Clobberin' with Lies

Dave van Dyck was responsible for writing up Saturday night's White Sox game story.

(Those of you who just cringed, bonus points for appreciating Tricky Van Dyck's special brand of "writing.")

With the White Sox's offense back in full force and scoring outrageous amounts of runs, you'd think Tricky V.D. would shoot right out of the gate with a delicious lede. Perhaps he'd mention Joe Crede's four home runs in the past two games, an accomplishment not attained by a White Sox player in nine seasons. How about 64 hits in five games so far in the homestand? Hey, he couldn't even be blamed for leading with news of the rarest of baseball accomplishments, a Paul Konerko triple.

No, the lede for the story detailing the White Sox's trampling of Minnesota, their fiercest rival and closest Central Division trailer, by a lopsided, 11-2 margin avoids any such pertinence:

They may have the worst winning percentage of any team leading a division, but the White Sox have a bigger lead than the best team, the Cubs.

Now, let's try to ignore how horrible Tricky Van Dyck's writing is and how lazy and convoluted a lede this is. As is to be expected from a writer from a newspaper that prides itself more on torpedoing its crosstown rival than reporting facts, Tricky Van Dyck's lede is simply wrong.

The division leader with the worst record is not the red-hot White Sox but the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose 34-28 record trails the White Sox by a full 1.5 games. Moreover, the north side bumblers are no longer the "best" team in baseball as the Trib's Hall of Fame-nominated hatchet man implies--they're now tied with the L.A. Angels at 39-24.

Apparently the Tribune sports editors "missed" the falsities when they "fact-checked" Homer Dave's story.

— Submitted by Cubune Watcher Edward B., with an assist from Brett Ballantini

No Respect Roundup

There's been a trend of late in the Tribune Sports section. It's not anything new, just the typical downplaying of White Sox success that we've all come to understand is part of the Tribune's mission. But in the course of a seven-game winning streak, the Tribune's distortion of reality has become more glaring and obvious that usual.

First, a pop quiz: Which Chicago baseball team in first place on Sunday was ranked No. 1 in Phil Rogers' latest "Power Poll," and which Chicago baseball team in first place on Sunday was ranked No. 10? Here's a hint: The team that was in first, but ranked 10th, has defeated a division rival ranked ahead of it in the "Power Poll" twice this week.

More disturbing is the victory-snatched-from-defeat theme of White Sox story ledes that have been popping up in the paper throughout the winning streak. All the writing comes courtesy of Mark Gonzales, with the exception of Monday's story, written by Dave "Tricky" Van Dyck.

Wednesday's 6-1 win vs. the Angels:
Ozzie Guillen looked like a genius … for at least one night.

Thursday's 4-3 win vs. the Angels:
Jim Thome took a big load off his White Sox teammates and himself Thursday night.

Friday's 2-0 win over the Giants:
Manager Ozzie Guillen believes Cuban import Alexei Ramirez should have more home runs despite the lack of playing time and getting acclimated to playing in cold conditions for the first time.

Saturday's 3-1 win at San Francisco
There was plenty of traffic on the basepaths Saturday night. But Mark Buehrle topped Barry Zito when it came to escaping jams, particularly in avoiding the big innings that have inflated Buehrle's earned-run average.

Sunday's 13-8 win over San Francisco:
Earlier this month, the White Sox were mired in a six-game losing streak, dealing with a blowup doll controversy and facing questions about their feeble offense.

Monday's 4-1 win vs. the Indians:
If the White Sox need any more ammunition to show doubters this may be a special season, it came Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field when they beat Indians ace C.C. Sabathia.

Yesterday's 7-2 win over Cleveland:
After the White Sox were held to one hit through five innings and were on the verge of watching a sterling effort from Javier Vazquez go for naught, Jermaine Dye couldn't be blamed Wednesday night for spiking his bat and pumping his fist after solving nemesis Paul Byrd.

Keep in mind, these aren't random tidbits culled from the body of each game story. These are the ways the writers chose to begin the story, the one lede they arrived at out of all the possible directions their reports could have taken.

The lede establishes the tone of a story, particularly when it's a game result. We often begin reading having already seen the result the previous day. So the lede in game stories shapes perception--and, unfortunately for Tribune writers, exposes the author's biases, pro or con, toward players, teams, and game circumstances.

I wouldn't blame some skepticism at the start of the White Sox's winning streak, although leading with negatives night after night is still a bit harsh. But look at yesterday's story--the White Sox are the hottest team in baseball, in first place with a bullet. What does Gonzo trot out? How feeble the Chicago hitters were for five innings. That Javier Vasquez was about to have (another) great effort wasted. That Jermaine Dye is so weak that he had to celebrate "solving" Paul Byrd.

In every case, reading the lede exposes that the writer presumes the White Sox can't be for real, that they have no business in first place or finding any sort of success, even just a quarter into the season.

This organizational attitude, which encourages a Tribune writer to dismiss the achievements of the crosstown team even at the cost of his own credibility and the paper's status, permeates Tribune media. It's as if there's a memo circulated every season, reminding writers who signs their checks, contributes to their 401(k)s, and stands to enrich them once the Cubbies are finally sold off.

--Brett Ballantini