Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Many sports fans live and die with the successes and failures of their teams. That includes one White Sox fan who recently died before the franchise received a parting shot in the opening paragraph of his obituary due to their dismal performance.
The Chicago White Sox have a history stretching back to the start of the 20th century, and fans of the team have become accustomed to pain and disappointment during the bulk of its existence.
The franchise was forced to endure a World Series drought that didn’t get as much attention as the ones fans of the Cubs and the Red Sox were subjected to before it came to a merciful end in after 88 years 2005, and its supporters haven’t really had too much to root for since then.
The White Sox have only made the playoffs three times in the nearly two decades that have transpired since that championship, and they’ve suffered a one-and-done fate in all three of those appearances.
Things have also gotten progressively worse since their most recent one in 2022, as the team finished with 81 wins the following year, only managed 61 in 2023, and saw the trend continue with an MLB-worst 41 last season (no other team in the league had less than 61, and it was the fifth-worst showing in the modern era that began in 1901— the same year the White Sox came into existence).
Chicago is somewhat expectedly sitting firmly in the basement of the AL Central after posting a 10-26 record this season, and the only real silver lining is that the team won’t be able to continue the aforementioned trend unless they have a historically awful showing in their next 136 contests.
It would be hard to blame even the most diehard White Sox fan for not wanting to torture themselves with the atrocious product the team is currently forcing them to stomach, and John McDonald of Glen Illyn, Illinois no longer has to worry about it after passing away at the age of 77 on April 23rd.
That might seem like a flippant way to frame someone’s death, but based on the obituary that was published in the wake of it, McDonald would have agreed with the sentiment when you consider it jokingly blames the White Sox for his demise after his “short battle” with an undisclosed illness, saying, “He couldn’t face another White Sox season after last year’s record-breaking meltdown.”
The obituary also made sure to immortalize his hatred for the team’s mortal enemies on the North Side of Chicago, noting “He enjoyed playing golf, watching TV, re-sleeping and Chicago sports (except the Cubs. He hated the Cubs.) “
That’s how you write an obituary.