title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet's seventh album, "Awake", contains twelve songs and was released on August 25, 2009. It charted at No. 2 on the Billboard top 200 selling around 68,000 units in its first week. "Monster" was released as a single on July 14, 2009. Contrary to popular belief, John Cooper stated that "Hero" was not the album's lead single. It was, however, released as a single in March 2010. They also released a deluxe version with the extra songs "Dead Inside" and "Would It Matter", along with the original, radio edit of "Monster" that does not have the distorted growl as in the single and in the CD. A remix on "Monster" was featured on one of their popular podcasts. The song "Hero" was used in the publicizing of the first football game of the 2009 NFL season between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans, and the song "Monster" was used in the episode "Jason: The Pretty-Boy Bully" on MTV's Bully Beatdown. "Monster" was the theme song for the WWE event WWE Hell in a Cell, while the song "Hero" was the theme song for WWE Tribute to the Troops and Royal Rumble 2010, as well as both songs being included on the official soundtrack for the WWE video game WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010. "Monster" would also become the theme song for the AHL team the Lake Erie Monsters in Cleveland, Ohio, being played in the player intros and after a Lake Erie goal, and serves as the opening theme of the Fresno Monsters of Fresno, California. "Monster" was aired at the beginning of several ACC football games on Raycom Sports during the 2009 season. In the first week of April 2010, "Monster" was released for the Rock band music store in Rock Band 2 It also tied the record for highest-charting Christian album on the "Billboard" 200 with Underoath's 2006 release "Define the Great Line" and Casting Crowns' 2007 release "The Altar and the Door", as all three albums debuted at No. 2.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet was nominated for six Dove Awards for the 41st Annual GMA Dove Awards. "Awake" was certified gold July 2, 2010. Also in 2010, Ardent released "The Early Years", a collection of their songs from 1996 to 2001. On November 12, Skillet released an iTunes sessions EP consisting of songs from "Comatose" and "Awake". "Monster" was certified gold a day later.


title: Skillet (band)

text: On February 14, 2011, Skillet officially announced that longtime lead guitarist Ben Kasica would be leaving the band. Kasica was with the band for 10 years, contributing to the albums "Alien Youth", "Collide", "Comatose", and "Awake" as well as the live album "Comatose Comes Alive". He played what was planned to be his last concert with the band on March 20 but returned and continued touring until a new guitarist was trained. On April 16, Seth Morrison replaced Kasica as the lead guitarist, and now tours full-time with Skillet.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet announced the release of "Awake and Remixed EP" in early March 2011. The remixes were mainly done by Korey Cooper and Ben Kasica. On March 2, 2011, Skillet unveiled the album artwork for the album. John Cooper says the idea was conceived when Korey Cooper and Ben Kasica remixed the song Monster for their popular podcast. The four-song EP was released on March 22.


title: Skillet (band)

text: "Awake" was nominated for and won the "Top Christian Album" Award at the Billboard Music Awards 2011, and the song "Awake and Alive" was announced to be on the "" Soundtrack in May 2011.


title: Skillet (band)

text: On June 21, 2011, John posted to his Twitter account that the band rehearsed new music for the first time and that they are getting ready for a new album. At a question and answer session before a concert, John Cooper said that they would be recording a new record in January/February 2012. However, the band was then scheduled to headline the Winter Jam Tour. They planned to enter the studio at the conclusion of the Winter Jam eastern tour, approximately in May, for a release in late 2012.


title: Skillet (band)

text: In an interview with "CCM Magazine", John Cooper described the new album as "a roller coaster ride". He states: "We have aggressive tracks, artsy and musical tracks, which is new territory for Skillet. A couple songs are classic American heartland anthems, and a couple songs are signature symphonic-classical rock Skillet. Guitars are dirty and edgier, with absolute shredding solos by Seth." One of the songs mentioned in the interview was titled "Salvation".


title: Skillet (band)

text: In an interview on January 26, 2013, in Beaumont, Texas, John Cooper announced that the new album, "Rise", would be coming out in May 2013, but was later scheduled for a June 25, 2013, release. In an interview with NoiseCreep, John Cooper stated the first single and music video is scheduled to be released by late April. The first single from the album, "Sick of It", will be released to US Rock radio on April 23, 2013. It was later confirmed that the first single, "Sick of It", would be released on April 9, 2013. The album debuted at No.4 on the "Billboard" 200 and No.1 on the Top Rock Chart and Christian Album charts selling 60,000 copies in US alone during the first week of the release. On July 12, 2016, Rise was certified Gold by the RIAA. On June 21, 2013, the band released a deluxe version of the album.


title: Skillet (band)

text: On February 16, 2015, Skillet announced they were writing material for a new album with recording to begin in June with a potential release in the late half of 2015 or early 2016. On April 8, 2016, Skillet released a preview of a new song, later revealed to be called "Out of Hell", on their social media pages. On May 20, 2016, the album's title, "Unleashed", was announced and later was released on August 5, 2016, on Atlantic Records. A lyric video, "Feel Invincible", was also made available. On May 26, the lyric video and digital single "Stars" was released, along with a preview for another song titled "Back From the Dead". On June 6, it was announced that "Feel Invincible" was the theme song for TBS' E-League, the live video game tournament. WWE announced on July 7 that it had chosen "Feel Invincible" as an official theme for WWE Battleground. On July 8, the full version of "Back From the Dead" was made available for purchase online. On January 27, 2017, the band released a new recording of "Stars" with an acoustic style, which was included in the film, "The Shack". On November 17, 2017, they released a deluxe edition, "Unleashed Beyond", containing new material such as "Breaking Free", featuring Lacey Sturm and remixes of "Feel Invincible" and "The Resistance". Skillet also released a five-track EP containing remixes of "Feel Invincible". This was available to anyone who pre-ordered "Unleashed Beyond" from their website.


title: Skillet (band)

text: On May 5, 2019, "Billboard" ran an article about Skillet's upcoming album tenth studio album, "Victorious", where they mentioned that the band had sold over 12 million units worldwide. The band released "Legendary" on May 7, 2019, as the first single off "Victorious". On June 14, 2019, the band released two new singles: "Save Me" and "Anchor." On July 27, the band released another single: "You Ain't Ready". The album was released on August 2, 2019.


title: Skillet (band)

text: "Surviving the Game", Skillet's first single in a year, was released on September 15, 2021, The band also announced their eleventh studio album, "Dominion", which was released on January 14, 2022. This was followed by the release of three other singles: "Standing in the Storm" on November 12, 2021, "Refuge" on December 10, 2021, and the title track, "Dominion", on January 7, 2022. On December 9, 2022, Skillet released the fourth single from the album, "Psycho In My Head", and announced the deluxe edition of the album, "Dominion: Day of Destiny", which is to be released on February 17, 2023.


title: Skillet (band)

text: The band's style has been described as Christian rock, Christian metal, alternative rock, hard rock, nu metal and symphonic metal. The band's eponymous debut album was characterized by its grunge influences, while their follow-up album, "Hey You, I Love Your Soul" was noted for "its electronic elements and industrial feel."


title: Skillet (band)

text: Their music can also be described as an aspiration; according to Cooper's idea for a perfect music is to 'unite' individuals spiritually and socially.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Allmusic reviewer James Christopher Monger described the band's musical style as a fusion of "alt-metal, hard rock, post-grunge, and soaring alternative rock," in his review for the band's 2013 album, "Rise".


title: Skillet (band)

text: In the middle of 2005, Korey Cooper took a break from performing, due to her pregnancy with their second child. Her rhythm guitar and keyboard roles were temporarily filled by two people: Andrea Winchell (who would later become the Coopers' nanny) on keys and Chris Marvin (lead singer/guitar of The Spark) on guitar.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet toured with Ron Luce and Teen Mania Ministries on their Acquire The Fire Tour across the United States and Canada in 2007. When they returned, Skillet had plans to co-headline the Justice & Mercy Tour with Flyleaf, but the tour was postponed and ultimately canceled after a number of shows due to Flyleaf lead vocalist Lacey Mosley's vocal problems. They then toured with Luce's Global Expeditions program on a summer missions trip with teenagers to Mexico. In 2008, they joined Teen Mania Ministries and toured with Acquire the Fire.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet joined Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Seether on the first half of their tour in fall 2007. Then Skillet headlined their own "Comatose" Tour alongside Thousand Foot Krutch and traveled to approximately 30 cities. The tour started on March 28 and ran through May 11, 2008. Skillet toured again from April 2009 through June 2009 with Decyfer Down and Disciple. This tour was called Comatose Tour 2009 (essentially a second branch of the 2008 Comatose Tour). In fall of 2009, Skillet began touring with Hawk Nelson, Decyfer Down, and The Letter Black to promote Skillet's album "Awake". The Awake & Alive Tour encompassed 52 cities from October through January.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet appeared at the 2009 Night of Joy Christian rock festival at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. This marked the band's first absence from Universal Studios Orlando's Rock the Universe in five years due to conflicting schedules. However, they were able to perform the following year, in 2010. On September 26, 2009, Skillet appeared at Awakening Music Festival in Leesburg, Virginia, alongside Jeremy Camp, Kutless, Hawk Nelson, Disciple, Decyfer Down, and others. Skillet also played at the Super Dome in New Orleans for the ELCA National Youth Gathering in 2009.


title: Skillet (band)

text: In January 2010, they toured with Puddle of Mudd and Shinedown through the East Coast of the United States. They also announced on their live chat with fans on December 5, 2009, that they would be touring with TobyMac in March and April 2010. This was later expanded upon as the "Awake Tonight Tour" named after both artists' new albums. House of Heroes joined them on the tour as the opening act. In April and May, the band continued on a second branch of their "Awake and Alive" tour with The Letter Black and Red. In April, it was also announced that the band would be touring with Creed and Theft in August and September 2010. In October, the band would be co-headlining the "Monsters of Annihilation Tour" with Papa Roach. Trapt and My Darkest Days will be supporting acts. They toured again with TobyMac in November and December as the 2010 version of the Winter Wonder Slam tour. On July 4, Skillet played at Creation Festival East, and John Cooper called it the best show of Skillet's career.


title: Skillet (band)

text: In January 2011, Skillet confirmed that they would be touring with Stone Sour and Theory of a Deadman on the Avalanche Tour. The tour began at the end of March 2011 and concluded on May 8 in Jacksonville, FL. Other supporting acts include Halestorm and Art of Dying. The band had a small international tour in January and February 2011 visiting Australia, New Zealand's Parachute Music Festival, and Japan. In October 2011, the band continued their "Awake and Alive" tour with Disciple, We as Human, and Manafest.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Starting on August 13, 2013, Skillet toured with Shinedown, Papa Roach, and In This Moment on the Carnival of Madness Tour. In October and November, the band arrives Europe supporting Nickelback's tour in 21 shows. The band closed the year headlining their own tour in Russia and a show in Ukraine.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet started co-headlining the Roadshow 2014 with Third Day during January and February. Upon completion, the band continued coheadlining alongside Third Day in a spring tour. Later in May, toured with TobyMac and Lecrae in the "Summer Shed Tour". Starting in the end of May, the band traveled to be part of European festivals during six weeks. In August and September, they joined Godsmack, Seether, and Buckcherry in the Rockstar Uproar Festival in twenty one American cities. In October and November, the band had its own tour in Europe and Russia, offering 22 shows.


title: Skillet (band)

text: Starting January 2, 2015, they co-headlined the Winter Jam Tour 2015 in the central and eastern part of the United States alongside Jeremy Camp. They were also part of the Winter Jam Tour 2015 West Coast.


title: Skillet (band)

text: On May 11, 2016, Skillet announced a European tour from May 28 through July 3 including Rock am Ring. In July, it was announced that Skillet would be going on a headlining Unleashed Tour with Sick Puppies, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Devour the Day, playing at club-sized venues in 18 cities primarily located along the East Coast of the United States to take place during September and October 2016. In December 2016, a 27-city, second leg of the tour was announced. Opening for Skillet on this second leg were Sick Puppies and Devour the Day.


title: Skillet (band)

text: In 2017, Skillet opened for Korn and Stone Sour on the second half of The Serenity of Summer Tour which started in Syracuse, New York on July 19 and finished in Cleveland, Ohio August 2. Starting November 5, 2017, Skillet headlined on the Air1 Positive Hits Tour across the central United States.


title: Skillet (band)

text: In 2018, Skillet headlined the Winter Jam tour for the third time, making it their fourth appearance to date. In January 2018, Skillet, along with For King & Country announced the "joy. UNLEASHED" tour in April 2018, hitting a handful of mid-western and southern US cities.


title: Skillet (band)

text: In 2019, Skillet had a 20-city US tour with Sevendust from August 11 through September 7, 2019. They will also be on tour in the US with Alter Bridge, with a stop in Toronto and Quebec..


title: Skillet (band)

text: In 2021, Skillet headlined the Drive-in Theater Tour with support from Colton Dixon and Jordan Feliz.


title: Skillet (band)

text: In April 2018, Jen Ledger began pursuit of her solo career by joining with Korey Cooper. They formed as Ledger and released a self-titled EP, along with a new single "Not Dead Yet".


title: Skillet (band)

text: In September 2018, John Cooper and Seth Morrison formed a new side project, Fight the Fury. Alongside John Panzer III and Jared Ward, they released an EP, "Still Breathing", with a new single, "My Demons".


title: Skillet (band)

text: Skillet was recognized on February 1, 2016, as having recorded the biggest digital single in the history of Christian music since their song "Monster" had garnered over 2.6 million sales. It was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA, was the number one streaming Christian song of 2015, and was the number eight streaming rock song of 2015. On their site in 2019, Skillet announced the RIAA had certified "Monster" 3× Platinum and "Hero" 2× Platinum. The article also stated that "Monster" had over 3 billion global audio streams, while "Hero" hit more than 1 billion.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and plays its home games at Guaranteed Rate Field, located on Chicago's South Side. The White Sox are one of two MLB teams based in Chicago, the other being the Chicago Cubs of the National League (NL) Central division.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the White Sox were established as a major league baseball club in as the Chicago White Stockings, before shortening their name to the White Sox in . The team originally played their home games at South Side Park before moving to Comiskey Park in , where they played until


title: Chicago White Sox

text: . They moved into their current home, which was originally also known as Comiskey Park like its predecessor and later carried sponsorship from U.S. Cellular, for the 1991 season.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox won the 1906 World Series with a defense-oriented team dubbed "the Hitless Wonders", and the 1917 World Series, led by Eddie Cicotte, Eddie Collins and Shoeless Joe Jackson. The 1919 World Series was marred by the Black Sox Scandal, in which several members of the White Sox were accused of conspiring with gamblers to fix games. In response, the new MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned the players from the league for life. In 1959, the White Sox, led by Early Wynn, Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio, and manager Al López, won the American League pennant. They won the AL pennant in 2005, and went on to win the World Series, led by MVP Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle, catcher A. J. Pierzynski, and Ozzie Guillén, the first Latino manager to win the World Series. The 87 years it took the White Sox to win the World Series stands as the second longest MLB championship drought of all time, with their crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cubs, holding the longest drought (107 seasons). The White Sox have an overall record of 9,411–9,309 (). Of the original sixteen teams prior to the expansion era, the White Sox have the least amount of league pennants with five.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox originated as the Sioux City Cornhuskers of the Western League, a minor league under the parameters of the National Agreement with the National League. In 1894, Charles Comiskey bought the Cornhuskers and moved them to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they became the St. Paul Saints. In 1900, with the approval of Western League president Ban Johnson, Charles Comiskey moved the Saints into his hometown neighborhood of Armour Square, where they became the Chicago White Stockings, the former name of Chicago's National League team, the Orphans (now the Chicago Cubs).


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 1901, the Western League broke the National Agreement and became the new major league American League. The first season in the AL ended with a White Stockings championship. However, that would be the end of the season, as the World Series did not begin until 1903. The franchise, now known as the Chicago White Sox, made its first World Series appearance in 1906, beating the crosstown Cubs in six games.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox won a third pennant and a second World Series in 1917, beating the New York Giants in six games with help from stars Eddie Cicotte and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. The Sox were heavily favored in the 1919 World Series, but lost to the Cincinnati Reds in eight games. Huge bets on the Reds fueled speculation that the series had been fixed. A criminal investigation went on in the 1920 season, and although all players were acquitted, commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned eight of them for life, in what was known as the Black Sox Scandal. This set the franchise back, as they did not win another pennant for 40 years.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox did not finish in the upper half of the American League again until after founder Charles Comiskey died and passed ownership of the club to his son, J. Louis Comiskey. They finished in the upper half most years between 1936 and 1946, under the leadership of manager Jimmy Dykes, with star shortstop Luke Appling (known as "Ol' Aches and Pains") and pitcher Ted Lyons, who both had their numbers 4 and 16 retired.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: After J. Louis Comiskey died in 1939, ownership of the club was passed down to his widow, Grace Comiskey. The club was later passed down to Grace's children Dorothy and Chuck in 1956, with Dorothy selling a majority share to a group led by Bill Veeck after the 1958 season. Veeck was notorious for his promotional stunts, attracting fans to Comiskey Park with the new "exploding scoreboard" and outfield shower. In 1961, Arthur Allyn, Jr. briefly owned the club before selling to his brother John Allyn.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: From 1951 to 1967, the White Sox had their longest period of sustained success, scoring a winning record for 17 straight seasons. Known as the "Go-Go White Sox" for their tendency to focus on speed and getting on base versus power hitting, they featured stars such as Minnie Miñoso, Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio, Billy Pierce, and Sherm Lollar. From 1957 to 1965, the Sox were managed by Al López. The Sox finished in the upper half of the American League in eight of his nine seasons, including six years in the top two of the league. In 1959, the White Sox ended the New York Yankees' dominance over the American League, and won their first pennant since the ill-fated 1919 campaign. Despite winning game one of the 1959 World Series 11–0, they fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: During the late 1960s and 1970s, the White Sox struggled to win games and attract fans. Allyn and Bud Selig agreed to a handshake deal that would give Selig control of the club and move them to Milwaukee, but it was blocked by the American League. Selig instead bought the Seattle Pilots and moved them to Milwaukee (where they would become the Milwaukee Brewers, putting enormous pressure on the American League to place a team in Seattle. A plan was in place for the Sox to move to Seattle and for Charlie Finley to move his Oakland A's to Chicago. However, the city had a renewed interest in the Sox after the 1972 season, and the American League instead added the expansion Seattle Mariners. The 1972 White Sox had the lone successful season of this era, as Dick Allen wound up winning the American League MVP award. Bill Veeck returned as owner of the Sox in 1975, and despite not having much money, they managed to win 90 games in 1977, with a team known as the "South Side Hitmen".


title: Chicago White Sox

text: However, the team's fortunes plummeted afterwards, plagued by 90-loss teams and scarred by the notorious 1979 Disco Demolition Night promotion. Veeck was forced to sell the team, rejecting offers from ownership groups intent on moving the club to Denver and eventually agreeing to sell it to Ed DeBartolo, the only prospective owner who promised to keep the White Sox in Chicago. However, DeBartolo was rejected by the owners, and the club was then sold to a group headed by Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn. The Reinsdorf era started off well, with the team winning their first division title in 1983, led by manager Tony La Russa and stars Carlton Fisk, Tom Paciorek, Ron Kittle, Harold Baines, and LaMarr Hoyt. During the 1986 season, La Russa was fired by announcer-turned-general manager Ken Harrelson. La Russa went on to manage in six World Series (winning three) with the Oakland A's and St. Louis Cardinals, ending up in the Hall of Fame as the second-winningest manager of all time.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox struggled for the rest of the 1980s, as Chicago fought to keep them in town. Reinsdorf wanted to replace the aging Comiskey Park, and sought public funds to do so. When talks stalled, a strong offer was made to move the team to Tampa, Florida. Funding for a new ballpark was approved in an 11th-hour deal by the Illinois State Legislature on June 30, 1988, with the stipulation that it had to be built on the corner of 35th and Shields, across the street from the old ballpark, as opposed to the suburban ballpark the owners had designed. Architects offered to redesign the ballpark to a more "retro" feel that would fit in the city blocks around Comiskey Park; however, the ownership group was set on a 1991 open date, so they kept the old design. The new ballpark opened in 1991 under the name new Comiskey Park. The park, renamed in 2003 as U.S. Cellular Field and in 2016 as Guaranteed Rate Field, underwent many renovations in the early 2000s to give it a more retro feel.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox were fairly successful in the 1990s and early 2000s, with 12 winning seasons from 1990 to 2005. First baseman Frank Thomas became the face of the franchise, ending his career as the White Sox's all-time leader in runs, doubles, home runs, total bases, and walks. Other major players included Robin Ventura, Ozzie Guillén, Jack McDowell, and Bobby Thigpen. The Sox won the West division in 1993, and were in first place in 1994, when the season was canceled due to the 1994 MLB Strike.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 2004, Ozzie Guillén was hired as manager of his former team. After finishing second in 2004, the Sox won 99 games and the Central Division title in 2005, behind the work of stars Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle, A. J. Pierzynski, Joe Crede, and Orlando Hernández. They started the playoffs by sweeping the defending champion Boston Red Sox in the ALDS, and beat the Angels in five games to win their first pennant in 46 years, due to four complete games by the White Sox rotation. The White Sox went on to sweep the Houston Astros in the 2005 World Series, giving them their first World Championship in 88 years.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Guillén had marginal success during the rest of his tenure, with the Sox winning the Central Division title in 2008 after a one-game playoff with the Minnesota Twins. Guillén left the White Sox after the 2011 season and was replaced by former teammate Robin Ventura. The White Sox finished the 2015 season, their 115th in Chicago, with a 76–86 record, a three-game improvement over 2014. The White Sox recorded their 9,000th win in franchise history by the score of 3–2 against the Detroit Tigers on September 21, 2015. Ventura returned in 2016, with a young core featuring José Abreu, Adam Eaton, José Quintana, and Chris Sale. Ventura resigned after the 2016 season, in which the White Sox finished 78–84. Rick Renteria, the 2016 White Sox bench coach, was promoted to the role of manager.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Prior to the start of the 2017 season, the White Sox traded Sale to the Boston Red Sox and Eaton to the Washington Nationals for prospects including Yoán Moncada, Lucas Giolito and Michael Kopech, signaling the beginning of a rebuilding period. During the 2017 season, the White Sox continued their rebuild when they made a blockbuster trade with their crosstown rival, the Chicago Cubs, in a swap that featured the Sox sending pitcher José Quintana to the Cubs in exchange for four prospects headlined by outfielder Eloy Jiménez and pitcher Dylan Cease. This was the first trade between the White Sox and Cubs since the 2006 season.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: During the 2018 season, relief pitcher Danny Farquhar suffered a brain hemorrhage while he was in the dugout between innings. Farquhar remained out of action for the rest of the season and just recently got medically cleared to return to baseball, despite some doctors doubting that he would make a full recovery. Also occurring during the 2018 season, the White Sox announced that the club would be the first Major League Baseball team to entirely discontinue use of plastic straws, in ordinance with the "Shedd the Straw" campaign by Shedd Aquarium. The White Sox broke an MLB record during their 100-loss campaign of 2018, but broke the single-season strikeout record in only a year after the Milwaukee Brewers broke the record in the 2017 season. On December 3, 2018, head trainer Herm Schneider retired after 40 seasons with the team; his new role will be as an advisor on medical issues pertaining to free agency, the amateur draft and player acquisition. Schneider will also continue to be a resource for the White Sox training department, including both the major and minor league levels.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: On August 25, 2020, Lucas Giolito recorded the 19th no-hitter in White Sox history, and the first since Philip Humber's Perfect Game in 2012. Giolito struck out 13 and threw 74 of 101 pitches for strikes. He only allowed one baserunner, which was a walk to Erik González in the fourth inning. In 2020, the White Sox clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2008, with a record 35-25 in the pandemic-shortened season, but lost to the Oakland Athletics in three games during the Wild Card Series. The White Sox also made MLB history by being the first team to go undefeated against left-handed pitching, with a 14-0 record. At the end of the season, Renteria and longtime pitching coach Don Cooper were both fired. Jose Abreu became the 4th different White Sox player to win the AL MVP joining Dick Allen, Nellie Fox, and Frank Thomas. During the 2021 offseason, the White Sox brought back Tony La Russa as their manager for 2021. At the age of 76 when hired, La Russa became the oldest active manager in the MLB.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: On April 14, 2021, Carlos Rodon recorded the teams' 20th no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. Rodon retired the first 25 batters he faced and was saved by an incredible play at first base by first basemen Jose Abreu to get the first out in the 9th before hitting Roberto Pérez which was the only baserunner Rodon allowed. Rodon struck out seven and threw 75 of 114 pitches for strikes. On June 6, 2021, the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0. This also had Tony La Russa winning his 2,764th game as manager passing John McGraw for 2nd on the all time managerial wins list. On August 12, 2021, the White Sox faced New York Yankees in the first ever Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa. The White Sox won the game 9-8 on a walk-off two run Home Run by Tim Anderson. The homer was the 15th walk-off home run against the Yankees in White Sox history; the first being Shoeless Joe Jackson on July 20, 1919, whose character featured in the movie Field of Dreams. On September 23, 2021, the White Sox clinched the American League Central Division for the first time since 2008 against the Cleveland Indians.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In the late 1980s, the franchise threatened to relocate to Tampa Bay (as did the San Francisco Giants), but frantic lobbying on the part of the Illinois governor James R. Thompson and state legislature resulted in approval (by one vote) of public funding for a new stadium. Designed primarily as a baseball stadium (as opposed to a "multipurpose" stadium), the new Comiskey Park (redubbed U.S. Cellular Field in 2003 and Guaranteed Rate Field in 2016) was built in a 1960s style, similar to Dodger Stadium and Kauffman Stadium. There were ideas for other stadium designs submitted to bring a more neighborhood feel, but ultimately they were not selected. The park opened in to positive reaction, with many praising its wide-open concourses, excellent sight lines, and natural grass (unlike other stadiums of the era, such as Rogers Centre in Toronto). The park's inaugural season drew 2,934,154 fans — at the time, an all-time attendance record for any Chicago baseball team.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In recent years, money accrued from the sale of naming rights to the field has been allocated for renovations to make the park more aesthetically appealing and fan-friendly. Notable renovations of early phases included reorientation of the bullpens parallel to the field of play (thus decreasing slightly the formerly symmetrical dimensions of the outfield); filling seats in up to and shortening the outfield wall; ballooning foul-line seat sections out toward the field of play; creating a new multitiered batter's eye, allowing fans to see out through one-way screens from the center-field vantage point, and complete with concession stand and bar-style seating on its "fan deck"; and renovating all concourse areas with brick, historic murals, and new concession stand ornaments to establish a more friendly feel. The stadium's steel and concrete were repainted dark gray and black. In 2016, the scoreboard jumbotron was replaced with a new Mitsubishi Diamondvision HDTV screen.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The top quarter of the upper deck was removed in , and a black wrought-metal roof was placed over it, covering all but the first eight rows of seats. This decreased seating capacity from 47,098 to 40,615; 2005 also had the introduction of the Scout Seats, redesignating (and reupholstering) 200 lower-deck seats behind home plate as an exclusive area, with seat-side waitstaff and a complete restaurant located underneath the concourse. The most significant structural addition besides the new roof was 2005's FUNdamentals Deck, a multitiered structure on the left-field concourse containing batting cages, a small Tee Ball field, speed pitch, and several other children's activities intended to entertain and educate young fans with the help of coaching staff from the Chicago Bulls/Sox Training Academy. This structure was used during the 2005 American League playoffs by ESPN and the Fox Broadcasting Company as a broadcasting platform.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Designed as a seven-phase plan, the renovations were completed before the 2007 season with the seventh and final phase. The most visible renovation in this final phase was replacing the original blue seats with green seats. The upper deck already had new green seats put in before the beginning of the 2006 season. Beginning with the 2007 season, a new luxury-seating section was added in the former press box. This section has amenities similar to those of the Scout Seats section. After the 2007 season, the ballpark continued renovation projects despite the phases being complete. In July 2019, the White Sox extended the netting to the foul pole.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The St. Paul Saints first played their games at Lexington Park. When they moved to Chicago's Armour Square neighborhood, they began play at the South Side Park. Previously a cricket ground, the park was located on the north side of 39th Street (now called Pershing Road) between South Wentworth and South Princeton Avenues. Its massive dimensions yielded few home runs, which was to the advantage of the White Sox's Hitless Wonders teams of the early 20th century.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: After the 1909 season, the Sox moved five blocks to the north to play in the new Comiskey Park, while the 39th Street grounds became the home of the Chicago American Giants of the Negro leagues. Billed as the Baseball Palace of the World, it originally held 28,000 seats and eventually grew to hold over 50,000. It became known for its many odd features, such as the outdoor shower and the exploding scoreboard. When it closed after the 1990 season, it was the oldest ballpark still in Major League Baseball.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: On November 19, 2007, the cities of Glendale and Phoenix, Arizona, broke ground on the Cactus League's newest spring-training facility. Camelback Ranch, the $76 million, two-team facility, is the new home of both the White Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers for their spring training. Aside from state-of-the-art baseball facilities at the 10,000-seat stadium, the location includes residential, restaurant and retail development, a four-star hotel, and an 18-hole golf course. Other amenities include of major and minor league clubhouses for the two teams, four major league practice fields, eight minor league practice fields, two practice infields, and parking to accommodate 5,000 vehicles.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Over the years, the White Sox have become noted for many of their uniform innovations and changes. In 1960, they became the first team in the major sports to put players' last names on jerseys for identification purposes.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 1912, the White Sox debuted a large "S" in a Roman-style font, with a small "O" inside the top loop of the "S" and a small "X" inside the bottom loop. This is the logo associated with the 1917 World Series championship team and the 1919 Black Sox. With a couple of brief interruptions, the dark-blue logo with the large "S" lasted through 1938 (but continued in a modified block style into the 1940s). Through the 1940s, the White Sox team colors were primarily navy blue trimmed with red.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox logo in the 1950s and 1960s (actually beginning in the season) was the word "SOX" in Gothic script, diagonally arranged, with the "S" larger than the other two letters. From 1949 through 1963, the primary color was black (trimmed with red after 1951). This is the logo associated with the Go-Go Sox era.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 1964, the primary color went back to navy blue, and the road uniforms changed from gray to pale blue. In 1971, the team's primary color changed from royal blue to red, with the color of their pinstripes and caps changing to red. The 1971–1975 uniform included red socks.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 1976, the team's uniforms changed again. The team's primary color changed back from red to navy. The team based their uniforms on a style worn in the early days of the franchise, with white jerseys worn at home, and blue on the road. The team brought back white socks for the last time in team history. The socks featured a different stripe pattern every year. The team also had the option to wear blue or white pants with either jersey. Additionally, the team's "SOX" logo was changed to a modern-looking "SOX" in a bold font, with "CHICAGO" written across the jersey. Finally, the team's logo featured a silhouette of a batter over the words "SOX".


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The new uniforms also featured collars and were designed to be worn untucked — both unprecedented. Yet by far, the most unusual wrinkle was the option to wear shorts, which the White Sox did for the first game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals in 1976. The Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League had previously tried the same concept, but it was also poorly received. Apart from aesthetic issues, as a practical matter, shorts are not conducive to sliding, due to the likelihood of significant abrasions.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Upon taking over the team in 1980, new owners Eddie Einhorn and Jerry Reinsdorf announced a contest where fans were invited to create new uniforms for the White Sox. The winning entries, submitted by a fan, had the word "SOX" written across the front of the jersey in the same font as the cap, inside of a large blue stripe trimmed with red. The red and blue stripes were also on the sleeves, and the road jerseys were gray to the home whites. In those jerseys, the White Sox won 99 games and the AL West championship in 1983, the best record in the majors.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: After five years, those uniforms were retired and replaced with a more basic uniform that had "White Sox" written across the front in script, with "Chicago" on the front of the road jersey. The cap logo was also changed to a cursive "C", although the batter logo was retained for several years.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: For a midseason 1990 game at Comiskey Park, the White Sox appeared once in a uniform based on that of the 1917 White Sox. They then switched their regular uniform style once more. In September, for the final series at the old Comiskey Park, the White Sox rolled out a new logo, a simplified version of the 1949–63 Gothic "SOX" logo. They also introduced a uniform with black pinstripes, also similar to the Go-Go Sox era uniform. The team's primary color changed back to black, this time with silver trim. The team also introduced a new sock logo—a white silhouette of a sock centered inside a white outline of a baseball diamond—which appeared as a sleeve patch on the away uniform until 2010 (switched to the "SOX" logo in 2011), and on the alternate black uniform since 1993. With minor modifications (i.e., occasionally wearing vests, black game jerseys), the White Sox have used this style ever since.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: During the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the White Sox wore their throwback uniforms at home every Sunday, starting with the 1972 red-pinstriped throwback jerseys worn during the 2012 season, followed by the 1982–86 uniforms the next season. In the 2014 season, the "Winning Ugly" throwbacks were promoted to full-time alternate status, and are now worn at home on Sundays. In one game during the 2014 season, the Sox paired their throwbacks with a cap featuring the batter logo instead of the wordmark "SOX"; this is currently their batting-practice cap prior to games in the throwback uniforms.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 2021, to commemorate the Field of Dreams game, the White Sox wore special uniforms honoring the 1919 team. That same year, the White Sox wore "City Connect" alternate uniforms introduced by Nike, featuring an all-black design with silver pinstripes, and "Southside" wordmark in front.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox have retired a total of 12 jersey numbers: 11 worn by former White Sox and number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Luis Aparicio's No. 11 was issued at his request for 11-time Gold Glove winner shortstop Omar Vizquel (because No. 13 was used by manager Ozzie Guillén; Vizquel, like Aparicio and Guillen, play(ed) shortstop and all share a common Venezuelan heritage). Vizquel played for team in 2010 and 2011.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Also, Harold Baines had his No. 3 retired in 1989; it has since been 'unretired' 3 times in each of his subsequent returns.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox were originally known as the White Stockings, a reference to the original name of the Chicago Cubs. To fit the name in headlines, local newspapers such as the "Chicago Tribune" abbreviated the name alternatively to Stox and Sox. Charles Comiskey would officially adopt the White Sox nickname in the club's first years, making them the first team to officially use the "Sox" name. The Chicago White Sox are most prominently nicknamed "the South Siders", based on their particular district within Chicago. Other nicknames include the synonymous "Pale Hose"; "the ChiSox", a combination of "Chicago" and "Sox", used mostly by the national media to differentiate them between the Boston Red Sox (BoSox); and "the Good Guys", a reference to the team's one-time motto "Good guys wear black", coined by broadcaster Ken Harrelson. Most fans and Chicago media refer to the team as simply "the Sox". The Spanish language media sometimes refer to the team as "Medias Blancas" for "White Socks."


title: Chicago White Sox

text: From 1961 until 1991, lifelong Chicago resident Andrew Rozdilsky performed as the unofficial yet popular mascot "Andy the Clown" for the White Sox at the original Comiskey Park. Known for his elongated "Come on you White Sox" battle cry, Andy got his start after a group of friends invited him to a Sox game in 1960, where he decided to wear his clown costume and entertain fans in his section. That response was so positive that when he won free 1961 season tickets, he decided to wear his costume to all games. Comiskey Park ushers eventually offered free admission to Rozdilsky. Starting in 1981, the new ownership group led by Jerry Reinsdorf introduced a twosome, called Ribbie and Roobarb, as the official team mascots, and banned Rozdilsky from performing in the lower seating level. Ribbie and Roobarb were very unpopular, as they were seen as an attempt to get rid of the beloved Andy the Clown.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 1988, the Sox got rid of Ribbie and Roobarb; Andy the Clown was not permitted to perform in the new Comiskey Park when it opened in 1991. In the early 1990s, the White Sox had a cartoon mascot named Waldo the White Sox Wolf that advertised the "Silver and Black Pack", the team's kids' club at the time. The team's current mascot, SouthPaw, was introduced in 2004 to attract young fans.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Nancy Faust became the White Sox organist in 1970, a position she held for 40 years. She was one of the first ballpark organists to play pop music, and became known for her songs playing on the names of opposing players (such as Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" for Pete Incaviglia). Her many years with the White Sox established her as one of the last great stadium organists. Since 2011, Lori Moreland has served as the White Sox organist.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Similar to the Boston Red Sox with "Sweet Caroline" (and two songs named "Tessie"), and the New York Yankees with "Theme from New York, New York", several songs have become associated with the White Sox over the years. They include:


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The Chicago Cubs are the crosstown rivals of the White Sox, a rivalry that some made fun of prior to the White Sox's 2005 title because both of them had extremely long championship droughts. The nature of the rivalry is unique; with the exception of the 1906 World Series, in which the White Sox upset the favored Cubs, the teams never met in an official game until , when interleague play was introduced. In the intervening time, the two teams sometimes met for exhibition games. The White Sox currently led the regular-season series 48–39, winning the last four seasons in a row. The BP Crosstown Cup was introduced in 2010 and the White Sox won the first three seasons (2010-2012) until the Cubs first won the Cup in 2013 by sweeping the season series. The White Sox won the Cup the next season and retained the Cup the following two years (series was a tie - Cup remains with defending team in the event of a tie). The Cubs took back the Cup in 2017. Two series sweeps have occurred since interleague play began, both by the Cubs in 1998 and 2013.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: An example of this volatile rivalry is the game played between the White Sox and the Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field on May 20, 2006. White Sox catcher A. J. Pierzynski was running home on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Brian Anderson and smashed into Cubs catcher Michael Barrett, who was blocking home plate. Pierzynski lost his helmet in the collision, and slapped the plate as he rose. Barrett stopped him, and after exchanging a few words, punched Pierzynski in the face, causing a melee to ensue. Brian Anderson and Cubs first baseman John Mabry got involved in a separate confrontation, although Mabry was later determined to be attempting to be a peacemaker. After 10 minutes of conferring following the fight, the umpires ejected Pierzynski, Barrett, Anderson, and Mabry. As Pierzynski entered his dugout, he pumped his arms, causing the sold out crowd at U.S. Cellular Field to erupt in cheers. When play resumed, White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi blasted a grand slam to put the White Sox up 5–0 on their way to a 7–0 win over their crosstown rivals. While other major league cities and metropolitan areas have two teams co-exist, all of the others feature at least one team that began playing there in 1961 or later, whereas the White Sox and Cubs have been competing for their city's fans since 1901.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: A historical regional rival was the St. Louis Browns. Through the 1953 season, the two teams were located fairly close to each other (including the 1901 season when the Browns were the Milwaukee Brewers), and could have been seen as the American League equivalent of the Cardinals–Cubs rivalry, being that Chicago and St. Louis have for years been connected by the same highway (U.S. Route 66 and now Interstate 55). The rivalry has been somewhat revived at times in the past, involving the Browns' current identity, the Baltimore Orioles, most notably in 1983.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The current Milwaukee Brewers franchise were arguably the White Sox's main and biggest rival, due to the proximity of the two cities (resulting in large numbers of White Sox fans who would regularly be in attendance at the Brewers' former home, Milwaukee County Stadium), and with the teams competing in the same American League division for the 1970 and 1971 seasons and then again from 1994 to 1997. The rivalry has since cooled off, however, when the Brewers moved to the National League in 1998.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The rivalry between the White Sox and Minnesota Twins developed during the 2000s, as the two teams consistently battled for the AL Central Crown. The Twins won the division in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2009, with the Sox winning in 2005, 2008, and 2010, and many of those years their rival was the division runner-up. The teams met in the 2008 American League Central tie-breaker game, which was necessitated by the two clubs finishing the season with identical records. The White Sox won this game 1–0 on a Jim Thome home run.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The rivalry re-emerged in the 2020s, with the Twins winning the AL Central in 2020 by a single game over the White Sox and Cleveland Indians, and the Sox and Twins have continued to compete for the division title since that point.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 1990, then new White Sox owners Eddie Einhorn and Jerry Reinsdorf began Chicago White Sox Charities, a 501(c) (3) charitable organization that is the team's philanthropic arm, donating over $27 million over time to a plethora of Chicago organizations. White Sox Charities began centering on early childhood literacy programs, then expanded to focusing on encouraging high school graduation and college matriculation so the team can monitor its success. It also supports children at risk as well as promotes wellness and health.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox did not sell exclusive rights for radio broadcasts from radio's inception until 1944, instead having local stations share rights for games, and after WGN (720) was forced to abdicate their rights to the team in the 1943 after 16 seasons due to children's programming commitments from their network, Mutual. The White Sox first granted exclusive rights in 1944, and bounced between stations until 1952, when they started having all games broadcast on WCFL (1000). Throughout this period of instability, one thing remained constant, the White Sox play-by-play announcer, Bob Elson. Known as the "Commander", Elson was the voice of the Sox from 1929 until his departure from the club in 1970. In 1979, he was the recipient of the Ford Frick Award, and his profile is permanently on display in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: After the 1966 season, radio rights shifted from WCFL to WMAQ (670). An NBC-owned and -operated station until 1988 when Westinghouse Broadcasting purchased it after NBC's withdrawal from radio, it was the home of the Sox until the 1996 season, outside of a team nadir in the early '70s, where it was forced to broker time on suburban La Grange's WTAQ (1300) and Evanston's WEAW-FM (105.1) to have their play-by-play air in some form (though WEAW transmitted from the John Hancock Center, FM radio was not established as a band for sports play-by-play at the time), and a one-season contract on WBBM (780) in 1981. After Elson's retirement in 1970, Harry Caray began his tenure as the voice of the White Sox, on radio and on television. Although best remembered as a broadcaster for the rival Cubs, Caray was very popular with White Sox fans, pining for a "cold one" during broadcasts. Caray often broadcast from the stands, sitting at a table set up amid the bleachers. It became a badge of honor among Sox fans to "Buy Harry a beer..." By game's end, one would see a large stack of empty beer cups beside his microphone. This only endeared him to fans that much more. In fact, he started his tradition of leading the fans in the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" with the Sox. Caray, alongside color analyst Jimmy Piersall, was never afraid to criticize the Sox, which angered numerous Sox managers and players, notably Bill Melton and Chuck Tanner. He left to succeed Jack Brickhouse as the voice of the Cubs in 1981, where he became a national icon.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox shifted through several announcers in the 1980s, before hiring John Rooney as play-by-play announcer in 1989. In 1992, he was paired with color announcer Ed Farmer. In 14 seasons together, the duo became a highly celebrated announcing team, even being ranked by "USA Today" as the top broadcasting team in the American League. Starting with Rooney and Farmer's fifth season together, Sox games returned to the 1000 AM frequency for the first time in 30 years (now the ESPN owned and operated station WMVP). The last game on WMVP was game 4 of the 2005 World Series, with the White Sox clinching their first World Series title in 88 years. That also was Rooney's last game with the Sox, as he left to join the radio broadcast team of the St. Louis Cardinals.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In 2006, radio broadcasts returned to 670 AM, this time on the sports radio station WSCR owned by CBS Radio (WSCR took over the 670 frequency in August 2000 as part of a number of shifts among CBS Radio properties to meet market ownership caps). Ed Farmer became the play-by-play man after Rooney left, joined in the booth by Chris Singleton from 2006 to 2007 and then Steve Stone in 2008. In 2009, Darrin Jackson became the color announcer for White Sox radio, where he remains today. Farmer and Jackson were joined by pregame/postgame host Chris Rogney.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The Chicago White Sox Radio Network currently has 18 affiliates in three states. As of recently, White Sox games are also broadcast in Spanish with play-by-play announcer Hector Molina joined in the booth by Billy Russo. Formerly broadcasting on ESPN Deportes Radio via WNUA, games are now broadcast in Spanish on WRTO (1200).


title: Chicago White Sox

text: In the 2016 season, the play-by-play rights shifted to Cumulus Media's WLS (890) under a five-year deal, when WSCR acquired the rights to Cubs games after a one-year period on WBBM. However, by all counts, the deal was a disaster for the White Sox, as WLS's declining conservative talk format, associated ratings, and management/personnel issues (including said hosts barely promoting the team and its games), and a signal that is weak in the northern suburbs and into Wisconsin, was not a good fit for the team. Cumulus also had voluminous financial issues, and by the start of 2018, looked to both file Chapter 11 bankruptcy and get out of the play-by-play business entirely, both with local teams and nationally through their Westwood One/NFL deal.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: The White Sox and Tribune Broadcasting (which has since merged with Nexstar Media Group) then announced a three-year deal for WGN Radio to become the White Sox flagship as of February 14, 2018, just in time for spring training. Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson continued to be on play-by-play, with Andy Masur taking over pregame/postgame duties. Ed Farmer died suddenly on April 1, 2020 a long-term battle with polycystic kidney disease, but the team waited to announce his successor due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 30, Masur was confirmed as Farmer's successor for the season.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Under Nexstar's new management, WGN decided to pursue a thriftier programming direction, and made no moves to renew the deal at the end of the 2020 season. The team thus returned to WMVP (now managed by Good Karma Brands, which also owns Brewers flagship WTMJ) for a multi-year agreement to start with the 2021 season. In a surprising turn of events, WMVP and the team announced on December 4, 2020, that Len Kasper, the longtime television play-by-play voice of the Cubs, would move to the South Side and become the radio play-by-play voice of the White Sox. The agreement has flexibility which allows Kasper to do some television games on NBC Sports Chicago on days when Jason Benetti has other national commitments.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: White Sox games appeared sporadically on television throughout the first half of the 20th century, most commonly announced by Jack Brickhouse on WGN-TV (channel 9). Starting in 1968, Jack Drees took play-by-play duties as the Sox were broadcast on WFLD (channel 32). After 1972, Harry Caray (joined by Jimmy Piersall in 1977) began double duty as a TV and radio announcer for the Sox, as broadcasts were moved to channel 44, WSNS-TV, from 1972 to 1980, followed by one year on WGN-TV.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Don Drysdale became the play-by-play announcer in 1982, as the White Sox began splitting their broadcasts between WFLD and the new regional cable television network, Sportsvision. Ahead of its time, Sportsvision had a chance to gain huge profits for the Sox. However, few people would subscribe to the channel after being used to free-to-air broadcasts for many years, along with Sportsvision being stunted by the city of Chicago's wiring for cable television taking much longer than many markets because of it being an area where over-the-air subscription services were still more popular, resulting in the franchise losing around $300,000 a month. While this was going on, every Cubs game was on WGN, with Harry Caray becoming the national icon he never was with the White Sox. The relatively easy near-national access to Cubs games versus Sox games in this era, combined with the popularity of Caray and the Cubs being owned by the Tribune Company, is said by some to be the main cause of the Cubs' advantage in popularity over the Sox.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Three major changes to White Sox broadcasting occurred in 1989-1991: in 1989, with the city finally fully wired for cable service, Sportsvision was replaced by SportsChannel Chicago (itself eventually turning into Fox Sports Net Chicago), which varied over its early years as a premium sports service and basic cable channel. In 1990, over-the-air broadcasts shifted back to WGN. And in 1991, Ken Harrelson became the play-by-play announcer of the White Sox. One of the most polarizing figures in baseball, "Hawk" has been both adored and scorned for his emotive announcing style. His history of calling out umpires has earned him reprimands from the MLB commissioner's office, and he has been said to be the most biased announcer in baseball. However, Harrelson has said that he is proud of being "the biggest homer in baseball", saying that he is a White Sox fan like his viewers. The team moved from FSN Chicago to the newly launched NBC Sports Chicago in March 2005, as Jerry Reinsdorf looked to control the rights for his team rather than sell rights to another party; Reinsdorf holds a 40% interest in the network, with 20% of that interest directly owned by the White Sox corporation.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Previously, White Sox local television broadcasts were split between two channels: the majority of games were broadcast on cable by NBC Sports Chicago, and remaining games were produced by WGN Sports and were broadcast locally on WGN-TV. WGN games were also occasionally picked up by local stations in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. In the past, WGN games were broadcast nationally on the WGN America superstation, but those broadcasts ended after the 2014 season as WGN America began its transition to a standard cable network. WGN Sports-produced White Sox games not carried by WGN-TV were carried by WCIU-TV (channel 26) until the 2015 season, when they moved to MyNetworkTV station WPWR (channel 50). That arrangement ended on September 1, 2016 when WGN became an independent station.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Prior to 2016, the announcers were the same no matter where the games were broadcast: Harrelson provided play-by-play, and Steve Stone provided color analysis since 2009. Games that are broadcast on NBC Sports Chicago feature pregame and postgame shows, hosted by Chuck Garfein with analysis from Bill Melton and occasionally Frank Thomas. In 2016, the team announced an official split of the play-by-play duties, with Harrelson calling road games and the Crosstown Series and Jason Benetti calling home games. In 2017, the team announced that the 2018 season will be Harrelson's final in the booth. He will call 20 games over the course of the season, after which Benetti will take over full-time play-by-play duties.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: On January 2, 2019, the White Sox (along with the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks) agreed to an exclusive multiyear deal with NBC Sports Chicago, ending the team's broadcasts on WGN-TV following the 2019 season.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Silver Chalice is a digital and media investment subsidiary of the White Sox with Brooks Boyer as CEO.


title: Chicago White Sox

text: Silver Chalice was co-founded by Jerry Reinsdorf, White Sox executive Brooks Boyer, Jason Coyle and John Burris in 2009. Chalice has since partnered with IMG on Campus Insiders, a college sports digital channel. The company also invested in 120 Sports, a digital sports channel, that launched in June 2016. These efforts have since been merged with Sinclair Broadcasting Group's American Sports Network into the new multi-platform network Stadium as of September 2017.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: "Whisper of the Heart" was Kondō's only film as director before his death in 1998. Studio Ghibli had hoped that Kondō would become the successor to Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: A spinoff film, "The Cat Returns", was released in 2002, which focused on a minor character of the film, the Baron.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: Shizuku Tsukishima is a 14-year-old student at Mukaihara Junior High School, where she is best friends with Yūko Harada. She lives in Tokyo with her parents Asako and Seiya and older sister Shiho, and is keen on creative writing. One evening, she looks through the checkout cards in her library books and discovers they were all checked out previously by someone named Seiji Amasawa.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: Over the next few days, she encounters a boy who annoys her by teasing her about "Concrete Roads", a set of original lyrics describing Tama New Town that Shizuku based on the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads". Finding a cat riding a train, Shizuku follows it to discover an antique shop run by Shirō Nishi. In the shop is a cat statuette nicknamed The Baron. Shizuku is ecstatic about finding "a place where stories begin".


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: Shizuku later encounters the boy again at the antique shop. He shows her the workshop, where she discovers that he is learning to make violins to pursue his dream of becoming a master luthier. She begs him to play the violin for her, but he agrees on the condition that she sings along. The pair perform "Take Me Home, Country Roads". The boy is revealed to be Seiji, Nishi's grandson, and Shizuku and Seiji finally befriend each other.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: Seiji admits that he admires Shizuku’s talents and that he had been checking out a large number of books in the hopes that she would eventually notice him. Days after, Seiji leaves for Cremona, Italy for a two-month study with a master violin-maker. Inspired by him pursuing his dream, Shizuku decides to pursue her writing seriously during the two months. She asks Nishi if she can write a story featuring the Baron, to which Nishi grants his consent in exchange for being the first to read her story.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: Shizuku concocts a fantasy story featuring herself as the protagonist, the Baron as the male hero looking for his lost love, Louise, and the cat from the train (a neighborhood stray who is, among other names, known as "Moon" and "Muta") as the antagonist. Devoting her time to her writing, Shizuku stays up until early in the morning, and her school grades drop. She argues with her family over her grades and future. As she continues to push herself, her anxiety mounts.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: When her story is complete, Nishi reads it and gives his honest assessment. Shizuku bursts into tears as the stress of the last two months turns into relief. Nishi consoles her and tells her the real-life story of the Baron. When he studied in Germany in his youth, he found his first love, a woman named Louise. Nishi discovered the twin statuettes of the Baron and his female companion in a cafe, but as the female one was away for repairs, the shopkeeper would only allow Nishi to buy the Baron if Louise agreed to hold onto its companion so they could be reunited. However, the two lovers and their cat statues were separated during World War II.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: Deciding she needs to learn more about writing, and that she wants to attend high school, Shizuku announces to her mother that she will resume studying for her high school entrance exams. The next morning, she wakes up and sees Seiji outside on his bicycle, having returned a day earlier. Seiji tells Shizuku he will return to Cremona after middle school graduation as planned.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: The two ride Seiji's bike to a lookout and watch the sunrise, where Seiji professes his love for Shizuku and proposes that they marry in the future; she happily accepts.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: For the English dub, Cary Elwes reprised his role as the Baron from "The Cat Returns": while "The Cat Returns" is a spin-off of "Whisper of the Heart", its English dub was produced before the latter film saw an American release.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: "Whisper of the Heart" was based on the manga "Mimi o Sumaseba" which was originally created by Aoi Hiiragi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's shōjo manga magazine "Ribon" between August and November 1989, and a single "tankōbon" volume was released on February 20, 1990. The volume was reprinted on July 15, 2005. A second manga by the same author titled "Mimi o Sumaseba: Shiawase na Jikan" was serialized in Shueisha's "Ribon Original" in August 1995 and released in a single volume on February 20, 1996. A spiritual sequel to this film adaption, "The Cat Returns", was turned back into a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, under the name "Baron: Neko no Danshaku".


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: During production, the backgrounds in the fantasy sequences of the film were drawn by Naohisa Inoue and the woodcut of the imprisoned violin-maker was created by Miyazaki's son Keisuke Miyazaki, a professional engraver.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: The film score of "Whisper of the Heart" was composed by Yuji Nomi. At times during the film, Shizuku translates John Denver's song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" to Japanese for her school's chorus club. She writes her own humorous Japanese version of the song, called "Concrete Road," about her hometown in western Tokyo. The songs were actually translated by producer Toshio Suzuki's daughter Mamiko with Hayao Miyazaki writing supplemental lyrics. These songs play a role at points in the story. A recording of "Take Me Home, Country Roads," performed by Olivia Newton-John, plays during the film's opening sequence. The song was also performed by Shizuku's voice actress Yoko Honna.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: The movie is set around Seiseki-Sakuragaoka station in Tama city, Tokyo, where Shizuku goes up and down stairs and where she and Seiji declare their love on top of the hill near the station. There are paper fortunes at the shrine where this scene takes place. There are three shops where fans of the movie go to meet.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: "Whisper of the Heart" was released in Japan on July 15, 1995, as the first film in the country to use the Dolby Digital sound format. It was shown alongside the music video "On Your Mark" for the song by Chage and Aska. The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc by Tokuma Shoten in January 1996, and the VHS was later reissued by Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan on July 25, 1997 as part of the "Ghibli ga Ippai" series. The movie later saw a DVD release on May 24, 2002, and was soon reissued again with a new HD master by Disney on April 20, 2022.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: An English dub of this film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures in 2003, but it wouldn't be released until March 7, 2006, when it came out on DVD. Turner Classic Movies televised both the dubbed and subbed versions on January 19, 2006 as part of their month-long celebration of Miyazaki in honor of his birthday, January 5. The reason for the long delay was due to rights issues surrounding "Take Me Home, Country Roads", as it's a major plot point in the movie.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: The English title, "Whisper of the Heart", was created by Studio Ghibli and used on several officially licensed "character goods" released around the same time as the film was released in theaters in Japan.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: The North American Blu-ray was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on May 22, 2012, alongside "Castle in the Sky" and "The Secret World of Arrietty". GKIDS & Shout! Factory re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on January 16, 2018 under a new deal with Studio Ghibli.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: "Whisper of the Heart" was the highest-grossing Japanese film on the domestic market in 1995, earning in distribution income, and grossing in total box office revenue. It grossed $34.9 million worldwide.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 4 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Time Out London included "Whisper of the Heart" in their Top 50 Animated Film list. It was also included in Film4's Top 25 Animated Film list. On Anime News Network, Michael Toole gave it an overall grade of A−, calling it "beautiful and evocative; a fine tale of adolescent yearning and aspiration."


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: General producer and screenwriter Hayao Miyazaki defended the film's ending, saying that it was his idea. Miyazaki wanted Shizuku and Seiji to "commit to something."


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: Over the course of the film, Shizuku is working on a fantasy novel that revolves around a cat figurine, named The Baron, which she discovers in Mr. Nishi's antique store. In 2002, Studio Ghibli produced a spin-off film "The Cat Returns," directed by Hiroyuki Morita and again featuring The Baron, and the stray cat, Muta, in the film. Later on, Muta and the crow (Toto, who is friends with him and the Baron) seem to appear in "The Secret World of Arrietty" as two skirmishing animals.


title: Whisper of the Heart

text: In January 2020, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that there will be a live-action sequel. The film will star Nana Seino as Shizuku and Tori Matsuzaka as Seiji. Yūichirō Hirakawa will direct. It was released on October 14, 2022, after being postponed from its original release date of September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: El Niño

text: El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date Line and 120°W), including the area off the Pacific coast of South America. The ENSO is the cycle of warm and cold sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is accompanied by high air pressure in the western Pacific and low air pressure in the eastern Pacific. El Niño phases are known to last close to four years; however, records demonstrate that the cycles have lasted between two and seven years. During the development of El Niño, rainfall develops between September–November. The cool phase of ENSO is , with SSTs in the eastern Pacific below average, and air pressure high in the eastern Pacific and low in the western Pacific. The ENSO cycle, including both El Niño and La Niña, causes global changes in temperature and rainfall.


title: El Niño

text: Developing countries that depend on their own agriculture and fishing, particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean, are usually most affected. In this phase of the Oscillation, the pool of warm water in the Pacific near South America is often at its warmest about Christmas. The original phrase, "El Niño de Navidad", arose centuries ago, when Peruvian fishermen named the weather phenomenon after the newborn Christ.


title: El Niño

text: Originally, the term "El Niño" applied to an annual weak warm ocean current that ran southwards along the coast of Peru and Ecuador at about Christmas time. However, over time the term has evolved and now refers to the warm and negative phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and is the warming of the ocean surface or above-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. This warming causes a shift in the atmospheric circulation with rainfall becoming reduced over Indonesia, India and northern Australia, while rainfall and tropical cyclone formation increases over the tropical Pacific Ocean. The low-level surface trade winds, which normally blow from east to west along the equator, either weaken or start blowing from the other direction.


title: El Niño

text: It is believed that El Niño has occurred for thousands of years. For example, it is thought that El Niño affected the Moche in modern-day Peru. Scientists have also found chemical signatures of warmer sea surface temperatures and increased rainfall caused by El Niño in coral specimens that are around 13,000 years old. Around 1525, when Francisco Pizarro made landfall in Peru, he noted rainfall in the deserts, the first written record of the impacts of El Niño. Modern day research and reanalysis techniques have managed to find at least 26 El Niño events since 1900, with the 1982–83, 1997–98 and 2014–16 events among the strongest on record.


title: El Niño

text: Currently, each country has a different threshold for what constitutes an El Niño event, which is tailored to their specific interests. For example, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology looks at the trade winds, SOI, weather models and sea surface temperatures in the Niño 3 and 3.4 regions, before declaring an El Niño. The United States Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) looks at the sea surface temperatures in the Niño 3.4 region, the tropical Pacific atmosphere and forecasts that NOAA's Oceanic Niño Index will equal or exceed + for several seasons in a row. However, the Japan Meteorological Agency declares that an El Niño event has started when the average five month sea surface temperature deviation for the NINO.3 region, is over warmer for six consecutive months or longer. The Peruvian government declares that a coastal El Niño is under way if the sea surface temperature deviation in the Niño 1 and 2 regions equal or exceed for at least three months.


title: El Niño

text: There is no consensus whether climate change will have any influence on the occurrence, strength or duration of El Niño events, as research supports El Niño events becoming stronger, longer, shorter and weaker. However, recent scholarship has found that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme El Niño events.


title: El Niño

text: El Niño events are thought to have been occurring for thousands of years. For example, it is thought that El Niño affected the Moche in modern-day Peru, who sacrificed humans in order to try to prevent the rains.


title: El Niño

text: It is thought that there have been at least 30 El Niño events since 1900, with the 1982–83, 1997–98 and 2014–16 events among the strongest on record. Since 2000, El Niño events have been observed in 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2014–16, and 2018–19.


title: El Niño

text: Major ENSO events were recorded in the years 1790–93, 1828, 1876–78, 1891, 1925–26, 1972–73, 1982–83, 1997–98, and 2014–16.


title: El Niño

text: Typically, this anomaly happens at irregular intervals of two to seven years, and lasts nine months to two years. The average period length is five years. When this warming occurs for seven to nine months, it is classified as El Niño "conditions"; when its duration is longer, it is classified as an El Niño "episode".


title: El Niño

text: During strong El Niño episodes, a secondary peak in sea surface temperature across the far eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean sometimes follows the initial peak.


title: El Niño

text: ENSO conditions have occurred at two- to seven-year intervals for at least the past 300 years, but most of them have been weak. Evidence is also strong for El Niño events during the early Holocene epoch 10,000 years ago.


title: El Niño

text: El Niño may have led to the demise of the Moche and other pre-Columbian Peruvian cultures. A recent study suggests a strong El Niño effect between 1789 and 1793 caused poor crop yields in Europe, which in turn helped touch off the French Revolution. The extreme weather produced by El Niño in 1876–77 gave rise to the most deadly famines of the 19th century. The 1876 famine alone in northern China killed up to 13 million people.


title: El Niño

text: An early recorded mention of the term "El Niño" to refer to climate occurred in 1892, when told the geographical society congress in Lima that Peruvian sailors named the warm south-flowing current "El Niño" because it was most noticeable around Christmas. The phenomenon had long been of interest because of its effects on the guano industry and other enterprises that depend on biological productivity of the sea. It is recorded that as early as 1822, cartographer Joseph Lartigue, of the French frigate "La Clorinde" under Baron Mackau, noted the "counter-current" and its usefulness for traveling southward along the Peruvian coast.


title: El Niño

text: Charles Todd, in 1888, suggested droughts in India and Australia tended to occur at the same time; Norman Lockyer noted the same in 1904. An El Niño connection with flooding was reported in 1894 by Victor Eguiguren (1852–1919) and in 1895 by Federico Alfonso Pezet (1859–1929). In 1924, Gilbert Walker (for whom the Walker circulation is named) coined the term "Southern Oscillation". He and others (including Norwegian-American meteorologist Jacob Bjerknes) are generally credited with identifying the El Niño effect.


title: El Niño

text: The major 1982–83 El Niño led to an upsurge of interest from the scientific community. The period 1990–95 was unusual in that El Niños have rarely occurred in such rapid succession. An especially intense El Niño event in 1998 caused an estimated 16% of the world's reef systems to die. The event temporarily warmed air temperature by 1.5 °C, compared to the usual increase of 0.25 °C associated with El Niño events. Since then, mass coral bleaching has become common worldwide, with all regions having suffered "severe bleaching".


title: El Niño

text: It is thought that there are several different types of El Niño events, with the canonical eastern Pacific and the Modoki central Pacific types being the two that receive the most attention. These different types of El Niño events are classified by where the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies are the largest. For example, the strongest sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the canonical eastern Pacific event are located off the coast of South America. The strongest anomalies associated with the Modoki central Pacific event are located near the International Date Line. However, during the duration of a single event, the area with the greatest sea surface temperature anomalies can change.


title: El Niño

text: The traditional Niño, also called Eastern Pacific (EP) El Niño, involves temperature anomalies in the Eastern Pacific. However, in the last two decades, atypical El Niños were observed, in which the usual place of the temperature anomaly (Niño 1 and 2) is not affected, but an anomaly arises in the central Pacific (Niño 3.4). The phenomenon is called Central Pacific (CP) El Niño, "dateline" El Niño (because the anomaly arises near the International Date Line), or El Niño "Modoki" (Modoki is Japanese for "similar, but different").


title: El Niño

text: The effects of the CP El Niño are different from those of the traditional EP El Niño—e.g., the recently discovered El Niño leads to more frequent Atlantic hurricanes.


title: El Niño

text: There is also a scientific debate on the very existence of this "new" ENSO. Indeed, a number of studies dispute the reality of this statistical distinction or its increasing occurrence, or both, either arguing the reliable record is too short to detect such a distinction, finding no distinction or trend using other statistical approaches, or that other types should be distinguished, such as standard and extreme ENSO.


title: El Niño

text: The first recorded El Niño that originated in the central Pacific and moved toward the east was in 1986. Recent Central Pacific El Niños happened in 1986–87, 1991–92, 1994–95, 2002–03, 2004–05 and 2009–10. Furthermore, there were "Modoki" events in 1957–59, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1968–70, 1977–78 and 1979–80. Some sources say that the El Niños of 2006-07 and 2014-16 were also Central Pacific El Niños.


title: El Niño

text: El Niño affects the global climate and disrupts normal weather patterns, which as a result can lead to intense storms in some places and droughts in others.<ref name="NIWA El Niño/La Niña"></ref>


title: El Niño

text: Most tropical cyclones form on the side of the subtropical ridge closer to the equator, then move poleward past the ridge axis before recurving into the main belt of the Westerlies. Areas west of Japan and Korea tend to experience many fewer September–November tropical cyclone impacts during El Niño and neutral years. During El Niño years, the break in the subtropical ridge tends to lie near 130°E, which would favor the Japanese archipelago.


title: El Niño

text: Within the Atlantic Ocean vertical wind shear is increased, which inhibits tropical cyclone genesis and intensification, by causing the westerly winds in the atmosphere to be stronger. The atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean can also be drier and more stable during El Niño events, which can also inhibit tropical cyclone genesis and intensification. Within the Eastern Pacific basin: El Niño events contribute to decreased easterly vertical wind shear and favours above-normal hurricane activity. However, the impacts of the ENSO state in this region can vary and are strongly influenced by background climate patterns. The Western Pacific basin experiences a change in the location of where tropical cyclones form during El Niño events, with tropical cyclone formation shifting eastward, without a major change in how many develop each year. As a result of this change, Micronesia is more likely to be affected by tropical cyclones, while China has a decreased risk of being affected by tropical cyclones. A change in the location of where tropical cyclones form also occurs within the Southern Pacific Ocean between 135°E and 120°W, with tropical cyclones more likely to occur within the Southern Pacific basin than the Australian region. As a result of this change tropical cyclones are 50% less likely to make landfall on Queensland, while the risk of a tropical cyclone is elevated for island nations like Niue, French Polynesia, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Cook Islands.


title: El Niño

text: A study of climate records has shown that El Niño events in the equatorial Pacific are generally associated with a warm tropical North Atlantic in the following spring and summer. About half of El Niño events persist sufficiently into the spring months for the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool to become unusually large in summer. Occasionally, El Niño's effect on the Atlantic Walker circulation over South America strengthens the easterly trade winds in the western equatorial Atlantic region. As a result, an unusual cooling may occur in the eastern equatorial Atlantic in spring and summer following El Niño peaks in winter. Cases of El Niño-type events in both oceans simultaneously have been linked to severe famines related to the extended failure of monsoon rains.


title: El Niño

text: Observations of El Niño events since 1950 show that impacts associated with El Niño events depend on the time of year. However, while certain events and impacts are expected to occur during events, it is not certain or guaranteed that they will occur. The impacts that generally do occur during most El Niño events include below-average rainfall over Indonesia and northern South America, while above average rainfall occurs in southeastern South America, eastern equatorial Africa, and the southern United States.


title: El Niño

text: In Africa, East Africa—including Kenya, Tanzania, and the White Nile basin—experiences, in the long rains from March to May, wetter-than-normal conditions. Conditions are also drier than normal from December to February in south-central Africa, mainly in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Botswana.


title: El Niño

text: Many ENSO linkages exist in the high southern latitudes around Antarctica. Specifically, El Niño conditions result in high-pressure anomalies over the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas, causing reduced sea ice and increased poleward heat fluxes in these sectors, as well as the Ross Sea. The Weddell Sea, conversely, tends to become colder with more sea ice during El Niño. The exact opposite heating and atmospheric pressure anomalies occur during La Niña. This pattern of variability is known as the Antarctic dipole mode, although the Antarctic response to ENSO forcing is not ubiquitous.


title: El Niño

text: As warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific, it takes the rain with it, causing extensive drought in the western Pacific and rainfall in the normally dry eastern Pacific. Singapore experienced the driest February in 2014 since records began in 1869, with only 6.3 mm of rain falling in the month and temperatures hitting as high as 35 °C on 26 February. The years 1968 and 2005 had the next driest Februaries, when 8.4 mm of rain fell.


title: El Niño

text: During El Niño events, the shift in rainfall away from the Western Pacific may mean that rainfall across Australia is reduced. Over the southern part of the continent, warmer than average temperatures can be recorded as weather systems are more mobile and fewer blocking areas of high pressure occur. The onset of the Indo-Australian Monsoon in tropical Australia is delayed by two to six weeks, which as a consequence means that rainfall is reduced over the northern tropics. The risk of a significant bushfire season in south-eastern Australia is higher following an El Niño event, especially when it is combined with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole event. During an El Niño event, New Zealand tends to experience stronger or more frequent westerly winds during their summer, which leads to an elevated risk of drier than normal conditions along the east coast. There is more rain than usual though on New Zealand's West Coast, because of the barrier effect of the North Island mountain ranges and the Southern Alps.


title: El Niño

text: Fiji generally experiences drier than normal conditions during an El Niño, which can lead to drought becoming established over the Islands. However, the main impacts on the island nation is felt about a year after the event becomes established. Within the Samoan Islands, below average rainfall and higher than normal temperatures are recorded during El Niño events, which can lead to droughts and forest fires on the islands. Other impacts include a decrease in the sea level, possibility of coral bleaching in the marine environment and an increased risk of a tropical cyclone affecting Samoa.


title: El Niño

text: El Niño's effects on Europe are controversial, complex and difficult to analyse, as it is one of several factors that influence the weather over the continent and other factors can overwhelm the signal.


title: El Niño

text: Over North America, the main temperature and precipitation impacts of El Niño, generally occur in the six months between October and March. In particular the majority of Canada generally has milder than normal winters and springs, with the exception of eastern Canada where no significant impacts occur. Within the United States, the impacts generally observed during the six-month period include; wetter-than-average conditions along the Gulf Coast between Texas and Florida, while drier conditions are observed in Hawaii, the Ohio Valley, Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains.


title: El Niño

text: Historically, El Niño was not understood to affect U.S. weather patterns until Christensen et al. (1981) used entropy minimax pattern discovery based on information theory to advance the science of long range weather prediction. Previous computer models of weather were based on persistence alone and reliable to only 5–7 days into the future. Long range forecasting was essentially random. Christensen et al. demonstrated the ability to predict the probability that precipitation will be below or above average with modest but statistically significant skill one, two and even three years into the future.


title: El Niño

text: Study of more recent weather events over California and the southwestern United States indicate that there is a variable relationship between El Niño and above-average precipitation, as it strongly depends on the strength of the El Niño event and other factors. Though it has been historically associated with high rainfall in California, the effects of El Niño depend more strongly on the "flavor" of El Niño than its presence or absence, as only "persistent El Niño" events lead to consistently high rainfall.


title: El Niño

text: The synoptic condition for the Tehuano wind, or "Tehuantepecer", is associated with a high-pressure area forming in Sierra Madre of Mexico in the wake of an advancing cold front, which causes winds to accelerate through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Tehuantepecers primarily occur during the cold season months for the region in the wake of cold fronts, between October and February, with a summer maximum in July caused by the westward extension of the Azores High. Wind magnitude is greater during El Niño years than during La Niña years, due to the more frequent cold frontal incursions during El Niño winters. Its effects can last from a few hours to six days. Some El Niño events were recorded in the isotope signals of plants, and that had helped scientists to study his impact.


title: El Niño

text: Because El Niño's warm pool feeds thunderstorms above, it creates increased rainfall across the east-central and eastern Pacific Ocean, including several portions of the South American west coast. The effects of El Niño in South America are direct and stronger than in North America. An El Niño is associated with warm and very wet weather months in April–October along the coasts of northern Peru and Ecuador, causing major flooding whenever the event is strong or extreme. The effects during the months of February, March, and April may become critical along the west coast of South America, El Niño reduces the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water that sustains large fish populations, which in turn sustain abundant sea birds, whose droppings support the fertilizer industry. The reduction in upwelling leads to fish kills off the shore of Peru.


title: El Niño

text: The local fishing industry along the affected coastline can suffer during long-lasting El Niño events. The world's largest fishery collapsed due to overfishing during the 1972 El Niño Peruvian anchoveta reduction. During the 1982–83 event, jack mackerel and anchoveta populations were reduced, scallops increased in warmer water, but hake followed cooler water down the continental slope, while shrimp and sardines moved southward, so some catches decreased while others increased. Horse mackerel have increased in the region during warm events. Shifting locations and types of fish due to changing conditions create challenges for the fishing industry. Peruvian sardines have moved during El Niño events to Chilean areas. Other conditions provide further complications, such as the government of Chile in 1991 creating restrictions on the fishing areas for self-employed fishermen and industrial fleets.


title: El Niño

text: The ENSO variability may contribute to the great success of small, fast-growing species along the Peruvian coast, as periods of low population removes predators in the area. Similar effects benefit migratory birds that travel each spring from predator-rich tropical areas to distant winter-stressed nesting areas.


title: El Niño

text: Southern Brazil and northern Argentina also experience wetter than normal conditions, but mainly during the spring and early summer. Central Chile receives a mild winter with large rainfall, and the Peruvian-Bolivian Altiplano is sometimes exposed to unusual winter snowfall events. Drier and hotter weather occurs in parts of the Amazon River Basin, Colombia, and Central America.


title: El Niño

text: The Galapagos Islands are a chain of volcanic islands, nearly 600 miles west of Ecuador, South America Located in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, these islands are home to a wide diversity of terrestrial and marine species including sharks, birds, iguanas, turtles, penguins, and seals. This robust ecosystem is fueled by the normal trade winds which influence upwelling of cold, nutrient rich waters to the islands. During an El Nino an event where the trade winds weaken and sometimes push from west to east. This causes the Equatorial current to weaken, thus raising surface water temperatures and decreasing nutrients in waters surrounding the Galapagos. El Nino causes a trophic cascade which impacts entire ecosystems starting with primary producers and ending with critical animals such as sharks, penguins, and seals. The effects of El Nino can become detrimental to populations that often starve and die off during these years. Rapid evolutionary adaptations are displayed amongst animal groups during El Nino years to mitigate El Nino conditions.


title: El Niño

text: When El Niño conditions last for many months, extensive ocean warming and the reduction in easterly trade winds limits upwelling of cold nutrient-rich deep water, and its economic effect on local fishing for an international market can be serious.


title: El Niño

text: More generally, El Niño can affect commodity prices and the macroeconomy of different countries. It can constrain the supply of rain-driven agricultural commodities; reduce agricultural output, construction, and services activities; create food-price and generalised inflation; and may trigger social unrest in commodity-dependent poor countries that primarily rely on imported food. A University of Cambridge Working Paper shows that while Australia, Chile, Indonesia, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa face a short-lived fall in economic activity in response to an El Niño shock, other countries may actually benefit from an El Niño weather shock (either directly or indirectly through positive spillovers from major trading partners), for instance, Argentina, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Furthermore, most countries experience short-run inflationary pressures following an El Niño shock, while global energy and non-fuel commodity prices increase. The IMF estimates a significant El Niño can boost the GDP of the United States by about 0.5% (due largely to lower heating bills) and reduce the GDP of Indonesia by about 1.0%.


title: El Niño

text: Extreme weather conditions related to the El Niño cycle correlate with changes in the incidence of epidemic diseases. For example, the El Niño cycle is associated with increased risks of some of the diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, such as malaria, dengue fever, and Rift Valley fever. Cycles of malaria in India, Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia have now been linked to El Niño. Outbreaks of another mosquito-transmitted disease, Australian encephalitis (Murray Valley encephalitis—MVE), occur in temperate south-east Australia after heavy rainfall and flooding, which are associated with La Niña events. A severe outbreak of Rift Valley fever occurred after extreme rainfall in north-eastern Kenya and southern Somalia during the 1997–98 El Niño.


title: El Niño

text: ENSO conditions have also been related to Kawasaki disease incidence in Japan and the west coast of the United States, via the linkage to tropospheric winds across the north Pacific Ocean.


title: El Niño

text: ENSO may be linked to civil conflicts. Scientists at The Earth Institute of Columbia University, having analyzed data from 1950 to 2004, suggest ENSO may have had a role in 21% of all civil conflicts since 1950, with the risk of annual civil conflict doubling from 3% to 6% in countries affected by ENSO during El Niño years relative to La Niña years.