Speaking of Scammy Sosa...

Lots of local pundits are wondering aloud why the Cubs left Sammy Sosa off of the slate of Hometown Hero nominees. The pundits think it might be because the Tribune suspects Sammy used steroids, but we think it might be because the Tribune knows Sammy used steroids. Makes you go "hmm," doesn't it?

This exposes another dimension to the Tribune's ethical quagmire. Nowhere is it written that newspaper owners are exempt from the ethical standards that bind newspaper reporters. Both deliver us the news and both share in the obligation to deliver us the news as truthfully and completely as possible, not to cover it up. If anyone in the Tribune Tower knows something fishy about Sammy, everyone in the Tribune Tower should know it, and we should know it too.

Meanwhile, according to Major League Baseball, the Hometown Hero program should recognize "the one player who most epitomizes a franchise's legacy. " We believe Sammy, a big almost-hero who appears to have defrauded our hometown, nicely epitomizes the Cubs and their ownership.