28 Days

It only took four weeks, but a Tribune writer finally has acknowledged the Kosuke Fukudome "Horry Kow" T-shirts being sold outside and worn into Wrigley Field by supposed Cubbies fans. ChicagoSports.com blogger Rahula Strohl had previously written on the controversy, his criticisms of the shirts getting him barbecued as "politically correct" and worse in comments from CS readers. But the core sportswriters--the winceable Dream Team of Sullivan, Rogers, Gonzales, Downey, Morrissey, and McGrath--have been mum.

Unfortunately, Paul Sullivan's piece today doesn't bring a happy conclusion to the story. The apologetic headline, Cubs can't stop all sales of offensive Kosuke Fukudome T-shirt, says it all.

The Cubs and the Tribune are caught in a tough place here. But between the month the Tribune took to officially acknowledge the shirts and the sellers, the fact that it owns its ballpark and could well better police it and the Wrigleyville area to rid the city of such ugliness, and that no one on its pages can bother to state the obvious and condemn this type of ugly racism for fun and profit, it's hard to be too sympathetic.

Worse, imagine the taunts and, apparently, the T-shirts screened once Fukudome finally slumps this season.

--Brett Ballantini