Okay, so technically they’re still in it, but I think we all know just how much “being in it” really counts for. But as the Good Guys vainly clutch at straws for ways to stay alive, perhaps we fans can return the favor and find the good in what little is left. To wit:

Spitefulness.
No, not spite for ourselves – spite for the Cubs! Remember the Cubs? They’re terrible! And not just regular terrible – terrible to the point of quite possibly finishing the season with no more wins than the Sox at nearly twice the payroll. Geovany Soto’s munchies got the best of him, Alfonso Soriano is exactly the useless player all those non-eight-year-contract-giving clubs thought he would be, their bullpen is comically bad, and Lou Piniella’s only course of action is to turn his rage inwards. Now as the local sports press sets its crosshairs on the Best Entertainment $30 Million Can Buy, “It’s Gonna Happen” has happened again, and in ways we all knew it would. Oh, the sweet smell of schadenfreude.

Football.
As a good friend put it to me, the Bears are shaping up to be the Pale Hose of the NFC: “We have promising young kids, broken down veterans, and a completely mediocre division, which we will probably lose anyway. If nothing else you should feel eerily comfortable watching the Bears. We’ll beat teams we shouldn’t, lose to teams we should beat, and fall well short of our potential.” Baseball season may be running out of time, but White Sox season never has to end. Go Bears!