The Pope is a White Sox Fan

[BootinUp]

Why Leo XIV’s name shows he’s a New Dealer at Heart
Jonathan Alter
May 08, 2025

Why does this Jew love the new pope? Let me count the ways. After I do, I’ll tell you something about Leo XIV’s connection to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New Deal, and the Trump/Musk demolition project, which, as Bill Gates told the Financial Times this week, has led to “the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children.”

Every pope from 1523 to 1978 was Italian. Then we had a Pole, a German, and an Argentinian. Now we've got one of my homies. If you think it’s exciting to have an American pope, imagine how Chicagoans feel. It’s true that I’m a Cubs fan and Pope Leo is a White Sox fan (like Barack Obama), but those differences are not as great as they seem. When we were growing up (I’m two years younger), it was permissible to root for both teams. This is heresy now, with the schism between the two fan bases running deep. Maybe a bridge-building pope can help.

I’m from the North Side, close to Wrigley Field, but my grandfather grew up on the South Side, not far from where the new pope was raised. Grandpa Sol took me to Sox games and gave me a flannel White Sox uniform that I stopped wearing to school in Second Grade when my friends said I’d shown up in my pajamas.

Anyway, I went to several night games at Comiskey Park (Wrigley Field had no lights) and now imagine myself chasing foul balls with Bobby Prevost in the mid-1960s. Never knew the guy, but it's fun to think of the potential proximity. When I was eight, my far-sighted mother took us to Comiskey to see the Beatles. I’m confident Bobby wasn’t there that day because that 1966 concert was only four months after John Lennon said the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus.” Not cool in the Prevosts’ parish.

Continued on substack
https://open.substack.com/pub/oldgoats/p/the-pope-is-a-white-sox-fan

[Srkdqltr]

1. And, so?

[BootinUp]

2. I guess you don't want to click the link?

[Wonder Why]

3. It's as important as much as his choice of pizza (NY - YES or Chicago - NO), hot dogs, favorite

restaurant, CTA route, festival, car make, movie, football team or any of those critical things in life.

Get with it the program! It's going to get worse.

[Renew Deal]

4. It was funny to watch talking heads erroneously claim him as a Cubs fan

before his brother corrected it.

[lees1975]

5. Well, odds are about 1 out of 3 that if you're from Chicago, you cheer for the Sox.

Baseball being what it is in Chicago, I cheer for either team when they're doing well, because both of them together don't do as well as one good team from St. Louis.

[Srkdqltr]

6. The talking heads are really amped up about this pope. Reflected glory.