The 35th Street Review

How one sports team carried out what the two mightiest media companies in the nation could not.

Once again, it’s never really about the game.

A pair of related news items make the Chicago Tribune even more meta than we ever imagined.

Strange times get stranger at the Chicago Tribune:

• Owner sam Zell is being sued by his employees. . .
• . . . their most valuable asset is under fire for receiving scheduling favors from Major League Baseball. . .
• . . . the biggest news in local sports media isn’t local sports news but news about local sports media. . .
• . . . and now, reports the same paper who recently recused themselves from covering such matters, employees of said asset are not-so-subtly lobbying for a new ballpark just as Sam Zell is trying to sell someone the old park. No one insists the Tribsters bury their heads in the sand about the future of the Cubs and the real estate they play on, but how editorially indifferent can they really be (or even claim to be) when Cubs beat reporter Paul Sullivan actually writes “Is Zambrano crazy, or should the Cubs abandon Wrigley Field and build a modern facility like Miller Park?”

The Tribune refuses to report or comment on the prospect of a public sale of Wrigley Field. Does that sound noble? Don’t believe the hype.

Want a great deal on rent in Chicago? Try building a stadium.

You think you hate the Cubs? You have no idea how to hate the Cubs.

Wrigley Field naming rights for sale: Good, bad or awesome? “Yes” to all three.