There are rivalries that develop naturally over time and there are contrived rivalries.
Watching the Cubs and White Sox battle at Wrigley Field. it’s obvious in which category this so-called rivalry falls. The Cubbies and the White Sox, while sharing the same city for more than 100 years, do not have the same kind of natural rivalry the Cardinals share with the Cubbies.
Having spent a good portion of my childhood in an area of Illinois that’s split evenly between Cubs and Cardinals fans, I know about that rivalry. I’m interested in seeing how the contrived White Sox-Cubs rivalry stacks up in comparison.
It doesn’t.
Oh, the crowds are loud and the cheers and jeers are all there. But it’s not the same. Neither team’s season depends on how they do in these few interleague contests. The history isn’t there either.
The fans walk out of Wrigley arm in arm in a lot of cases – a Sox fan and a Cubs fan. But Cardinals-Cubs games can get downright nasty. Sure, the games might not be as ugly as Red Sox-Yankees games, but then, Midwesterners are more laid back – they aren’t as nasty as a rule – at least not until they’re filled with enough Old Style.
I really miss the animosity.

We’ve got way more good than bad sports this week - and that’s a good thing. The only problem is that the lone bad sport is SO BAD that it defies logic. As always, you’re invited to sned in your own lists. So here goes, these are my picks for the past week:

GOOD SPORTS
1. Charlie Raich - The former Roxana coaching great passed away last weekend. Hundreds of former players, students, colleagues, friends and family have paid their respects to Charlie. They don’t come much better than him. (By the way: If Jim Herndon is still around when I pass away, I want him to deliver my eulogy - his for Charlie was amazing.)
2. The East Alton-Wood River High girls soccer team - The Oilers and coach Matt Herndon recently received this Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association state-wide award. It’s a great tribute and we’ll have more on the story later in The Telegraph.
3. The Edwardsville High wrestling team was honored last week with a national sportsmanship award for turning in a scoring error.
4. Eileen Waters - The former Godfrey resident is well known to River Bend auto racing fans and she was inducted recently into the Gateway International Raceway Hall of Fame. Again, look for expanded coverage in The Telegraph.

THE ONE REALLY BAD SPORT
1. You talk about bad taste - this person takes the cake. He or she knows who they are - an anonymous letter writer with nothing but bad things to say about one of the most honorable people I’ve met in all my years as a sports journalist. Of course, these sort of writers are always anonymous. They don’t have the guts to put their names on their penned garbage. I won’t give them a soap box here, but suffice to say, these types of correspondence are rougher than Charmin. It must be tough going through life bitter and ticked off.