The Bernstein Brief: Guaranteed Idiot Field
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) I know it happens in other places, but Thursday night was too perfect for the South Side ballpark long beset by the related issues of naming-rights changes and moronic fans running onto the field during games.
It was still Comiskey Park when William Ligue and his son jumped out to attack Royals first-base coach Tom Gamboa in 2002, but it became U.S. Cellular Field after that season, with the easy and early nickname of "The Cell" reminding of that ugly incident, nevertheless.
Then in the first weeks of 2003, four drunken fans stormed the field during another game against Kansas City, this time trying to go after umpire Laz Diaz. The multiple arrests for aggravated battery and criminal trespassing further cemented an image of "The Cell" that the team would work against for years.
And so it was again Thursday night, timed just right with the clumsily-handled announcement Wednesday that the park will become Guaranteed Rate Field this fall. Three more fans raced out to challenge security -- two shirtless and one with his pants drooping, as if sent from central casting -- delaying the game in the top of the ninth.
Call the place whatever you want, but with White Sox fans, some behaviors prove all but guaranteed.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.