Just hangin’ out with the White Sox

By: Angie Wiatrowski

As I walked into the locker room of the Chicago White Sox, I couldn’t help but just stare in amazement at all of the memorabilia and of course, the Lazy Boy recliners all over. Plaques and signed helmets line the walls and the center of the room is filled with three rows of black leather recliners, some of course with the White Sox colors and logo. There are three small flat screen televisions in front of the row of recliners, with an even bigger flat screen TV on the back wall. I know I wouldn’t mind hanging out in there before a game.
All of the guys are just as normal as you and me. You have Nick Swisher hanging out in one of the recliners watching sports highlights, Joe Crede sitting behind him working on a crossword puzzle, and most of the pitchers, including Bobby Jenks and John Danks, playing cards at a folding table. All of the reporters are walking around doing their own interviews or just making small talk. I sat with Brian Anderson and listened to his jokes for twenty minutes, and had a few conversations with Paul Konerko and Joe Crede. Once in awhile all of the reporters, especially the television and radio reporters, will bombard a certain player with some interviews, but you can tell they know the drill. It’s just routine.
The atmosphere is definitely different than it was at spring training. They’re all really relaxed and just like to hang out; it was a pretty amazing experience. We were all hanging out like we were at someone’s house watching TV. I’ll admit, I was scared to death before I walked into the clubhouse, but once bullpen coach Juan Nieves gave me a couple pats on the back and told the players to “take care of this girl,” everything got better. It was so much easier to talk to all the guys. It’s really not as scary as it seems or as I thought it was. I can definitely get used to this job.

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Angie Wiatrowski is a journalism student at Columbia College Chicago and has been an active journalist since freshman year of high school. She attended Minooka Community High school, where she was the Special Features editor for the school newspaper. She was born and raised around baseball and is a diehard Chicago White Sox fan. Also, check out her blog.

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