The state of the newspaper
business is pretty dire. I’m pretty sure
there are next to no copy editors left, given all the errors that creep into
the paper; if it gets by spell-check, heaven help us. I also wonder if there are any editors left
to point out the virtues of consistency.
On Monday, Rick Morrissey of the
Sun-Times wrote of the Bulls, “Then, blessedly, if you’re in it for the No. 1
pick in the [NBA] draft, Kris Dunn failed on a drive with eight seconds left,
Zach LaVine missed a three-pointer at the buzzer and the Bulls fell
104-101.” For Morrissey, “It was
beautiful.”
That’s because the more the Bulls
lose, the better their chance for landing Zion Williamson of Duke. Never mind that the team has fallen down the
rabbit hole of dysfunction, most recently shown by naming a new coach (Jim
Boylen) who thinks the half-court game will come back in fashion any day now, right
after bellbottoms. Morrissey is of the
opinion that a team that thought pairing Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo was a good
idea will get it right with their next No. 1 draft pick.
Then, on Tuesday Morrissey shifted
his attention to baseball. Playing nine
innings takes too long, yes, “But the bigger problem, one that has helped suck
interest out of the game, is the tanking phenomenon.” But apparently, it’s OK in basketball and for
the White Sox because Morrissey writes that it’s “hard to carp about the
rebuilding White Sox, who have had one of the best farm systems the last couple
of years.” Confused yet?
Well, then, how about when he
writes “tanking is OK in the micro sense.
If one team’s fan base is willing to put up with enthusiastic losing in
the hopes of a championship down the line, that’s fine.” And who’s to say all the tanking teams don’t
have those fan bases? It’s not like
Morrissey did anything approaching research to find out.
No, he just goes his merry way,
saying one thing on Monday and quite the opposite on Tuesday. Whatever Morrissey’s columns are, they’re not
sports writing.
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