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Chicago is a city of mythic conflicts: Mayor Richard J. Daley and his cops against long-haired hippie protesters in 1968, Eliot Ness Untouchables vs. Al Capones Outfit during Prohibition, and Cubs fans vs. Sox fans in the Crosstown Classic every summer.Before the installation of interleague play in 1997, the Cubs and Sox had occasional exhibition games to raise money for charity (I saw Michael Jordan play outfield at Wrigley in 1994). The teams also played for keeps once, the 1906 World Series, where the Hitless Wonders defeated the 116-win Cubs 4 games to 2. For decades, the teams staged a postseason City Series that let owners and players make a few more dollars before the offseason. Chicago baseball scribe Ring Lardner dubbed this the City Serious, and fans do indeed take it seriously. Perhaps too seriously, with so many Chicago myths in play.Cubs fans are yuppies, White Sox fans blue collar. Cubs fans dont really watch the game, Sox fans do. Cubs fans foolishly support bad teams, Sox fans only show up when theyre winning. The media loves the Cubs and ignores the Sox.Well, whatever grains of truth these myths might have, the media do not ignore the Cubs-Sox series, and fans flock to it.But it might surprise people to learn that the games when the Cubs host the White Sox are not the most in demand among my season ticket group in Section 416.After going to a few games in the first few years, I generally avoid Sox-Cubs games, the Country Doctor says. I have nothing against the White Sox, but their fans seem to have an inferiority complex that tends to make them a tad aggressive. The Big Bun, though he came out Thursday, has a similarly dim view of the matchup. The atmosphere may have changed over the years, he says, but back when I did go to this series it was a bunch of drunks -- on both sides --?who just wanted to talk smack to each other.Azz puts a positive spin on this problem, saying, Ive never seen any evidence in either park that one side is more serious about baseball. This is Chicago; what we take seriously is drinking, and in that regard both sides are champions.Cubs fans might have been driven to the bottle by consecutive losses at the Cell on Monday and Tuesday. (White Sox ownership and stadium workers mightve just been driven to exhaustion, as the two crowds of 39,510 and 39,553 were the Cells biggest gates of the year, even exceeding the 38,019 who showed up for Opening Days snowstorm. Cubs fans travel, especially south of Madison Street.But the buzz on the North Side on Wednesday and Thursday was all about Aroldis Chapman, or rather the myth of Aroldis Chapman.And the myth became reality as he mopped up in Wednesdays 8-1 blowout and saved the 3-1 pitchers duel for John Lackey on Thursday.Most fans I talked with at Nisei pregame and later at the park were not happy with Chapmans history of domestic violence, and expressed unease with the win-at-all-cost attitude the move represents.At the same time, if Chapmans triple-digit fastball can finally bring a championship to Wrigley, the cynic in me suspects all will be forgiven. Sports fans are a forgiving lot, especially when distracted by freakish excellence.And Chapmans fastball? Freakishly excellent.When he was still with the Reds, I saw him throw a pitch through the screen behind home plate. It hit a seat with a crack like a gunshot. The guy in the adjacent seat grabbed the ball and held it up like a champ; if hed been one seat over, that pitch wouldve shattered his sternum.Cubs-Sox matchups always feel odd, with intense cheering at every play (there were lots of Sox fans at Wrigley). But Chapman changes how everyone watches the game. After he struck out Melky Cabrera to end the eighth (and a threat to erase the Cubs narrow lead) seatmate Rich pointed out that Chapman makes the game feel like a tennis match. When he pitches, all the fans first look to the plate, and then turn in unison, like 41,157 synchronized bobble-head dolls, to check the left-field videoboard to see how fast the pitch was thrown.We were rewarded with 100, 101, 102 and 103 mph fastballs, not to mention 91 mph sliders.How Chapmans debut games, which pushed the Sox two games below .500 and the Cubs to 21-over, will be remembered depends on how the rest of the season plays out. 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All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not.Mitchell Beer is hoping the horse who played a starring role in launching his training career a year ago can return to winning ways when she runs at Flemington.Beer began his training career in December last year when he formed a partnership with Max Hinton at Mornington, and it didnt take long for Jacquis Joy to register Beers first city winner.That came at Caulfield on Boxing Day and she added another city win a couple of weeks later at the same track to make it three victories from her first three starts for the team after being bought from New Zealand.Jacquis Joy has not won since, but Beer is convinced the four-year-old has more metropolitan victories in her and is hoping one of them comes at Flemington on Saturday in the Beachside Handicap.We couldnt have asked for much more from her, Beer said.She won her first three and two in town, and was our first runner. Shes done an amazing job but I certainly dont think weve seen the end of her.Shes certainly got some more metropolitan wins in her and looking at that field on Saturday shes certainly a really good each-way chance and it wont shock us to see her back in the winners stall.Beer was initially disappoointed with Jacquis Joys first-up fifth in a race at Moonee Valley in late October but felt she was intimidated inside horses, and she now wears blinkers.ddddddddddddHe was happy with her last-start third at Ballarat in a fillies and mares benchmark race over 1200m.The mare steps to 1400m and Beer believes she is going as well as last summer.Along with Jacquis Joys city wins, the team also won a Group Three race with Almighty Girl in autumn.On Wednesday Lock And Load claimed a metropoltian win at Mornington.Its been an incredible 12 months, Beer said.To go out on my own and start a business was extremely daunting. My first goals and aspirations were just to get through the first 12 months with a small team of horses.But through the likes of her (Jacquis Joy) and Almighty Girl, I think weve had about 15 winners, probably four metropolitan winners including a Group Three winner.So its been a pretty fantastic 12 months and weve attracted some really nice horses off the back of that. So the next couple of years looks extremely bright. ' ' '