Let's pause to consider just how bizarre Jerry Reinsdorf's White Sox are

It’s good to pause once in a while to get the true measure of something, in this case to see the forest fire for what’s left of the trees. Let’s take a moment to behold the White Sox in all their bizarreness.

Now, you might think that we already have a pretty good measure of this team. The Sox won a game Tuesday night, putting an end to an American League record-tying 21-game losing streak. They’re well on their way to breaking the modern-era record for most losses in a season, 120, set by the 1962 Mets. By any yardstick, that speaks of a terrible club.

But numbers can’t capture the absurdity involved here.

What a peculiar franchise Jerry Reinsdorf’s Sox are. Built on resentment, weaned on stubbornness, fermented by inanity, the organization seems to enjoy thumbing its nose at fans. That the Sox don’t care what the fan base thinks is apparent in almost everything they do.

It’s one thing to be bad. It’s another to do nothing about it. And still another to say, “Fire? What fire?’’ Even as the flames engulf the building.

Everyone involved in this mess of a season still has their job. Manager Pedro Grifol remains employed. So does general manager Chris Getz. So does special adviser Tony La Russa. Reinsdorf is permanently embedded as chairman, unless he decides to move the team to Nashville. You can almost hear a fan base say in unison, “One can hope.’’

It’s not the losing that’s unconscionable. It’s the Sox selling the same thing to fans during the current rebuild that they sold them in past versions. It’s the patronizing message. Trust us, it says. We know better, it says.

Nothing in the past 15 seasons shows they do.

In typical Sox fashion, it took Reinsdorf eons to fire vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn last year and seconds to elevate Getz to GM. Solve the problem by finding someone who learned at the knee of the recently fired. Pay that person less money. Repeat.

For the longest time, I thought La Russa’s hiring as manager in 2020 served as the embodiment of the strangeness of the organization. Who else besides Reinsdorf would hire a 76-year-man who hadn’t managed in nine years? Who else besides Reinsdorf would hire someone because he felt he had made a mistake by allowing his firing as Sox manager 34 years earlier? Hiring La Russa was like bringing back leisure suits.

I’m starting to wonder if the decision not to fire broadcaster John Schriffen for being so weirdly boosterish during this horrendous season is a better illustration of the Sox’ habit of digging in their heels in the face of loud, angry fan protests. Reinsdorf has circled the wagons so many times over the years that there are permanent grooves for the wheels outside Guaranteed Rate Field.

You might think a TV play-by-play man is low on the list of things that are bad about the Sox. I think his continued presence shows contempt for fans. It mocks their intelligence. Sox fans are realists. Many have been loyal to their team for decades, and they’ve always been honest about their team’s failings. If the team stinks, you’ll hear it from them first.

To have Schriffen come along and tell them that the emperor is wearing clothes is an insult.

Here was his call when the Sox ended their losing streak Tuesday night:

“This could do it. Out to left field. Coming in, Benintendi — and the streak is over! After 21 L's in a row, the White Sox come to the West Coast and get their first win in a long time! Say it with me! South Side! Stand up!”

Stand up? Know your audience. Sox fans don’t want to stand up. They want to hide until this miserable season is over.

But this is how Reinsdorf operates. He’s loyal to employees whether they deserve it or not. We saw it with Williams and Hahn. We saw it with John Paxson and Gar Forman on the Bulls side.

Loyalty to winning and to fans seems to be in short supply in Jerry’s world.

The quaint days when Sox fans lived to hate the bigger, more popular Cubs are over. They realized that’s not a reason for living. Winning is. Everything else is beside the point. No matter how an announcer and his boss want to dress it up.