Tribune Joins Sox Bandwagon... For Now
The Chicago Tribune has to be the fattest (and tardiest) bandwagon rider in Chicago, judging from its coverage of this season's opening day. The Tribune devoted about four times more room to the Sox than the Cubs in its Sunday special section, "Baseball," and confined most of its snarkiness to the back page. And today, on opening day for the Cubs, we find a four-page Sox special section wrapped around the regular Sports section. The Cubs get the top of the regular Sports page and the equivalent of about a page inside.
This seems uncharacteristically Soxish for a newspaper that has promoted the view that even a World Series champion can't rival its lovable losers.
Thank you, Tribune. Sox fans, we should acknowledge this belated attention from the daily windsock, but we should also view it with a skeptical eye. Let us not forget how the Tribune treated us in 2005, during the run to that World Series. How deep is the Tribune's newfound devotion to the Sox? How long will it last? And what's behind it?
In a town with two baseball teams, each team commands a portion of the same market for fan devotion and fan dollars. The Tribune has heavily invested itself in Cubs market share, obviously, and many Sox fans feel that we've been kissed off. But Cubs market share could now be considered to be in some peril. And who reads the Tribune? A silly Tribune poll in today's Tempo section offers an answer. It reports that a plurality of Tribune readers consider the Cubs' Lou Brock trade to be the biggest blunder in Chicago history.
Who would consider trading Lou Block a bigger disaster than the Chicago fire? Only Cubs fans. So who reads the Tribune? Lots of Cubs fans. And what happens to the Tribune if the Sox eclipse the Cubs, if Sox fandom continues to grow and Cubs fandom continues to shrink? Better jump on the Sox bandwagon, Tribune. Better jump on it quick.
(Sorry Tribune, but it does look like you can't win even when you're good to the Sox. That's because you shouldn't own the Cubs in the first place. We can promise you one thing: you'll get our unmediated praise when you sell the Cubs and, to compensate for the last 24 years of unethical behavior, donate the proceeds to White Sox Charities. We promise to love you on that day.)
This seems uncharacteristically Soxish for a newspaper that has promoted the view that even a World Series champion can't rival its lovable losers.
Thank you, Tribune. Sox fans, we should acknowledge this belated attention from the daily windsock, but we should also view it with a skeptical eye. Let us not forget how the Tribune treated us in 2005, during the run to that World Series. How deep is the Tribune's newfound devotion to the Sox? How long will it last? And what's behind it?
In a town with two baseball teams, each team commands a portion of the same market for fan devotion and fan dollars. The Tribune has heavily invested itself in Cubs market share, obviously, and many Sox fans feel that we've been kissed off. But Cubs market share could now be considered to be in some peril. And who reads the Tribune? A silly Tribune poll in today's Tempo section offers an answer. It reports that a plurality of Tribune readers consider the Cubs' Lou Brock trade to be the biggest blunder in Chicago history.
Who would consider trading Lou Block a bigger disaster than the Chicago fire? Only Cubs fans. So who reads the Tribune? Lots of Cubs fans. And what happens to the Tribune if the Sox eclipse the Cubs, if Sox fandom continues to grow and Cubs fandom continues to shrink? Better jump on the Sox bandwagon, Tribune. Better jump on it quick.
(Sorry Tribune, but it does look like you can't win even when you're good to the Sox. That's because you shouldn't own the Cubs in the first place. We can promise you one thing: you'll get our unmediated praise when you sell the Cubs and, to compensate for the last 24 years of unethical behavior, donate the proceeds to White Sox Charities. We promise to love you on that day.)
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