A Good Chicago-Style Election

It's a good thing the Chicago Tribune, which is always accusing city officials of corruption, doesn't run our local elections, because I'm pretty sure the guys who count the votes aren't supposed to do any campaigning in the polling place. Here's how the "voting" for the Tribune's All-City Team began today:

Today: First base

The case for Paul Konerko: There's not much right now....

We'll just pause right there. If one thing has become abundantly clear in recent years, it's that Tribune sportswriters don't know any more about sports than most of the fans in this town. So when the Tribune asks us to vote on something, it probably doesn't need to tell us how to vote. We can figure it out. But the Tribune Company is accustomed to leading readers by the nose — straight to Wrigley Field where it can load them up with Old Style and separate them from their money — and this poll is being conducted by ChicagoSports.com, which is edited by admitted Cub fan George Knue and staffed almost* entirely by admitted Cub fans that Knue hired. (*We can now say almost because ChicagoSports.com identifies one recent hire — Amanda Kaschube — as a Sox fan. Wow. Now there's one).

ChicagoSports.com has also admitted that most of its readers are Cub fans, which is interesting because the most recent poll showed most baseball fans in Chicago are Sox fans, which means most Sox fans don't read ChicagoSports.com. Big surprise. We could therefore expect the polling at this particular precinct to favor the Cubs even without the Tribune conducting a campaign inside the voting booth.

Furthermore, even Paul Konerko would vote for Derek Lee at this position right now. Jeez.