Tribune Predicts its Bias for 2008

Sunday's Tribune includes a story in which "predictions" are detailed for 2008. Each baseball beat writer takes a stab at predicting the future. Or are they revealing their biases?

From Tribune beat-Sox reporter Mark Gonzales:

A demanding schedule that features 15 of their first 22 games against American League postseason contenders Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, and the New York Yankees will put heat on the franchise to get off to a fast start, and avoid the slow start that crippled them in 2007. An aging roster will force Ken Williams to make one of his most controversial trades in his tenure as general manager. Otherwise, they could be looking at a 100-loss season.

Our Indefatiguable Schoolmarm thinks Gonzo needs to spend some time reading the newsroom copy of Strunk & White — as well as any newspaper's coverage of the 2007 baseball season, since the White Sox, far from pretty in 2007, were nonetheless in first place on April 25.

Now here's the "prediction" from Cubs beat reporter Paul Sullivan:

Hoping to end a 100-year championship drought, the Cubs will head into September with a six-game lead in the Central Division--before a downward spiral that will conjure up memories of 1969. Still, they will manage to stumble into the postseason with an extra-inning win in the final game in Milwaukee, as road-tripping Cubs fans tear up the Miller Park turf in a riotous celebration. The Cubs will then sweep San Diego in the first round and shock the New York Mets in six games to earn their first World Series appearance since 1945. But Detroit Tigers owner Michael Illitch will bring a goat into his luxury box for Games 1 and 2 at Comerica Park. Ron Santo will strangle the goat, but it's too late. The die is cast and the Cubs go down meekly in five games.

Ah, the goat mythology again. Looks like Sam Zell is going to have to clean out the newsroom to get any fresh ink on the page. Amazing that the Tribune has the Sox losing 100 games, the Cubs in the World Series, when a relatively slim 13 wins separated the two teams in 2006, slim given this was the worst Sox season in two decades, while the Cubs may have played in the weakest division in history. And both teams had the same number of playoff victories.

-- Thanks to Brett Balantini for this post, with a nod to Lone Ranger

Tribune Buries Drug Link to Sosa

Headline on the front page of the New York Times:

Affidavit Says Sosa Discussed Amphetamines

Headline to the same story on the Sports page of the Chicago Tribune:

Federal Affidavit on Grimsley Unsealed

Top two paragraphs of New York Times story:

The Department of Justice has unsealed search-warrant affidavits by a federal investigator on two people involved with steroids in baseball, identifying four more baseball players who may have used the drugs, and a federal magistrate judge criticized The Los Angeles Times for faulty reporting.
While dozens of players were named last week in the Mitchell report into the use of performance-enhancing substances in baseball, four others who were not in the Mitchell report — Sammy Sosa, Peter Incaviglia, Geronimo Berroa and Allen Watson — are named in one of the affidavits. The other affidavit, expected to be made public Friday, is believed to name at least one other player who did not appear in the Mitchell report.

Top three paragraphs of Chicago Tribune story (notice who's missing):

NEW YORK - Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Glenallen Hill and Geronimo Berroa were accused of using steroids by former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley in a federal agent's affidavit unsealed Thursday.
Grimsley also accused Chuck Knoblauch of using human growth hormone; David Segui and Allen Watson of using performance-enhancing drugs; and Rafael Palmeiro and Pete Incaviglia of taking amphetamines, according to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky's sworn statement.
All but Incaviglia, Berroa and Watson were mentioned last week in the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball.

First mention of Sosa in Tribune report: Bottom of paragraph seven:

Tejada's name was mentioned when Grimsley described a conversation he had with Baltimore Orioles teammates Tejada, Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa about how they would play after baseball banned amphetamines.

Why is the Tribune still covering up for Scammin Sammy?

Fitz Falls; Tribune Censors Reader Comments

Dennis Fitzsimmons, the Tribune Company CEO who will be best remembered for wearing a business suit to a baseball rally, was shitcanned today by new Tribune boss Sam Zell, a partner with Jerry Reinsdorf in the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls.

In a final act characteristic of the respect the Chicago Tribune has shown to the First Amendment during the Fitzsimmons era, the Tribune removed public reactions to Fitzsimmons' firing from the forum attached to the online edition of the Tribune story. Instead comments like these now appear:

What happened to all of the other comments?

---

Really...what DID happen to all of the previous comments? This happens in other strings as well and this very question of what happened goes unanswered. No wonder the Trib is in trouble.

Ah, Fitzy, we're really going to miss you here at the Cubune Watch, for our job will never be this easy again.

How Low Can Highlights Go?

Today is that illustrious day when the Tribune's baseball beat reporters, in an effort to fill space, reflect upon the last 12 months of mediocrity they've inflicted upon Chicago. Cubs-beat reporter Paul Sullivan and beat-Sox reporter Mark Gonzales go over their highlights, and it's probably not a coincidence that Sully's are 100 percent Cubbies related, while Gonzo leads off with,

"With apologies to Jim Thome's surge to 500 career homers during a 90-loss season, Colorado's late-season surge was as amazing as it was encouraging to those teams that normally shy away from youth while in the heat of a pennant race. And it was amusing to discover that Rockies shortstop phenom Troy Tulowitzki lives less than two blocks from where I grew up."

Wow. Fascinating. The Tribune probably hired this guy because Rockies shortstop phenom Troy Tulowitzki lives less than two blocks from where he grew up. What else could it be? Gonzo hasn't shown a lick of talent since he got here.

Gonzo goes on to repeatedly insult Ozzie Guillen, whose toenail clippings know more about baseball than Mark Gonzales does, on his way to reminiscing about seeing Alyssa Milano in the airport. Only... he didn't recognize her.

The guy's highlight for 2007 is seeing Alyssa Milano in the airport, and he didn't recognize her. That's either a medical problem for which he needs to see his groinecologist, or he's just a typical Tribune investigative reporter — utterly clueless.

Hey Tribune: HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT YET WHICH CUBS PLAYERS WERE SEEN BY MATT KARCHNER STICKING NEEDLES IN EACH OTHERS' ASSES? No? Been too busy recapping the year's highlights, probably. Here's a suggestion: call Matt Karchner. Use the telephone.

Then, among Gonzo's "things to watch for in '08," one is vaguely negative about the Sox, one has to do with drugs, and one has to do with whether the Cubbies can take a step forward and win 90 games. Tasty.

Speaking of the Cubbies, Sully takes a shot at Cubs fans for pissing all over him when he complained about Cubs management, also known as Tribune management, making announcements directly to fans instead of filtering their propaganda through the Tribune. "Some Cubs fans prefer their information spoon-fed," Sully says, and you can hear the room go "Oooooh."

Actually, fans on both sides of town figure they're being spoon fed when they read the Tribune. Now why do you suppose that is?

-- Thanks to Brett Ballantini for this post.

Tribune's Sleazy Math Continues

Turns out there were not nine former Cubs implicated in the steroids report, as the Tribune trumpeted yesterday, but twelve:

The 12 ex-Cubs mentioned are Hill, Todd Hundley, Kent Mercker, Jerry Hairston, Rondell White, Benito Santiago, Gary Matthews Jr., Matt Franco, Ismael Valdez, Rafael Palmeiro, Todd Pratt and Stephen Randolph. Ex-Cubs reliever Matt Karchner wasn't named but said he witnessed two unnamed teammates inject steroids in an apartment they shared during 1999 spring training.

Of course, none of those 12 Cubs are pictured on the front page of today's Tribune, despite the colorful tale of Cubbies poking each other in the bottom with needles. What pictures do they choose to run? Bonds, Canseco, Clemens, Gagne, Giambi, Pettitte, and Tejada. And what picture do they run of Canseco? One of him in a Sox helmet. Go figure.

America's Sleaziest Newspaper.

Math: Not the Tribune's Strong Point

The Tribune, which recently called White Sox fans stupid, should invest in a calculator. Here's some fuzzy math from Tribune beat-Sox reporter Mark Gonzales (with corrections supplied in comments by some stupid White Sox fans):

Rowand's contract
By Mark Gonzales.

Although Aaron Rowand's five-year, $60 million contract with the San Francisco Giants seems identical to Paul Konerko's deal two winters ago, the breakdown is different. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Rowand will receive an $8 million bonus, followed by salaries of $4 million in 2008 and 2009, $8 million in 2010 and 2011 and $12 million in 2012. Rowand has a full no-trade clause in 2008 and a limited no-trade clause the following years. Konerko's contract was distributed evenly over five years with no bonus and a limited no-trade clause until he gains full no-trade rights next May.

COMMENTS:

Anyone want to check Gonzales' math?
$8M bonus
$4M 2008
$4M 2009
$8M 2010
$8M 2011
$12M 2012
-------
$44M.

Where is the other $16M?

Posted by: DBF | Dec 13, 2007 11:53:07 AM
----

Hey, Gonzales, your math does not compute. Go re-read the article over at the Mercury News like I did to see where you went wrong.

Lazy journalism at its best.

Posted by: Luke P | Dec 13, 2007 3:59:30 PM

To be fair to Gonzales, he pilfered this story from the San Jose Mercury News (which got the numbers right), so it's not clear whether he's failing at math or reading. But we're thinking it's probably math. Why?

Because even though NINE former Cubs were named in George Mitchell's steroids report today, the Tribune seems much more preoccupied with the White Sox named, although it can't seem to decide how many Sox were named. According to Gonzo the Math Whiz, it was seven:

Seven ex-Sox players named in Mitchell Report
By Mark Gonzales

Seven players who were members of the White Sox organization at one time were named in connection with performance-enhancing drugs, according to the Mitchell Report released Thursday afternoon.

But according to the front-page report at Tribune-owned Chicagosports.com, it was four:

Closer look: Chicago players named in Mitchell Report

After a quick scan of the 409-page Mitchell Report released today, it appears nine former Cubs and four former White Sox players are mentioned by name linked to performance enhancing drugs.

However, on the front page of the venerable, math-challenged Tribune itself, it's two:

Steroid report names former Cubs, Sox

Glenallen Hill was one of nine former Cubs and Jim Parque and Scott Schoeneweis were the only former White Sox named as users of performance-enhancing drugs.

Notice that seven, four, and two are all less than nine. Pay attention Tribune:

7 < 9

4 < 9

2 < 9

So why so much emphasis on the Sox in the report, only one of whom, Scott Schoeneweis, was on the team at the time that he allegedly received shipments of steroids? (During a blessedly brief visit to the South Side). Meanwhile the report describes Cubs players sticking needles in each others' buttocks.

According to Phil Rogers, You Are Stupid

The following statement actually does appear in print in today's Chicago Tribune, a newspaper that continues to associate itself with Chicago despite its blatant disdain for those who live here:

For White Sox fans, the news just keeps getting better and better. They're probably just not clever enough to realize it.

The quote comes from Tribune baseball expert Phil Rogers, who has the right to call us stupid because he's a genius.

If Rogers ever dared to show his face south of Roosevelt, such that he had to defend his work to the human beings he maligns and misleads daily, he'd probably say the sentence is meant to be sarcastic. Or that it's meant to come from Ken Williams, in whose mouth the Tribune loves to put false statements. But we know exactly from whom the sentiment derives, and Phil Rogers is merely the latest sphincter to emit prejudice from that foul tower.