It turns out that I was too quick to let President Obama off the hook for his reference to the longtime stadium of his supposedly beloved White Sox. First, I failed to take note that Obama referred to “Cominskey Field” (rather than “Park”). As one e-mailer puts it:
When race-car driver Jeff Gordon led “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field and referred to it as as “Wrigley Stadium,” he was booed mercilessly. At least Gordon had some excuses: he’s not from Chicago, he’s apparently not a baseball fan, and a central feature of his job is not public speaking. Obama has no excuse, especially given that he said “Cominskey Field” while insinuating that Cubs fans are too high-brow to be real baseball fans.
Second, another Chicago native vigorously disputes the notion that the stadium was commonly called “Cominskey”:
As a native southsider who has been to many, many White Sox games, I have never heard Comiskey referred to as Cominsky. My father is sitting next to me right now, and he too says he has never heard the park being referred to in such a way (65-year southside resident). You must have received an email from someone living in Hyde Park. Probably a Cubs fan, if not an Obama fan.
I will at this point try to remove myself from the middle of the Chicago crossfire.