How Tribune Views the 'City'

We're about to treat you to another classic case of Freudian leakage in the Tribune, a false and self-serving assumption that slipped out of its cage in a Tribune writer's mind and appeared in print in the newspaper. Doesn't the Tribune have any editors? This one disrespects not only the White Sox, but the Bears, the Bulls, the Blackhawks, and every other Chicago team that has won a championship in the last century. From a March 15 story by, you guessed it, Dave van Dyck again:

So Ted Lilly has gone from being a pitcher never more than two games above .500 in a season to one with $10 million expectations for this season. And in a city that is approaching 100 seasons of unfulfilled expectations.

"A city that is approaching 100 seasons of unfulfilled expectations." Here's how Cubune Watcher Dan Grillo received van Dyck's sloppy sentence: "Um ... city? Excuse me? CITY? I guess the events of October, 2005 never did happen. Not to mention the events of October 1917. And 1985 and every other Bears championship, along with the Jordan Dynasty. Poof. Gone in a flash. It seems that the opinion of Trib employees is that because the company team hasn't won anything in close to 100 years, then all of Chicago is wallowing in disappointment. The 'city' won't truly feel fulfilled until the Cubs win it all.

"I feel a better choice of words might have been 'Lilly has gone from being a pitcher never more than two games above .500 in a season to one with $10 million expectations for this season, and for a team that is approaching 100 years of unfulfilled expectations.' That wouldn't have been so hard."

No, that wouldn't have been so hard. Dan also reminds us of the eternal thread at White Sox Interactive called Write Tomorrow's Cubune Headline: "One of the running jokes is that the Cubune is denying the events of October, 2005. Well, truth, as they say, may truly be stranger than fiction."

Much of the work on this entry was done by Cubune Watcher Dan Grillo and by Hangar18 at SoxandtheCity.net.

Finding the Dark Cloud in the Silver Lining

It's no secret that the Tribune has it out for the White Sox pitching staff. Since the Tribune has tried its damnedest to sow dissent by openly opposing Ken William's off-season trades (and then falsely attributing its opposition to Sox fans), it really needs the pitching staff to fail. You can hear them muttering prayers to Satan when you walk past the Dark Tower. So we haven't heard much about the outstanding performance of some pitchers, and when we do hear about it, the Tribune often manages to qualify the praise with some overstated concern, like this Tribune tidbit:

Left-hander Andrew Sisco allowed his first run in four appearances, Howie Kendrick's game-winning homer in the eighth. Sisco will need to retire right-handed batters to be an important part of the Sox's bullpen.

Sisco has allowed only two hits all Spring, and the Tribune has decided, on the basis of one of those hits, that he can't handle right-handed batters? Please. By the way, we got Sisco for Ross Gload.