Another Way to Get Ripped Off at Wrigley

As we've documented many times, the Tribune often associates U.S. Cellular Field with crime, even though far more serious crimes occur at or near Tribune-owned Wrigley Field. The proof of their deceit is out now in the Tribune's own "Burglary Map" published this week in Redeye (click on the image for a larger view). The Armour Square neighborhood around U.S. Cellular Field falls into the map's most crime-free category, with less than 100 burglaries per year. Nearby Bridgeport falls into the second-most crime-free category, with less than 400. But Lakeview, home of The Shrine, stands out on the map in bright red with between 700 and 1,000 burglaries per year. Of course, the Tribune doesn't mention the ballparks in this report. That would be bad for business.

'Loyal' Fans Attack 'Lovable Losers'

The Chicago Tribune deprived readers Tuesday of dramatic photos of Cub fan Brent Kowalkoski charging Bobby Howry on the mound at Wrigley. The Sun-Times ran a pair of the photos of Kowalkoski being tackled and cuffed by Cubs security at the edge of the mound. We had to wait a day to see a photo in the Tribune.

If the same incident had occurred at U.S. Cellular Field, the Tribune certainly would have displayed the photo right away and prominently. In fact, when a woman ran onto the field after a Sox game in May, the Tribune used a photo of the incident as the lead photo on their online sports page. The Tribune identified the woman as a Sox fan, even though she wasn't wearing any Sox gear, while Tribune reporter Paul Sullivan was very careful to identify Kowalkoski not as a Cubs fan, but as a fan "wearing a souvenir Cubs jersey." (Sullivan probably figures he was a Sox fan in disguise.)

On the bright side, this incident briefly reminded our local media of the Cub fan who attacked Cub pitcher Randy Myers on the mound in 1995. The Tribune had miraculously forgotten all about that incident during its coverage of two, count 'em two, fan-on-field incidents at the Cell earlier this decade. Here's a 2004 letter to the editor by Sox fan John McHugh trying to remind the Tribune of its Cubbie history:

It's unfortunate that Paul Sullivan's otherwise nice story about Cubs and Sox wives playing softball for charity (Tribune, July 1) served to reinforce a stereotype about U.S. Cellular Field. A Cub wife said that a brawl wouldn't occur because "We're at Wrigley . . . Those things don't happen over here."

Sullivan missed a great opportunity to remedy her misperception. He should have mentioned the Cubs fan who attacked his own team's relief pitcher, Randy Myers, a few years back. He should have recalled the Dodgers racing into the stands after abusive Wrigley fans. Has he forgotten the terrible incident after a ballgame earlier in the season? That tragedy took place on Addison Street, not 35th.

The tragedy McHugh refers to was a murder. We also noticed Cub fans throwing beer at Rockies' outfielders during last night's game. And we'll remind you again of the Tribune coverup of a Cub fan hurling a fast ball at Jacque Jones' head last year. The fact is, fan-on-field incidents occur more often at Wrigley. For some reason, those famously loyal Cub fans tend to attack their own lovable players, and they enjoy the privilege of having their deeds downplayed by the city's largest daily.

Finding the Cloud in the Silver Lining

Yesterday we showed you how the Tribune, equipped with the same information as three other newspapers, spun it negative. Today we'll show you another piece of Tribune artifice that makes the White Sox look bad, stemming from the same press conference with Aaron Rowand.

In a story published yesterday Mark Gonzales writes,

PHILADELPHIA -- The White Sox's offensive struggles are so obvious that even one of their biggest supporters can't hide the truth.

"I'm not surprised at how poorly they're playing," Phillies center fielder Aaron Rowand said of his former team after it suffered a 3-0 interleague loss Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.

"I think everyone in baseball is probably surprised how they haven't hit."

The two quotes from Aaron Rowand contradict each other. Is Aaron surprised the Sox are playing poorly, or is he not surprised? The first quote is particularly negative, controversial, and insidious — it suggests a real rift between Aaron and his former team. It's also dubious, because three other newspaper reporters and an MLB reporter attending the same press conference with Aaron Rowand did not have that quote. They only had the more positive one. Both Nathaniel Whalen of the Daily Southtown and Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald had exactly the same quote from Rowand:

“I think everyone in baseball is probably surprised how they haven’t hit,’’ Rowand said before the Sox were shut out for the fifth time. “There’s so much talent over there. Between (Jim) Thome, J.D. (Jermaine Dye), Paul (Konerko), Joe (Crede’s) been hurt, A.J. (Pierzynski), everybody, Darin, the talent over there is unreal.

“I’m sure it’s surprising they haven’t hit the way they were expected to. The starting pitching looks like it’s done pretty well, keeping them in games. If you didn’t have the starting pitching and you have a team batting average of whatever it is (.232), you wouldn’t think they’re just a couple of games under .500. You think they’d be like the Devil Rays of (2001).’’

Or maybe Gonzales had a big scoop? As we've learned, some Tribune scoops turn out to be works of fiction.

Finding the Silver Lining in the Cloud

So the Tribune is going out of its way to make the White Sox look bad, as if they need any help with that right now, and meanwhile, it's going out of its way to make the Cubs look good. Ten days ago, when the Cubs were 22-31, Tribune Columnist Rick Morrissey said they had to go 7-3 in the next stretch to merit attention.

They have gone 6-4. I guess they're toast, right?

Wrong.

In today's Tribune, Morrissey says the Cubbies are still in it. But not for the reason anyone else would offer right now, that the NL Central appears to be heading toward a sub-.500 division winner.

No, Morrissey's Cubbies are still in it because they fight in the dugout.

That's right, the single-most embarrassing moment in recent Cubbies history — and that is saying a lot — is now a point of pride and a rallying cry for the Cubune empire. Even if it really isn't, given the recent 6-4 stretch.

Morrissey's main source for his inspiration? Quotes from 175-pound rookie Ryan Theriot. Excellent. Can't wait to see Theriot take on Barrett.

Brett Ballantini contributed to this post.

You Won't Read it In the Tribune 2

Wrigleyville Alderman Tom Tunney wants to reign in the beer-sodden, urine-soaked stupidity that plagues the neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field, according to the Chicago Sun-Times and NBC-5. The Tribune's neighbors are "fed up," but the Tribune has not covered the story.

Could it be because the Tribune uses the beer-soaked, urine-sodden stupidity to lure the corn-fed squares from Iowa and Minnesota (Steve Rhodes), convert them into sudden Cubs fans for the duration of their beer-sodden, urine-soaked visit, and then suck the money out of their wallets? Gotta wonder. That might also explain the gross disparity in the way the Tribune covers crime in the vicinity of the two ballparks.

Meanwhile, inside Wrigleyville's biggest beer garden: Zambrano slapping Barrett wasn't the only news to come out of Wrigley Field this weekend.

A fan ran onto the field during the same game, and the Tribune actually mentioned it. Briefly. At the end of a long story. The mention is notable because the Tribune usually prefers not to cover such incidents — except when they happen at U.S. Cellular. We would have liked a picture — you know, equal coverage — but hey, at least we got a few words: "And so another strange day ended at Wrigley Field, where a fan ran onto the field just as Aramis Ramirez was connecting for a home run in the eighth inning. The fan was corralled before he could cause further trouble, which is more than could be said for the Cubs." Har har. The Daily Southtown went into much more detail after interviewing Ramirez, who was apparently concerned for his safety:

Aramis Ramirez said he was "in shock" when a fan ran onto the field during his eighth-inning homer Friday. The fan, who came out of the left-field seats, was running toward center when a security guard caught up with him. Ramirez was rounding first when he saw what was happening. "I didn't know what was going on," Ramirez said. "I noticed it when I was running to second base and the (guard) was grabbing him. I was shocked. I wasn't nervous because security was holding the guy." Still, as Ramirez headed for third and then home, he looked back to make sure the fan hadn't broke free. "I was watching because he wasn't supposed to be there on the field," Ramirez said. "I don't know what happened or when he came out."

It's not hard to imagine how differently the Tribune would have played that incident had it happened on the South Side.

Propaganda Machine Rolls On

TOURIST ALERT: Fan on field at U.S. Cellular! Sure it's a laughing girl this time, but next time who knows — it might be one of those armed bank robbers! Why does the Tribune publish photos of fans on the field at U.S. Cellular, but never at Wrigley? Because it feeds a favorite story line — that U.S. Cellular is dangerous, unstable, anything can happen, so the tourists from Iowa probably shouldn't venture too far from "the friendly confines." That's also why the Tribune covers every development in the life of William Ligue but none in the life of Ronald Camacho. It's why the Tribune takes pains to dissociate Wrigley from the murders of fans leaving Cubs games but liberally attaches much less serious crimes to the Cell. It's why the Tribune greeted fans arriving for the playoffs in 2005 with a front-page story about poverty and pot smoking in Armour Square. Much less coverage was given to the body found in a Wrigley Field Honeyhut with a needle stuck in its arm. It's probably also why Tribune reporters and photographers averted their eyes this April, when Cubs fans were already throwing trash on the field at Wrigley. And hey, whatever happened to that lady who — in perhaps the most accurate pitch thrown by anyone in a Cubs cap last year — nearly took off Jacque Jones' head? The Cubune should have signed her up, but instead they covered it up.

We're not sure how the crack investigative team at the Tribune missed this fans-on-the-field scandal at Comiskey:

Double Standards for the Company Team

You know what looks like bias? When a newspaper writer criticizes one team while making excuses for the other — on the very same topic. Phil Rogers and his ilk have been all over the White Sox for not re-signing Mark Buehrle, even while lubing up the Cubs to help them excrete Carlos Zambrano. Here's Rogers saying the Cubs won't be making a Maddux-sized mistake when they lose the only reliable pitcher they've had since Bartman:

Because Zambrano hasn't come up big in [big-game] situations, there isn't the parallel to the Greg Maddux situation in 1992 that some suggest. Yes, he's young. Yes, he has had success. But he's not heading into free agency as the Maddux of '92, coming off a Cy Young Award season and owning 95 career victories, including three years of 18-plus wins.

Zambrano and Maddux were both age 26 in their walk years. Carlos currently has an ERA .07 higher than Maddux, which could well fall below Maddux's first Cubbies' ERA by seasons' end. Modestly projecting him to 13 wins this season, Z will have averaged 13 wins to Maddux's 15.5 in full seasons. Zambrano's numbers aren't good right now, no doubt, thanks in part to the White Sox, and he can be a Sosa-sized jackass with all his skyward pointing and flying spittle, but he remains the hottest commodity on the Cubs' pitching staff. But Uncle Phil says not to worry, Cubs fans, he's not all that.

After all the Buehrle controversy the Tribune has incited, Phil must know he sounds like a hypocrite, so he addresses his double standard directly. Just not very well:

If the Cubs don't re-sign Zambrano, it won't be because they tried to get him on the cheap, as the White Sox have tried with Buehrle.

The Cubs offered Zambrano $11 million this year. Last summer, the White Sox offered Buehrle $33 million for three years. Does Phil own a calculator? If the Sox didn't bump up that offer, maybe it's because Buehrle promptly imploded. But Rogers doesn't even consider that reason, because he's too busy making excuses for the Cubs:

They (the Cubs) made legitimate five-year offers before the announced sale of Tribune Co. suspended negotiations, but Zambrano has enough leverage to want to be very near the top of the market, if not at the top. When the Cubs let Zambrano get within a year of free agency, you knew it was going to be a tough negotiation, no matter how sincere Zambrano is about wanting to stay put.

Yeah, negotiations are tough on the North Side, where the Cubs had financial diarrhea all winter, but negotiations aren't tough on the South Side, where the team actually has to maintain a feasible budget. It makes perfect sense... if you're living in your own private Wrigleyville.

Does a contract really have to extend 5 years to be reasonable? Are sportswriters acting as agents now? Are they taking the customary percentage too?

And if it's really true that the Tribune's sale shut down negotiations with Zambrano, doesn't it also mean the Cubs can't engage in any significant trades this year? What if Derrek Lee goes down again, or Alfonso tweaks his hammy, or what if that Phil-Rogers-All-Star, Mark DeRosa, takes a fastball in the chops? The Cubs are confined to Iowa and MLB's spare parts? (Tony Womack, Todd Walker, Mike Remlinger, Todd Hollandsworth, and Jeromy Burnitz are listening to offers.) Sounds like a big story to me, but I don't think I've read that one in the Tribune. Have you?

Brett Ballantini contributed much of this entry.

Tribune Overlooks Cubs Fans Trashing Shrine

When they're not writing fiction to incite fan unrest on the South Side, the Tribune is covering it up on the North Side. Only by reading the St. Louis Post-Dispatch would you discover that Cubs fans have already starting throwing trash on the outfield of the "sacred garden" where their $300 million last-place team plays. Tribune reporter Dave van Dyck was covering the April 21 Cubs-Cardinals game when Cubs fans pelted the outfield with rubbish after Ronny Cedeno was tagged out after oversliding second base. Maybe van Dyck should have his eyes checked, because he didn't notice the commotion. Or, at least, he didn't write about it.

As Cubune Watcher Bill Melvin points out, "If this happened at the Cell I'm sure every news channel would have shown it and every newspaper would have written about it. Of course, it happened at The Shrine so locally nothing gets written and nothing gets said. ESPN showed it the next day with the local feed from the St. Louis station. This double standard has to be exposed."

Tribune Hypocrisy Watch

In his March 3 column, Tribune columnist Phil Rogers pointedly pointed out that radio host Mike North referred to the White Sox as "we" during an interview with Ozzie Guillen.

In a column today, Tribune columnist Mike Downey refers to the Cubs as "our boys in blue."

Or is it okay to use second person if you actually own the team? Like, the Cubs are the Tribune's office softball squad.