You Won't Read It in the Tribune

Some strange events took place at Wrigley Field this weekend, even stranger than Tribune employee Aramis Ramirez trying to catch a flyball with his head. For example,a fan ran onto the field during the game Sunday. You'd think that might make news -- as it so often does when it happens at U.S. Cellular Field -- especially coming so soon after a fan tried to bean Jacque Jones with a fastball. But no. We don't cover any ugliness at the "sacred garden." Meanwhile Sunday, more Cubs fans demonstrated outside the park, protesting Tribune ownership of the Cubs. They were interviewed by Fox News and CBS, but I've neither seen nor heard a peep -- not that this should surprise anyone -- in the Tribune-owned media.

Meanwhile, Sun-Times columnist Rick Telander -- who has echoed our ideas before -- called for the Tribune to sell the Cubs. Telander likes to keep things simple, so he doesn't grapple with the sticky issue of broadcast rights.

If the Tribune sells the Cubs, a new owner could take the Cubs off of WGN TV and WGN Radio. If the Cubs retain their portion of Comcast Sportsnet, one Tribune asset (CSN) would become a competitor for another (WGN). That's why Cubs fans may be stuck with the Tribune, and vice versa, for life. Or longer. And all of Chicago gets stuck with bad baseball and worse journalism.

The Tribune currently derives advertising revenue from the WGN broadcasts at little real cost -- the money passed between the Cubs and WGN goes from one Tribune pocket to another while the ad revenue, to mix metaphors, fattens the same calf.

That changes with a new owner.

Then on Monday, the Cubs eeked out a win, but during Cubs Post-Game Live, more viewers (51 percent) reported being excited about spotting Jennifer Aniston in the stands than seeing the Cubs win (37 percent).

Thank God for the White Sox, for White Sox fans, and for diversity in media.

Stop the Presses! Tribune Owns Cubs!

In today's Tribune, columnist Fred Mitchell throws some lovely slow-pitch softballs to Cubs President Andy McPhail, but McPhail doesn't hit them out of the park, he dodges them. Mitchell asks McPhail, for instance, to clarify the relationship between the Cubs and the Tribune. Does this clarify anything for you?

Mitchell (Tribune): For those who are not familiar with the line of demarcation between the Tribune newspaper and the Cubs organization, perhaps you could clarify?

McPhail (Cubs): Certainly, we have no influence with the Chicago Tribune. I think we showed that to everyone's satisfaction. I will say Tribune (Co.) has been our owner and they have provided us with resources to do better on the field than we have this year. If you go back and look at our payroll in 2004, we were the third highest in the National League. In 2005 our payroll was the third highest. Right now, in 2006, our payroll is either the second or third highest, depending on how you calculate it. So they have certainly given us the resources to try to build off the success that the team enjoyed in 2003.

1. "I think we showed that to everyone's satisfaction." ? First of all, who's "we"? The Cubs, the Tribune, the Tribune and the Cubs, the Cubune Media Empire? Secondly, I don't think you've shown it to anyone's satisfaction. White Sox fans and Cubs fans alike widely believe the Tribune favors the Cubs. And according to the Tribune, Cubs executives think so too. The Tribune-media bias is openly discussed on Chicago talk radio. And there's plenty of evidence on this site.

2. Then there's this stunning revelation: "I will say Tribune has been our owner..." Wow. Who knew? I'm surprised Mitchell doesn't have a Pulitzer on his shelf for pulling this kind of confession out of reluctant sources.

3. Then all this talk of payroll. Fred runs into Andy at the Tribune Tower water cooler. Fred says, "Hey Andy, could you clarify our relationship?" "Sure Fred," says Andy. "Lots of money."

Thanks for clarifying, Fred and Andy. We all feel much better now.

Tribune's Buried Revelation of Cubs Coverup

The Tribune's Cubs beat reporter, Paul Sullivan, has confirmed our suspicions about a Cubs coverup involving the fan who tried to bean Jacque Jones. In a column today, Sully (that's what we call him when we want to sound like a Chicago media insider) writes:

The Cubs did a masterful job of stonewalling reporters over that incident. No one except manager Dusty Baker was available to discuss it, even though a security official addressed the team the next day in a closed-door meeting.

Cubs security officials were ordered to keep quiet, and to this day no one knows why a fan was able to throw a baseball at a player and not be held accountable for her action. Baker's explanation that the fan was simply drunk and oblivious--unable to distinguish the difference between throwing back an opponent's home run ball and throwing a ball at a Cubs player--was particularly weak.

The Tribune is, above all things, a media company. Tribune executives use the media to fill Wrigley Field and they know how to stifle bad news as well. If the fan had been arrested, ongoing legal proceedings would mean ongoing coverage of an ugly incident at a venue the Tribune's architecture critic describes as "a sacred garden" and "a place of joy."

But the shift in fortunes this year between the World Champion White Sox and the not-so-Lovable Losers is putting a lot of pressure on the Cubune paradigm, and one of the biggest cracks to appear is the increasingly forthcoming Paul Sullivan.

Sullivan buries the startling news about the Cubs coverup at the bottom of a column that says Michael Barrett was wrong to assault AJ Pierzynski, but praises Barrett for it anyway. First sentence to last:

Michael Barrett was completely in the wrong for punching A.J. Pierzynski in the face Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field.... But at least Barrett stood up for himself, his team and a moribund franchise that needs a few more players with a bit of fight in them.

Just where do you stand, Sully? The column also makes this ignorant, unsubstantiated claim about AJ Pierzynski: "There's a good reason he has been controversial in every clubhouse he ever has been in: It's all about A.J., all the time."

White Sox fans have gotten exactly the opposite impression: that with AJ, it's all about winning, all the time. To an obvious degree. That's why he becomes the target of frustration of someone like Barrett who's playing for a badly floundering team.

AJ Pierzynski is hitting .336 right now, tied with Joe Mauer for the highest average in the American League among regular catchers. AJ has taken his game to a higher level, a substantial fact that has gone unreported in all the reporting following the Barrett assault. If it was all AJ all the time, don't you think AJ would have mentioned his stats during all the unfortunate press that came his way in the last week?

AJ Pierzynski speaks with his game, he does it loudly and does it well, and losers hate him for it.

Tribune Reporter: Cubs Expect Favoritism

In this morning's Sun-Times, gossip columnist Michael Sneed reported that Cubs President Andy McPhail and GM Jim Hendry called Tribune Cubs reporter Paul Sullivan and Tribune Sports Editor Dan McGrath into Hendry's office to complain about Sullivan's coverage of the Cubs. Sneed only had a blurb on the incident, but Sullivan spilled the whole bag of beans during an interview by Mike North this morning on The Score. Among Sullivan's comments, this interesting tidbit:

"Some of the people in the Cubs hierarchy think we're just another subsidiary of theirs and we're supposed to be their house organ."

Now where, exactly, would Cubs executives get that impression? The Tribune has owned the Cubs for 24 years. If the Tribune didn't favor the Cubs, why would Cubs executives think of the paper as their "house organ"?

Leading Sheep to Slaughter

We have to wonder whether the large crowds at Tribune-owned Wrigley Field could be related to constant Cubs promotion from Tribune employees working undercover as journalists who are supposed to be providing vital information to Chicagoland residents. For example, today the "news staff" at Tribune-owned CLTV provided a special weather report for the Cubs game -- I've never seen them do this for a Sox game -- and then in the typical cute banter between meteorologist (Tim McGill) and anchor (Tanya Francisco), the anchor lamented that she couldn't attend today's Cubs game. I've never seen a CLTV anchor say such a thing about a Sox game either. This also seems to be standard practice on Tribune-owned WGN radio. WGN personalities often identify themselves with Cubs fans, or lament the team's losses, or banter about a trip to the ballpark. It's just not appropriate for journalists to promote business interests in this way while they're engaged in the serious business of informing the public. The Tribune has made it standard practice in Chicago, which is sad for Chicago and sad for American journalism.

Tribune Fiddles While Fan Base Shifts

First of all, the Cubs are in full meltdown, and the Tribune finds nothing newsworthy to report. Instead, the Tribune devotes its sport pages to the Chicago Sky, our new women's basketball team. Even regular Cubs reporter Paul Sullivan took the weekend off, Dave Van Dyck covered the futility beat single-handedly, and none of the Tribune's sports columnists have anything to say about the Tribune-owned team. (As reported on The Score's "Boers and Bernstein" show). Hmm. Could it be that the only finger left to point can only point back at their employer?

Meanwhile, numbers are showing a shift to Sox fandom even among Tribune readers. Less than two months ago, Tribune-owned Chicagosports.com revealed that more readers typically clicked on its Cubs headlines than its Sox headlines (thus justifying its pro-Cubs bias in coverage). But check out the results of Chicagosports.com's current poll. I copied them since I expect them to be scrubbed from the website (as these things often are) any moment now:

It's Cubs vs. the Sox this week. And you are:
43.5% A Cubs fan (3537 responses)
56.5% A Sox fan (4587 responses)
8124 total responses

More Tribune Meltdowns

Sometimes when we read about the previous day's game in the Tribune, we wonder if the reporter was covering a different game. Yesterday first-base umpire Dale Scott made two umpiring errors in the fifth inning that led to four Twins runs. Without those four runs, the Twins don't win that game. Tribune reporter Mark Gonzalez doesn't even mention the first of those errors, and he doesn't get to the second error until the sixth paragraph of his story. Instead he characterizes the ugly inning as a "meltdown" by Sox pitcher Javier Vazquez. It's hardly a meltdown if the umpire gives the opposing team two extra hits and two extra outs.

Vazquez (4-2) didn't earn either of his two losses this year. He should be 6-0. As much as the Tribune loves a meltdown (see their North Side team), Vazquez is not meltdown material.

The All-Seeing Corporate Eye

Of 14 Cubs games that will be broadcast on WGN in September, 10 of them are day games. WGN is leaving most of the Cubs' September night games to WCIU and Comcast Sportsnet. What does this mean? It means that some suit in the Tribune Tower predicted months ago that viewers would be more interested in prime-time sitcoms than in the Cubs in September. Hmm. So some suit at the Tribune predicted months ago that the Cubs were going to field a loser this year.

I can't take credit for this clever analysis of WGN's scheduling choices. It comes from Tribune reporter Paul Sullivan, who uttered it during an interview last week on The Score.

Voice of the Cubune, Singing

I was just spinning through the radio dial looking for some news when I happened across the self-described "voice of Chicago" and heard this creepy-happy indoctrination anthem, which went something like this:

Everybody loves the Cubs! Everybody loves the Cubs! It’s baseball time again, here on WGN...

I don't know how to break this to you, "voice of Chicago," but not everybody loves the Cubs. How about the "voice of Wrigleyville" as perhaps a more accurate descriptor of the world that fits your world view.

The Home Run That Wasn't

I know these are dark days for the Cubs, with bright spots few and far between, but this whole story about Juan Pierre robbing Barry Bonds smells like it's wrapped around last Friday's fish. I'm just not sure the ball was over the wall. I've watched the replays from every angle, and it looks to me like, if Pierre's not there, the ball either hits the top of the wall, in which case it may or may not bounce out, or it hits just below the top of the wall and bounces into center field. Maybe it would have been a home run, sure, but it's just not clear. Nonetheless, Paul Sullivan writes in today's Tribune that Pierre "hauled it in from over the fence to prevent a two-run homer." Essentially, the Tribune's lead Sports story is about a Cubs outfielder catching a fly ball. To be fair, the Sun-Times exaggerates Pierre's achievement even more: "Pierre soared above the wall in center in the fifth inning Tuesday night to take away what would have been Bonds' historic 714th home run," according to Mike Kiley. Sure, I know, it makes better copy if Pierre robs Bonds. It would just sit better with me if the facts were as certain as the reporting. Cubs television announcer Bob Brenley noticed that the ball actually hit the heel of Pierre's glove and then rolled up into the webbing. If Pierre hadn't clenched his glove at just the right moment, he would have funnelled it over the fence, thereby granting Bonds his 714th home run.

Wrigley Protest Update

A group calling itself "Cubs Nation" plans to protest Tribune ownership -- or leadership, it's not entirely clear -- of the Cubs on March 27 at 11:30 a.m. in front of the big red marquee on Wrigley Field, at Clark and Addison Streets. They still need a city permit to assemble, which might be a problem with a game scheduled less than an hour later. If the group gets the permit and sticks to its guns by targeting the Tribune rather than the Cubs, it should make things very awkward for the world's largest small-town rag. More power to them. This should be fun to watch.

More Signs of the Times

A couple two-tree tings:

Mike Murphy reported on The Score today that yesterday's White Sox game outdrew yesterday's Cubs game among Chicago television viewers by 5:3. Which team is Chicago's team?

The radio has been abuzz this morning with news that Cubs fans -- Cubs fans -- are organizing a protest against Tribune ownership of the Cubs on May 27 in front of Wrigley Field. More details as we get them. It'll be interesting to see how the Tribune covers that event. If the Tribune covers that event. From the Tribune ethics policy:

"In all cases, it is wise to avoid any investment or relationship you would not like to read about on Page One of a newspaper, your own or someone else's."

Smoking Pot vs. Injecting Steroids

What would you rather read: a Venezuelan newspaper's unsubstantiated report that Freddy Garcia may have tested positive for marijuana, or a Chicago Tribune investigation of steroid use by former Tribune employee Sammy Sosa?

Me too. So where is it, Tribune?

The Hunters and the Hunted

In today's Sun-Times, Ozzie Guillen tells Joe Cowley,

"Every time something happens to my team, [the umpires are] warning me like I'm a headhunter.... I'm tired of that [bleep]. No matter what the situation, anything, they're treating me like I'm a murderer or something. Like I hit everybody every day.... Look from 2004 to 2006, how many times we've been hit and how many times we've hit anybody, and you will see a lot of difference.''

Cowley doesn't, so here are the numbers according to MLB:

2004: Sox hit by 62 pitches (8th in AL). They hit 47 batters (10th).
2005: Sox hit by 79 pitches (2nd). They hit 52 batters (13th).
2006: Sox hit so far by 12 pitches (6th). They have hit 7 (13th).

Totals under Guillen:
Sox batters hit by 153 pitches.
Sox pitchers hit 106 batters.

That's a 47-pitch differential, but Guillen more than makes up for it with wins. He's won 50 more games than he has lost. Ozzie retaliates by winning.