caulfield12 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 to my hometown Quad City Times newspaper after seeing their baseball preview edition this morning... I have never seen so much Cubs/Cardinals bias in my life. I mean, I know your son is named after Ryne Sandberg, but can you try to be a little more objective/fair/unbiased in your major league baseball coverage? Since I have to put up with the QC Times while I back in the US for 2 months, that would be very helpful of your crack staff. On your preview page, you listed 7 "individual" reviews/predictions for the Cubs, 5 for the St. Louis Cardinals, 3 for the Minnesota Twins, 3 for the Royals (umm...they've had one .500+ season in more or less two decades), 2 for the Indians and JUST one for the White Sox. What's really embarassing that you couldn't come up with a more equitable amount of articles for the White Sox, really...it's not like they draw 500,000 fans and the Cubs 5,000,000. In reality, the White Sox have been averaging 2+ million in attendance over the last 4 seasons, not to mention only four years ago, the World Series title, but you probably buried that behind the obituaries page I'm guessing. Maybe I can get a free copy of that article with an Obama souvenir edition? Then the letters you print, the experts must have gone to Baseball for Dummies for assistance. I won't pick apart every single one, but I'll just look at one. It really seems like some of these fans have knowledge about as deep as an AIG profitability and ROI report. Indians (bottom right corner of print version): 1) Ummm...no, Choo will the starting/everyday RF, not the LF. 2) David Dellucci...please try to insert name Ben Francisco for LF, thank you very much. 3) DeRosa solid on defense? Do they provide all Cubs' fans with psychedelic mushrooms to make them believe only the best possible thoughts about their Cubbie heroes? DeRosa is about as solid defensively as a DQ Blizzard after 15 minutes in the August sun, not to mention Peralta and Victor Martinez are atrocious as well 4) Nothing on Travis Hafner, who has shrunk this offseason into Eddie Gaedel 5) No mention of Pavano, Reyes or Lewis as the very shaky back of the rotation 6) No mention of the loss of Fr. Gutierrez and his GG-caliber defense in the OF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 is it staff coverage or wire coverage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 5, 2009 Author Share Posted April 5, 2009 QUOTE (thedoctor @ Apr 5, 2009 -> 09:56 AM) is it staff coverage or wire coverage? No, it's from their panel of local "fan experts" that are subscribers to the newspaper...I think the two youngest are 10 and 11, but there are about 30 small "predictions" for the season and their favorite teams...and only one of them was about the White Sox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sircaffey Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 5, 2009 -> 09:52 AM) 1) Ummm...no, Choo will the starting/everyday RF, not the LF. 2) David Dellucci...please try to insert name Ben Francisco for LF, thank you very much. 3) DeRosa solid on defense? Do they provide all Cubs' fans with psychedelic mushrooms to make them believe only the best possible thoughts about their Cubbie heroes? DeRosa is about as solid defensively as a DQ Blizzard after 15 minutes in the August sun, not to mention Peralta and Victor Martinez are atrocious as well 4) Nothing on Travis Hafner, who has shrunk this offseason into Eddie Gaedel 5) No mention of Pavano, Reyes or Lewis as the very shaky back of the rotation 6) No mention of the loss of Fr. Gutierrez and his GG-caliber defense in the OF Choo is starting in LF because of triceps injury according to a couple of sources that I've read like rotoworld. As for DeRosa, I would say he's a solid 3B. He's certainly not a solid 2B where he played for the Cubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 QUOTE (sircaffey @ Apr 5, 2009 -> 12:00 PM) Choo is starting in LF because of triceps injury according to a couple of sources that I've read like rotoworld. As for DeRosa, I would say he's a solid 3B. He's certainly not a solid 2B where he played for the Cubs. A triceps injury to who? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sircaffey Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Apr 5, 2009 -> 12:01 PM) A triceps injury to who? Choo. Moving him there at least to start the season because of the shorter throws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 QUOTE (sircaffey @ Apr 5, 2009 -> 12:20 PM) Choo. Moving him there at least to start the season because of the shorter throws. Doesnt seem like a good idea to have him out in the field at all if his triceps are bothering him that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSoxfan1986 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 5, 2009 -> 11:31 AM) No, it's from their panel of local "fan experts" that are subscribers to the newspaper...I think the two youngest are 10 and 11, but there are about 30 small "predictions" for the season and their favorite teams...and only one of them was about the White Sox. Well, it's just dumb to have fans write the preview. That's their first mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 6, 2009 Author Share Posted April 6, 2009 (edited) From: Don Doxsie Subject: RE: Are we to believe the QC Times is also owned by Tribune Co.? To: jewisler@yahoo.com Date: Monday, April 6, 2009, 9:32 AM I'm not sure you quite understand our fan-experts program, which is now in its sixth year. We run frequent items in the paper and online inviting readers to become our "expert'' on the team of their choice. We don't turn anyone away. We allow these people to express their own opinions whether we (or you) agree with them or not. You can hardly hold it against us that we had seven volunteers for the Cubs, five for the Cardinals and only one for the White Sox. Perhaps that's an indication that there aren't many White Sox fans here. Maybe we really should have a Cubs/Cardinals bias. As it is, we don't. We had one full-length story on each of those teams on Page 5 of Sunday's sports section. The headlines were almost all exactly the same size. The stories were of similar length (the Cardinals one appeared to be a bit shorter). And the main photo on the front of the section was Ozzie Guillen. It almost looked like we had a White Sox bias. Thanks for the feedback. Don Doxsie Assistant managing editor, Sports Quad-City Times (563) 383-2280 By that same principle, you shouldn't cover ISU or UNI or University of Illinois because there's a similar disproportionality in the ratios of fans and readership in favor of Iowa, and you are on the Iowa side of the river, correct? Having Guillen (or Piniella) on the cover is simple...it's all about selling papers, and both those guys are popular. I am sure there is a list of about 10 Cubs players that would be the 2nd/3rd choice after the managers before someone like Carlos Quentin, Danks, Buehrle, Konerko, Thome, Dye or Alexei Ramirez would be on the front page. No different than putting Obama on the cover everyday, it sells more copies. I understand the Tribune had a financial stake in the Cubs' success, But 7-1 or 5-1 ratio is pretty embarassing...and you would have to admit that if you were running the newspaper, almost all of the coverage would be about the Cubs. So really it comes down to the editor/s and columnists, right? Isn't it kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, if you perceive there aren't enough White Sox fans, or if Hy-Vee only sells Cubs and Cardinals paraphernalia. How do you explain the hundreds of thousands of fans in Chicago for the victory parade in 2005? I doubt many of them were Cubs' fans, right? Just because White Sox fans are more skeptical and we don't believe the prognostications of Baseball Prospectus or ESPN/Red Sox/Yankee Nation doesn't mean we don't exist in significant numbers. I mean, I'm pretty sure you will vote for Sammy Sosa for the Hall of Fame and against Frank Thomas, right? Edited April 6, 2009 by caulfield12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 Caulfield got pwned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurcieOne Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 6, 2009 -> 11:17 AM) Caulfield got pwned. Yah, I'm not sure why you posted that e-mail... I mean I hate the concept of having fans as experts, but that e-mail was pretty damning to your argument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 6, 2009 Author Share Posted April 6, 2009 So basically there are no White Sox fans besides me in Iowa. Just goes to show you how poor the White Sox have been marketed that there are more Twins, Royals and Cardinals fans here 3 hours away from Chicago than White Sox fans. Embarassing. I guess I should join KW and accept the reality that the White Sox will never be anything more than a 2nd tier team...even if they win the AL Central 14 seasons in a row like the Braves did. Only grandmothers who go to Wrigley Field on summer tour buses with floppy hats overloaded with Rafael Palmeiro and Mark Grace buttons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Middle Buffalo Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 6, 2009 -> 10:44 AM) So basically there are no White Sox fans besides me in Iowa. Just goes to show you how poor the White Sox have been marketed that there are more Twins, Royals and Cardinals fans here 3 hours away from Chicago than White Sox fans. Embarassing. I guess I should join KW and accept the reality that the White Sox will never be anything more than a 2nd tier team...even if they win the AL Central 14 seasons in a row like the Braves did. Only grandmothers who go to Wrigley Field on summer tour buses with floppy hats overloaded with Rafael Palmeiro and Mark Grace buttons. Why don't you volunteer to be a White Sox expert. He said they don't turn anyone away. That would make 2 Sox fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 6, 2009 -> 01:44 PM) Only grandmothers who go to Wrigley Field on summer tour buses with floppy hats overloaded with Rafael Palmeiro and Mark Grace buttons. Who have cement fall on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_genius Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Apr 6, 2009 -> 01:01 PM) Why don't you volunteer to be a White Sox expert. He said they don't turn anyone away. That would make 2 Sox fans. ^^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenryan Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 what the f*** is a quad city? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 QUOTE (zenryan @ Apr 6, 2009 -> 06:28 PM) what the f*** is a quad city? Four cities that make up a metropolitan area. In this case it's Davenport, Iowa; Moline, Illinois; Rock Island, Illinois; and Bettendorf, Iowa; with East Moline, Illinois thrown in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.