FanNation

No, I'm not being a homer here. Not going to dazzle you with predictions of how the White Sox are going to repeat the magic from 2005. Not going to tell you they are the best team in the American League, or even in the City of Chicago.

No, what's AMAZING is the complete lack of respect this team gets.

They have led the division for most of the year. A division that , depending on which "expert" you asked, was either supposed to be dominated by the Tigers or be a dog fight between the Tigers and Indians.

Yet, 100 games into the season there sit the White Sox atop the division, and just as "surprisingly" the Twins as their only close rival.

2nd in ERA in the league

4th in Runs scored

1st in Home Runs

2nd in run differential

And STILL the talking heads are discussing what it will take for DETROIT to come back and win the division. Many actually predicting it to happen.

Chicagos own psuedo-celeb Jay Mariotti, who hasn't written a column in three years where he didn't call for Ozzie Guillens firing (came off kind of odd in his coverage of the Masters) can't seem to make up his mind whether the Sox will falter because he thinks Jerry Reinsdorf is an idiot or because Hawk Harrelson offered to introduce his nose to his behind. (Mariotti ran off like a little girl then spent weeks ripping Harrelson in his columns. Oh, and Harrelson is like 68 years old). 

Then we have the East coast devoted national media. Those guys are mostly too concerned with explaining why the Rays are going to fade and the Yankees will take the wild card, to focus too much on the Central these days, but when they do bother it's generally to tell us the White Sox (and Twins to a lesser extent) have done it all with smoke and mirrors and the Tigers are the real deal who will come storming back. Not that it matters, according to this crowd, as whoever comes out of the Central will just be cannon fodder for those unbeatable teams from the North East. 

All of the reasons the writers used to write off the White Sox prior to the season have proven to be wrong.

"Starting pitching is shaky" - Second best ERA in the AL

"Bull Pen full of holes" - Best bullpen in the AL

"No left fielder" - Carlos Quentin

"No 2nd baseman" - Alexei Ramirez who will be a ROY candidate before it's all over and deserves his own blog

"Players don't respect Ozzie Guillen" - Every time Ozzie goes off, they play better and praise their manager. Ozzie won his 400th game as a manager half way through his 5th season on the job, tonight. 400 wins in your first 4 1/2+ season as a manager? And you suck? Come on.

But being wrong isn't something a sportswriter accepts humbly. Nope, just puts them into overdrive telling us how the first 100 games were just a mirage and it's the last 62 that will prove them right in the end.

Rodney Dangerfield has NOTHING on the 2008 Chicago White Sox.