The Rapists of Wrigleyville

Another woman has been sexually assaulted in the shadow of Wrigley Field. In a three minute report, ABC 7 News referred to the neighborhood as Wrigleyville. The Tribune is calling it Lakeview, even though the assault — at 3700 N. Lakewood — occurred just four blocks from The Shrine. The Tribune seizes every opportunity to link crime to U.S. Cellular Field, but makes certain that much more serious crimes are not associated with the baseball stadium it owns at Clark and Addison.

But the fact that rapists lurk in the shadows of Wrigleyville, waiting for female adherents of the alcohol-soaked culture up there to stumble home in the wee hours of weekend mornings, has everything to do with a neighborhood under the influence of Wrigley Field and with the Tribune Company's relentless promotion of the Bleacher Bum culture inside and outside of the stadium walls (See all the ongoing Metromix and Redeye coverage of Wrigleyville, for example).

But the Tribune's relationship to sexual assault is complex. This weekend's assault once again merited a front-page community alert from the Tribune's web edition, even if that alert was very careful to steer very clear of any mention of Wrigley. The Tribune routinely ignores sexual assaults in most of the rest of the city, especially neighborhoods where the women tend not to be Caucasian. You can bet, though, that if a sexual assault occurred that close to U.S. Cellular Field, we'd hear about it, and they'd find a way to tie it to the White Sox.