I enjoyed this piece by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti the other day and wanted to give it a special write up. First off, I’m not a Cub or White Sox fan, but I like Chicago as a city and I love how the rivalry comes to a head in the two major newspapers. I was first privy to this as a kid watching Siskel and Ebert, and I’ve had the chance to walk through downtown Chicago on a number of occasions to see how those buildings hold court, seemingly ready to uproot and square off.

I do like the Cubs a little. I dislike the White Sox. But the thing I like most about the Cubs is watching them lose. Deep down I think their fans like this too. It’s a weird dynamic, unlike any other I can think of in sports.

The piece focuses on the symbolism of the arrival of Fukudome and the departure of Mark Prior. A solemn acknowledgement of the ending of one era, and possibly the beginning of the next. And of course, how either way the Cubs have it all over the hapless White Sox.

One negative thing I want to get out of the way before I focus on some of the gems here. That is, on four occasions the writer translates Fukudome to mean something in English. I dislike this. It insinuates that the Japanese language is gibberish that can be labeled in any way the writer sees fit. Example:

Fukudome is neither a rock band nor a dinner appetizer nor an indoor stadium.

And it’s not even remotely funny.

Now for what I liked.

Even after 100 years of well-documented derailments, the hope train never stops running in Cubdom. But sometimes, ever so sadly, it lets off a straggler in the name of mercy. On the day Kosuke Fukudome became the new franchise daydream, a lost fantasy from the past was non-tendered by the Cubs, which is a polite way of saying they’re giving up on Mark Prior.

I never thought of it this way, but it really is true. Ultimately I don’t think Fukudome will be the piece that, say, Alfonso Soriano or Carlos Zambrano already is, or the piece that Rich Hill may eventually be, but he might just be the final piece. But to get it they had to close the book on what has been (again, this is part of the masochistic culture the Cubs have bred) a much loved and hated era of Cub teams. It’s easy to forget the Cubs were so close in 2003.

And then the Sox are brought in…

In any language, the Cubs are cool and the White Sox are losers.

The Sox made a bigger offer to Fukudome and he still chose the Cubs. It’s a big slap in the face to the White Sox, but hardly the first. Tori Hunter, as Mariotti points out, rejected them, and they couldn’t pull off a deal for Cabrera, who they were in hot pursuit of. Rowand also rejected them. They are a badly managed team that somehow won the World Series in 2005.

As for the children in the Sox front office, who always look for someone or something to blame, they’re now whining that the American League is simply too tough. Actually, gentlemen, you’ve failed to keep up with the Tigers and Indians and other premier clubs, a debacle that involves lowball offers, a lack of creativity and a shoddy farm system that crashed on Williams’ watch.

“If I ever leave this job or if I ever get fired, I’m not coming back to the American League. I’m going to the National League,” Williams told USA Today this week. “You’ve got a fighting chance over there.”

“Move us to the National League,” moped his boss, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. “Put me in the NL Central right now.”

Amusing. The Sox are one injury to Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, or A.J. Pierzynski from being a 100-loss team in 2008. It’ll be especially fun for Cubs fans to watch them wither next year. But not as fun as it’ll be to see their own team go down to the Astros or Nationals, or whatever mediocre NL team sneaks into the playoffs.

When Lou Piniella describes him as a cross between Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, I cringe. Fukudome had a breakthrough 2006 season in the Japanese Central League, hitting .351 with 31 homers and 104 RBIs to go with a rocket arm and good speed. Sure, in the perfect Wrigley dream, he could emerge as a poor man’s Carlos Beltran, a left-handed hitter with some pop and an impressive on-base percentage.

Piniella’s comparison does strike me as dumb. Fukudome can be what Brian Gilles was five years ago.

For every Ichiro who comes to the majors and excels, there are other Asian products who don’t match the hype. Matsui has been fairly productive, but hardly as Ruthian as advertised. Dice-K Matsuzaka was a disappointment until he picked up his pitching pace in October. A player to whom Fukudome is compared, third baseman Aki Iwamura, struggled mightily last season with Tampa Bay. The likes of Kaz Matsui and Hideki Irabu have cracked under large-market pressure. Anyone who saw the World Baseball Classic knows Fukudome will have impact. But as the regular right fielder, he’ll be expected to immediately produce good numbers. Is that realistic?

He’s right, but this all has to do with the American media’s own Orientalist hype about these guys. It takes at least a year or two of adjustment. Hopefully Jay will remember his own piece when he’s tempted to rip into Fukudome during the second week of May.

What if he’s just a high-priced Matt Murton?

Gotta love that quote.

At least the Cubs identified their prize and snagged him. At least they used the lure of Piniella, who came highly recommended to Fukudome by other Japanese players, to their advantage. “He’s exactly what we needed for our club moving forward,” said Hendry, thrilled. “He’s been our target acquisition from Day One. This was Option 1, 2 and 3 as far as we were concerned.”

He right on the mark there. They did. They wanted Fukudome from day one, and they got him. And now the team is unquestionably one of the top two or three teams in the National League. Quite possibly the best. It’ll be one of the storylines that will be fun to watch as 2008 begins.