Welcome to the South Side

Seemingly every time I've asked about the commute from Wrigley Field to U.S. Cellular, the answers have ranged from "dreadful" to "horrific." From the sound of them, I thought I might have been walking into a disaster this afternoon. Turns out I had nothing to fear.

The toughest part of the journey, in fact, was the hundred yards or so between the press gate at Wrigley and the steps up to Addison Station. Blocked by a line of buses on one side and a brick wall on the other, I shimmied my way toward the "L" amidst a sea of Cubs fans -- most of them singing, some of them screaming, nearly all of them happy.

With the line crawling slower than my patience could endure, I ducked around a corner and into a back entrance, which I had used earlier in the morning. Seemed smart, until I ran into another wall of Cubs fans as soon as I hit the stairs. There was no avoiding this.

So instead I waited in line like everyone else, eventually making my way toward the front, where station workers were collecting cash, and -- more importantly for my sake -- helping people to swipe their fare cards the correct way. This time, they must have seen me coming.

The train arrived without delay, soon heading back underground and popping out on the South Side half an hour later. Back in one of the last cars on the train, I even found a seat -- nearly everyone did -- and within 35 minutes we had arrived at 35th Street, the site of U.S. Cellular Field and the second half of Tuesday's Chicago doubleheader.

The difference between this park and Wrigley Field was instantly telling. Here, there were no bars, no pubs, no taverns. Save for a stray tailgate party or two, there weren't even many fans loitering about, most of them either heading toward the wide meeting area behind home plate or already milling into the park. Game time was still more than an hour away.

Certainly, this is baseball with a different pulse and a different personality. That's not to say it's better or worse -- after all, Chicago residents have argued that much for over a century. From my perspective it's still baseball, which on this night is all that really mattered.