The following headline caught my attention, but not for the author’s intended reason:
*News link below
CHICAGO—Two women were injured Friday night in a shooting during a White Sox game at Guaranteed Rate Field.
I lived in Bridgeport for a year or two when I was seven or eight. Bridgeport is a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, in the vicinity of where former Mayor Richard J. Daley lived. Being Greek, my dad owned a restaurant, and I was forced into child labor as a cashier. Mayor Daley’s bodyguards came into the restaurant to eat a few times, and that is the extent of excitement I was afforded in exchange for my internment.
We lived above the restaurant, and there was a ‘Penny Candy’ store steps away. That was not false advertising. That is where I bought candy cigarettes that, with a puff, would blow powdered sugar that looked like real smoke to me. I procured several yards of cherry licorice rope, wax lips, wax bottles filled with a sugary liquid, candy necklaces, wax paper dots, pop rocks …candy, the likes of which you’ve seen. [This is me making a Trump joke.] I spent money as if it grew on trees.
It has yet to bear fruit.
In exchange for a single coin, I left the store clutching a white paper bag that bulged with sugar in every form and color. It wasn’t long before karma caught up with me and punished me for my gluttony. The two teeth next to my front teeth sported large cavities visible when I smiled. Life isn’t fair, or maybe it is. Thankfully, they were baby teeth that soon lost their will to live.
Apart from that brief blip of time, I was a Northsider, a fan of the “well they tried their best” Chicago Cubs. Those were the days when a kid could ditch school, hop on a bus, and buy a ticket to sit in the bleachers for next to nothing.
Any who, I was talking about the south side. Not a mile away from where I lived in Bridgeport was Comiskey park, where the Chicago White Sox played. I have few memories that survived the lost year of my sugar coma. But, I remember going to night games with a bag of penny candy and watching fireworks after the White Sox lost.
I recall hearing the team was erecting a new stadium across the street from the old one, and that it would be named U.S. Cellular Field. They could call it what they wanted. I always thought of it as Comiskey Park. That is not unlike the Sears Tower changing names to Willis Tower; it will always be the Sears Tower to me.
Stop distracting me and let me get to my point. What the Hell kind of name is ‘Guaranteed Rate Field?’ I feel sorry for kids today.
Police: Two hurt in shooting at White Sox game
Guaranteed Rate Field History & Dimensions | Chicago White Sox
A lot from Lydia 