A pep rally like no other was held Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, and some of the White Sox’ youngest fans even scored tickets to a massive game at Rate Field.
The party started early on the South Side Wednesday as young fans went crazy for the White Sox at school. Some students say been waiting their entire lives for this postseason game at home in October.
“The vibe is high as ever,” said Immanuel Hernandez, 8th grader. “The city is going to go crazy.”
Students at Bridgeport Catholic Academy are fired up for the White Sox. The energy was palpable with students hyping up their favorite team.
“I’ve been to all the 100 loss-season games and I’m very excited to go to one of the playoff games,” said Donald Vilimas a 6th grader at the school.
Vilimas got emotional speaking with NBC Chicago ahead of the potentially clinching game against the Guardians.
“This might be their chance, this might be their lucky year like in 2005,” he said. “This just matters a lot to me—the White Sox are my team.”
Over at St. Gabriel Catholic School, 240 students, teachers, and chaperones will get to experience the game in person too.
“It just means a lot to me for ‘Mattress Mack’ to give us all these tickets for my school,” said 6th grader Molly Powell.
The school’s principal told NBC Chicago that Mattress Mack, a businessman down in Houston, made a wager that if the Sox beat the Astros in the Wild Rard Round, he would gift them tickets.
“He had researched us and he knew that we had a connection to the Pope,” said Julie Jurisic, St. Gabriel School Principal. “The Pope’s brother was once our principal here at St. Gabriel.”
The principal said she’s so happy to be able to take her students to experience this historic game.
“We’re very blessed for some of them it’s their first game and I’m sure for most of them it’s their first playoff game,” she laughed.