popular thinking

SOX SMACKDOWN: Our Sox are better than their Sox.
And here's why:

FAITHFUL FANS
Red Sox: Loyal international fan base bought out all 81 home games before the season began, and sometimes even outnumbered the other team's fans at away games.
White Sox: Can't even get loyalty in its own city, where the Chicago Cubs are the A-list team.

FAMOUS FANS
Red Sox: Author Stephen King, actors Ben Affleck (and new wife Jennifer Garner), Matt Damon, Denis Leary, even Robert Redford.
White Sox: Every Chicago celeb we can think of roots for the Cubbies. Except Dennis DeYoung of Styx. Does that count?

FRIENDLY FANS
Red Sox: Fathers teach their kids to love the game, hate the Yankees and "wave'' at right fielder Gary Sheffield.
White Sox: Fathers teach their kids how to take off their shirts, jump the fence and attack the opposing first-base coach.

ESSENTIAL MOVIE
Red Sox: Fever Pitch shows how an obsessed Red Sox fan can find true love and a happy ending as the team wins the Series.
White Sox: Eight Men Out shows how a cheap owner forces his players to take bribes, throw the Series in Black Sox scandal.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Red Sox: Fenway Park, home since 1912, made even better by new seats above the Green Monster and a right-field rooftop plaza.
White Sox: New Comiskey Park, which replaced classic Comiskey Park in 1991 and was renamed U.S. Cellular Field in 2003. Main attraction is Pontiac FUNdamentals area for kids bored by the home team.

OUR WEINERS ARE BETTER THAN YOURS
Red Sox: The Fenway Frank – plain, plumped perfection.
White Sox: Chicago-style dog buries the meat with tomato slices, banana peppers, dill pickle spears, neon green relish, onions, celery salt and mustard on a poppy seed bun. No wonder ER is set there.

OUTSIDE THE BALLPARK
Red Sox: Yawkey Way is a carnival for ticketholders on game days. Lansdowne Street is a club mecca.
White Sox: Why, are you looking for trouble?

CURSE?
Red Sox: Reversed.
White Sox: Haven't won a postseason series since 1917.

That's all on page 3 of today's Boston Herald. Here are even more ways to tell the two Sox apart during this week's American League Division Series matchup, which begins shortly after 4 p.m. today in the Windy City.

UNIFORMS
Red Sox: Maintain classic home and away looks. Biggest recent change added red jerseys for certain home games.
White Sox: Change almost every year, it seems. Remember the shorts in 1976? How about the all-black ensembles that had Sweatiest Summer Ever written all over them? The softball unis? The sleveless numbers? We can go on and on and on...

BALLPARK MUSIC
Red Sox: We have an eighth-inning stretch, too -- "Sweet Caroline" - BA BA BA! Put on the rally caps for "Tessie." Celebrate the win with "Dirty Water." So good, so good, so good.
White Sox: Harry Caray started the singalong tradition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Comiskey Park, but that legacy lives on at, where else, Wrigley! Which leaves the White Sox with what anthems of their own, exactly? "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Good Bye." Exactly.

CARLTON FISK
Red Sox: We retired his number 27, named the left-field pole after him and his famous 1975 World Series homer and appropriately scheduled it for a Cincinnati Reds game this year. Oh, and he wears our cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.
White Sox: You retired his number 72, held a tribute day for him this Aug. 7, but scheduled it against the Seattle Mariners because you knew better than to do it during a Red Sox game.

CARL EVERETT
Red Sox: We had him for two years, including one standout season in 2000, then knew enough to get rid of him.
White Sox: Keeps showing up on your roster like a bad penny.

PROMOTIONS
Red Sox: Unnecessary, since every game is a sell-out.
White Sox: Often resort to giveaways and wacky promotions, from free T-shirts, caps and luggage tags to the infamous disco night in 1979.

CITY'S MUSICAL NAMESAKE
Red Sox: Boston defined arena rock in the 1970s and 1980s. Its self-titled debut sold more than 17 million albums. Hits include "More Than A Feeling," "Rock 'n Roll Band," "Peace of Mind," and "Amanda."
White Sox: Chicago perenially underrated as a band, much like the city and the team, since the late 1960s. Biggest hits were soft-rock ballads by Peter Cetera, who since has been replaced by Jason Scheff -- best friend of Red Sox pitcher David Wells.

CITY HALL
Red Sox: Our mayor mumbles. Thomas M. Menino, born in 1942, hardly opposed since taking office in 1993. Big Dig not his fault.
White Sox: Your mayor and everyone around him seems to be up for indictment. Richard M. Daley, born in 1942, hardly oppposed since taking office in 1989. But 13 of Mayor Daley's aides recently left in the wake of several scandals.