoan Moncada in Scottsdale this past March as he was trying to drill a bartender at a local establishment after a spring training game.  2 years earlier I met Theo Epstein (ya know #TheosLeague), and he was a total prick.  He famously told me when I said I was a Sox fan that “Uh they suck and are so boring.  You can always come over to the dark side, ya know)…so fuck him

Favorite Band?  All-time is Alice in Chains (w/Layne Staley)

What is your favorite song? Too many to name (weak answer I know)

Favorite TV Show (or Netflix or HBO or whatever the fuck)? Seinfeld…it’s the best of all time.  if you don’t agree you’re wrong

Married or Single? Looking for a GF? Edited on 5/27/2019: Taken

Do you remember your first Sox game? I do not, evidently it was the game in 1990 when the Yankees Andy Hawkins no-hit the Sox and lost 4-0 thanks to Jim Leyritz

What Player had the greatest impact on you? Mark Buehrle, again because I too was a soft tossing lefty pitcher

What was the happiest day watching the Sox? 10/26/05

What was the saddest day watching the Sox? The day Bud Selig cancelled the 1994 season

What do you do for work? If you could be or do anything else – what? I’m a sales rep for a medical clinic.  If i could do anything else it would be Jason Benetti’s job

If you could live in any other time, when might that be? I don’t think I could live in a prior era because it’s hard to imagine living without the technology we have today

If you could have dinner with five White Sox Players, past and present, who would they be? Buehrle, Big Hurt, Konerko, Chris Sale, Shoeless Joe

If you could change one thing in your past, what might that be? Not dropping the $1,000 for a World Series ticket (couldn’t find anything cheaper on the secondary market)

What are you most proud of? Being able to pitch in college

How would you like to be remembered?  As an easy going, goofball that made people laugh

What’s the one thing about you few people know?  I had brain surgery as a child

What do you dislike most about yourself?  I haven’t been as successful professionally as I envisioned in my youth

What do you dislike most in others?  People who use their wealth/social status as a means to demean others

What were your best/worst subjects in school?  Best – history, worst- Chemistry

What do you like doing in your spare time? watching baseball would be the obvious answer, aside from that spending time with the GF and trying new pizza joints

Who is your celebrity crush? Torrie Wilson

What is your favorite movie? Anchorman

What is your favorite baseball movie? Major League (despite it being about the Indians)

What is your biggest/weirdest fear?  HEIGHTS…just can’t do it

What would be your one super power? X-Ray vision 

What pet would you love to have? dog

What’s your one biggest pet peeve? people who don’t phonetically pronounce words like: egg, caramel, leg

What’s your one annoying habit? I’m a hardcore Nail biter

What would be a good theme song for your life? Grind by Alice in Chains – from the very first note it just hits you in the mouth with a fist full of intensity and every day we gotta keep grindin’

What ballpark would you like to visit? I’ve been to 27 already, and the one’s I’m yet to see are (OAK, TB, CLE, TOR, ATL) so I’ve hit all the major one’s already so I would say to be able to go back and see a game at Old Comiskey.

THE END.