If you don’t believe in the idea of continuous time, or if you’re ardent about the idea of history repeating itself, Chicago baseball might just be giving you all the ammunition you need to overpower any argument to the contrary. Consider:

• The White Sox are taking a gamble on journeyman pitcher Esteban Loaiza.
• The White Sox and Cubs are both in first place.
• A rookie Cubs outfielder is the talk of the town.
• Behold! The Uribe Paradox: the Sox are concerned about their incumbent shortstop and don’t know what to do with (or expect from) Juan Uribe.
• Young pitching dominates as planned.
• Paul Konerko can’t get out of an awful slump.
• A White Sox outfielder is not living up to the lofty expectations placed upon him.
• Neal Cotts is a non-factor out of the bullpen.

Yes folks, 2008 is truly the new 2003, starring Nick Swisher as Joe Borchard, Juan Uribe as Jose Valentin, Alexei Ramirez as Juan Uribe, Kosuke Fukudome as Corey Patterson, Carlos Zambrano as Bartolo Colon, Jose Contreras as Esteban Loaiza, Esteban Loaiza as Cy Young candidate Stevie Southside, and Neal Cotts as himself.

(SPOILER ALERT: This will probably not end well for at least half of the involved parties.)