All the Sports It Pays to Print

This I will grant about New York and its Times—women’s sports merits consistent coverage unlike, say, Chicago. Here, sports’ departments still go guys-first, with women needing to force the issue, like the Sky did by winning the WNBA championship in 2021. So, some attention needs to be doled out. The Sun-Times is considerably better in that regard, with a pullout section last Sunday while the Trib spread—wait for it—the Bears all over page one of their sports’ section. If the Second Coming falls on a Sunday in October, at least one Chicago paper will be too busy following the Munsters to notice. Oh, the Trib got around to the Sky today; it is, after all, the start of their season. But, fear not, Bears’ fans, the good ol’ Trib hasn’t forgotten about you (has it ever?). On page two, a beat writer is answering three mailbag questions that could’ve waited for another couple of months. Spring sports? Not in the Trib or Times. Baseball coverage? Well, a B+ for the Times, where they do make an effort to include box scores from the night before, along with scores from the NHL and NBA playoffs. Don’t bother looking through the other sports’ section. The Trib is controlled by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund notorious for squeezing profits out of newspapers by gutting coverage. The Times has a beat writer to cover the Sky; the Trib went with a freelancer for the season preview. Anything more could affect the bottom line. And so it goes in the brave, new world of 21st century media.