Friday White Sox blogging

From the Daily Southtown:

Springfield may be a Cubs-Cardinals town, but only the White Sox have their own caucus.

In a city of Democrats and Republicans, representatives and senators, where common ground is sought but rarely attained and where ideological divisions permeate even the most stable of associations, lawmakers managed to create a new course of action.

The Chicago White Sox Springfield Caucus held its second annual meeting Wednesday night where members planned to elect new officers and forge an agenda for the coming year. Nevermind the "meeting" time was scheduled conveniently around the Sox' night game against the Angels and the location was a local watering hole. This was a splinter political group even House Speaker Michael Madigan could appreciate.

The "caucus" is led by state Rep. Joe Lyons (D-Chicago) who actually lives four miles from Wrigley Field. The caucus kindly tolerates him nonetheless.

His grandfather, an Irish immigrant, did some plumbing work on the original Comiskey Park. Because the "old Roman" Charles Comiskey was the only Catholic owner of the original 16 baseball teams – and because the Wrigley family was made up of "orange-men" from northern Ireland -- Lyons was raised a Sox fan in spite of his address.

"We didn't go to Wrigley Field," he said. [...]

The bipartisan caucus includes David Dring, spokesman for Republican House Leader Tom Cross, and boasts several South Side lawmakers as officers, including state Rep. George Scully (D-Flossmoor).

"When I was younger, it was 45 minutes to Comiskey and an hour and 20 minutes to that big beer garden on the North Side," Dring said. "I think that's why my father took me to Comiskey."

Go Sox.