So ESPN has released its Misery Index, a ranking of how miserable fans of each of the 30 major-league baseball teams ought to be.

The surprise second-place team (to me, anyway) is none other than your Tribe and mine, the Cleveland Indians. I'm not sure I agree with this.

First of all, let me say right now that Jim Caple, of whose work I've been a fan for many years, nailed the #1 team right on the head -- les Expos de Montreal, who seem to have led a truly cursed existence since, oh, 1994. Say what you will about some other teams with longer records of futility, but at least in 29 other baseball markets, there is the chance that someday the team could rise again. Further proof that Bud "Lite" Selig has no business being commissioner, but let's not get into that.

The "bottom 4" (i.e. least miserable) teams also seemed perfectly chosen, to me: No. 30, the Yankees, whose die-hard fans should have nothing at all to complain about; No. 29, the Diamondbacks, who may or may not actually have "die-hard fans," but when such fans come along, they'll at least have a World Series to look back on; the Braves, who absolutely dominated the NL East with the best pitching staff anywhere for 10 years; and the Marlins, who did not deserve 2003 and certainly didn't deserve 1997. Not even Wayne Huizenga's fire sale can overshadow their lack of misery.

What concerns me is the 2-3-4-5-6 slots, however. Caple ranks the misery runners-up as Cleveland, Chicago (N.L.), Chicago (A.L.), Milwaukee and Boston. I'm having a hard time believing that the Indians should rank that high; and a hard time believing that the White Sox should rank that low.

Full disclosure: I grew up in Chicago, a Cubs fan, although for my 10th birthday my friends and I took a trip to Comiskey Park. I have remained a Cubs fan despite transplantations to Cleveland, where I resisted Tribe-ification in the aftermath of the 1997 World Series debacle, and to New England, where I have embraced the Red Sox as a worthy "second favorite team," mostly because Red Sox fans hate the Yankees so much.

Nonetheless, and though it pains me to do so, I must champion the White Sox in this case.

Let's first dispense of the notion that Boston should have ranked any higher than sixth. Sure, there's that Curse of the Bambino thing, and Buckner and Bucky F. Dent and Aaron Boone and the whole rest of the laundry list. But on the other side of the coin, Boston fans are very loud about how crappy has been their lot in life, and tend to exaggerate. Furthermore, our nation's mythmakers work, mostly, in New York (or Bristol, Conn.), where the home team has a long history of beating up on the Olde Towne Team. So I think the Red Sox' misery is greatly overestimated. After all, this is a team that has been to the playoffs more than a few times in recent memory; and one that always competes. Yes, they've pulled a short straw in being assigned to the Yankees' division, but then so have the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. To be honest, which is worse -- being a fan of the team that tries, and often comes close, to upset the Yankees? Or being a fan of the teams that still share a division, but have no hope at all?

Similarly, I don't think the case for the Cubs is as watertight as it could be. Cub fans are, by and large, a mellow bunch who seem to have the right outlook on life -- winning isn't everything. Cub fans have the most beautiful baseball park ever built. Cub fans have a team owner with deep pockets and a farm system that has finally begun to produce. Cub fans have the satisfaction of knowing that there are no dominant teams in their division.

Now, Cub fans also own the fourth-worst winning percentage since 1979. They've been shut out of a pennant since 1945. They haven't had consecutive winning seasons since I forget when. I'd rank them higher than the Red Sox, at least.

As for the Brewers, I'm not sure at all where they should rank. I think my judgment here is clouded by the fact that Bud "Lite" Selig owns the team (although he has his daughter run it, to avoid conflict of interest ... right). Personally, I don't pity them, but I suppose Wisconsin fans can't be held accountable for the Brew Crew's ownership. And the Brewers have been pretty hopeless since at least the 1980s.

This leaves the A.L. Central rivals, the White Sox and Indians. I think a case can be made for switching them in the standings.

I'm a young guy, and when I think about team dominance, I'm less likely to remember the Go-Go White Sox of the 1950s than I am to remember the Jacobs Field Era Indians of the 1990s.

Like I said earlier, the Red Sox -- and the Cubs too -- get all kinds of press for being the notorious losers of baseball. In the Red Sox' case, it's the "underdogs fighting against the curse" angle; in the Cubs' case, it's the "lovable losers, ain't they cute" angle. In a way, I think this validates the fans of these teams. Sox fans -- admit it! -- rest securely at night knowing that although they may not win their division, they're morally superior because they're struggling against all odds. Cubs fans, and I know this firsthand, would love to win but will just as soon accept sunshine, green grass and cold beer as a substitute.

White Sox fans, on the other hand, have suffered in silence. Perennially overshadowed by their better-marketed neighbor to the north, and lacking an overarching narrative prism through which to view their losses, they are made truly miserable by the fact that the ChiSox haven't won a world series since 1917 -- you read right, 1917 -- nor appeared in one since, if memory serves, 1954 (not recently, at any rate; not even as recently as 1986 or 1997).

On the other hand, Cleveland dominated its division (albeit a weak division) throughout the late 1990s. Having come to know Indians fans only after they began their Jacobs Field sellout run, I've never known them to carry a chip on their shoulder like Expos or White Sox fans. Rather, the denizens of the North Coast rallied in a very positive fashion around the Indians, especially after the Browns left town.

Indians fans are not, in my experience, miserable. Nor, given their history, should they be -- not any more so than Cubs or White Sox fans, at least. And the White Sox have the edge in recent history: no dynasties in their division, no respect from their hometown, a crappy ballpark -- it truly is crappy, possibly the worst ballpark among the 28 U.S. teams; the infamous "White Flag" trade; and a World Series history that hit its last high point prior to the Black Sox scandal.

If there's a team, other than the Expos, whose fans have more to be miserable about than White Sox fans, I don't know who it is.