03-17-2009, 02:41 AM
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Zambrano debuted with the Cubs on Aug. 20, 2001. He has a lot of baseball ahead. So the question -- after seeing Wood leave town this winter -- is obvious: Could Zambrano ever imagine pitching for another team?
''No,'' he said, tapping his hand on that big ''C'' logo over his heart.
Then without much hesitation...
''Well, if I do,'' Zambrano added in a hushed voice, ''I want it to be in a White Sox uniform.''
What?
This isn't the kind of thing that will go over well with Cubs fans.
''I grew up as a White Sox fan. That was my favorite team,'' Zambrano said. ''I apologize to the Cubs fans for saying this, but you don't have control when you are 6, 7 years old of your feelings. Your feelings are with the team you see as a child. For me, it was the White Sox.''
Brace yourself. This South Side love gets worse.
We now take you to a remote island off the coast of Venezuela. Zambrano took his family there last offseason for a vacation. He took a seat in a seaside restaurant. Then he heard a voice boom -- in Spanish -- from across the room.
''Hey, Crazy, what are you doing here?''
Zambrano wheeled around and found Sox manager Ozzie Guillen glaring at him.
Time for a rumble?
Hardly. The two embraced, and the face of the Sox invited the face of the Cubs on his yacht for a day of fishing and some frolicking on the beach. Honest.
''His family and my family, we are pretty tight,'' Guillen said Monday. ''People who see Carlos on the field, they don't see the real human being he is. This guy is unbelievable -- with his family, his friends, his town, his country. This guy is one of the better people I've ever been around. I can put him at the same caliber as Jim Thome -- and that's a lot to say.
''I've never been around somebody who is so nice a person, then all of a sudden, the game is on and he is exactly what you want. You talk to Carlos without the uniform on, I don't know if he can pitch for me. And when you see him with a uniform on, I don't think he can be my friend.''
One of the craziest rumors at the winter meetings in December centered on the Cubs -- after completing a Jake Peavy trade -- sending Zambrano to the Sox.
Sources from both sides of town shot down the rumor, and Peavy never was dealt to Chicago. Still, it was thought-provoking. Certainly, Zambrano and Guillen have toyed with the idea of ''Big Z'' on the South Side.
''He talked to me about it,'' Guillen said. ''He always says he is a White Sox fan. And I say, 'Too bad we don't have the money to sign you.' He grew up watching us play. I don't want fans to take his comments wrong. I grew up a Cincinnati Reds fan, and I never got a chance to play for them. I say, 'I hope he plays for the Cubs the rest of his career.' I really do.''
Deep down, so does Zambrano, who has a five-year, $91.5 million contract -- with no-trade protection -- to prove his commitment.
''I love the Cubs,'' Zambrano said. ''Now, I like the Cubs more than the White Sox. Well, just a little bit of a feeling for the White Sox -- maybe 2 percent. But 98 percent of my feeling is for the Cubs.''<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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''No,'' he said, tapping his hand on that big ''C'' logo over his heart.
Then without much hesitation...
''Well, if I do,'' Zambrano added in a hushed voice, ''I want it to be in a White Sox uniform.''
What?
This isn't the kind of thing that will go over well with Cubs fans.
''I grew up as a White Sox fan. That was my favorite team,'' Zambrano said. ''I apologize to the Cubs fans for saying this, but you don't have control when you are 6, 7 years old of your feelings. Your feelings are with the team you see as a child. For me, it was the White Sox.''
Brace yourself. This South Side love gets worse.
We now take you to a remote island off the coast of Venezuela. Zambrano took his family there last offseason for a vacation. He took a seat in a seaside restaurant. Then he heard a voice boom -- in Spanish -- from across the room.
''Hey, Crazy, what are you doing here?''
Zambrano wheeled around and found Sox manager Ozzie Guillen glaring at him.
Time for a rumble?
Hardly. The two embraced, and the face of the Sox invited the face of the Cubs on his yacht for a day of fishing and some frolicking on the beach. Honest.
''His family and my family, we are pretty tight,'' Guillen said Monday. ''People who see Carlos on the field, they don't see the real human being he is. This guy is unbelievable -- with his family, his friends, his town, his country. This guy is one of the better people I've ever been around. I can put him at the same caliber as Jim Thome -- and that's a lot to say.
''I've never been around somebody who is so nice a person, then all of a sudden, the game is on and he is exactly what you want. You talk to Carlos without the uniform on, I don't know if he can pitch for me. And when you see him with a uniform on, I don't think he can be my friend.''
One of the craziest rumors at the winter meetings in December centered on the Cubs -- after completing a Jake Peavy trade -- sending Zambrano to the Sox.
Sources from both sides of town shot down the rumor, and Peavy never was dealt to Chicago. Still, it was thought-provoking. Certainly, Zambrano and Guillen have toyed with the idea of ''Big Z'' on the South Side.
''He talked to me about it,'' Guillen said. ''He always says he is a White Sox fan. And I say, 'Too bad we don't have the money to sign you.' He grew up watching us play. I don't want fans to take his comments wrong. I grew up a Cincinnati Reds fan, and I never got a chance to play for them. I say, 'I hope he plays for the Cubs the rest of his career.' I really do.''
Deep down, so does Zambrano, who has a five-year, $91.5 million contract -- with no-trade protection -- to prove his commitment.
''I love the Cubs,'' Zambrano said. ''Now, I like the Cubs more than the White Sox. Well, just a little bit of a feeling for the White Sox -- maybe 2 percent. But 98 percent of my feeling is for the Cubs.''<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
the whole article
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