Just Desserts, or not

One of the realities of life in and around Chicago is that the local media suffers from 24/7 Bears’ fever, oh, 300 or so days a year.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets in the way of heaps of coverage.  All other professional teams that call this place home ignore this reality at their own risk.  I swear the White Sox ignore the obvious.

What a 65-85 record means, then, is next to non-existent coverage come September.  Turn away from the TV for a second, and you’ll miss any mention of Chicago’s other baseball team; step into the pantry for a can of soup, and you won’t hear mention of the South Siders on the radio.  Look anywhere else but the back page of sports for a story on the Sox, and you’ll be disappointed.

Yesterday, the Tribune was all agog over the Bears’ Eddie Pinero kicking the winning field goal against Denver with time expiring.  No place for the Sox on page one, or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven.  No, their special hell was reserved for page eight, a single column to run a wire story in.  But, hey, it could be worse.

The WNBA Sky made the playoffs for the fifth time in seven years, an accomplishment that would probably have to be explained to Sox GM Rick Hahn.  On Sunday, they had the bad fortune of losing in the second round against the Las Vegas Aces, 93-92, due to a turnover with seconds left that led to an improbable Las Vegas three-pointer.   

The story, if 5-1/2 single-column inches counts as a story, ran beneath the Sox piece.  That’s what happens in a football town.