Cubs have legitimate shot at a 2010 championship trophy
By Soxman
What better way to get fans even more deeply embattled over who has the best mediocre team (looking at 2010 records at this point in the season anyway), then to raise the stakes of inter-league play even higher?
What if I told you that there is a 50% certainty Cubs fans might see a championship trophy on the Northside this year? Well, it’s true, and could happen before the All-Star break.
The Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox announced on April 26, 2010 an official trophy to heat up the Crosstown Classic even further as both sides will compete for the BP Crosstown Cup.
Details of the BP Crosstown Cup were discussed during an event at Chicago’s Millennium Park with representatives Tom Ricketts and Lou Piniella of the Cubs, and Gordon Beckham and A.J. Pierzynski of the White Sox. Too bad the Cubs didn’t bring back Michael Barrett to commemorate the event.
The bottom line, is that the trophy will further solidify the bragging rights of the White Sox, err ahhh, I’m sorry, the winning team.
Under the rules of the newly established BP Crosstown Cup, the Cubbies and the White Sox will continue to meet in a yearly six-game head-to-head series as part of inter-league play since 1997. The team with the most wins in the yearly series will be formally awarded the trophy. Fans will be able to goat, err ahh “gloat” for the entire year that their team is the city champion, the best in chi town, the Biggest Loser (just kidding Chicago fans), etc.
If the annual series is split 3-3, the BP Crosstown Cup will be awarded to the winner of the series’ last game. The teams will kick off their first series of 2010 at Wrigley Field on Friday, June 11, and will celebrate their 75th meeting on Sunday, June 13. The BP Crosstown Cup trophy will be awarded in a formal ceremony at U.S. Cellular Field following the deciding game of the six-game series.
For those who attend the crosstown series at either park, should this event scare you? Not really. There will always be a select few, who use the competitive spirit of this rivalry as an excuse to reap havoc. It usually starts with trash talking, which is escalated to profanity, $7.00 beer baths, a shove, and away we go.
Yes, the crosstown is the equivalent of the UFC octagon to a few. This award ceremony introduces the possibility of prolonged opportunity to instigate for those who choose it. Still, I think it is a great idea.
Who would pour gasoline on this already brightly burning competitive fire? Very appropriately, BP Products North America, Inc., the newest corporate partner of both franchises.
As the sponsor of the BP Crosstown Cup, BP will provide Chicago baseball fans an opportunity to see and interact with the Cup trophy throughout the season at select Chicagoland retail locations and limited Cubs and White Sox home games. They will also use an instant win Crosstown Cup-themed promotion at more than 350 stations in the greater Chicagoland area.
The battle for bragging rights is on…giving the term “gas,” otherwise used to describe a sizzling fastball, a whole new meaning. Let the cross-town cup begin.
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