The Chicago Tribune is blessed with many talented columnists. Mary Schmich, Eric Zorn, John Kass, James Warren, Bill Neikirk, Jim Mateja and Jim Coates are skilled, witty, creative, provocative and interesting writers. The Sports section has its share of talent, too–Sam Smith, Bernie Lincicome, Bob Verdi (when he appears), Melissa Isaacson and Don Pierson are all pros who do their jobs very, very well.
Then there’s the Rosenbloom-Knowles et al. “In Your Face” junk, the Tribune’s continuing contribution to the dumbing down of America. One offended reader described Rosenbloom’s writing as “. . .juvenile and mean-spirited” (Sports, June 14), to which I’d add crude, vicious and ugly, particularly where Rosenbloom’s stuff is concerned. He has sneered at everything from Kerri Strug’s heroic Olympic vault (his “Cripple Me Kerri dolls” line, Sports, Dec. 22, 1996) to Alonzo Spellman’s mental problems. This is a guy who refers to losing teams as “nosewipes.”
To paraphrase Doris Lessing from a recent Tribune book review, too much of what passes for wit these days is nothing more than malice. Almost everything these guys write is malicious, and none of it is witty. Beyond the meanness and the lack of taste or discretion, the sad fact is that these guys aren’t very good writers. They don’t belong in the same class as Schmich, Zorn, Isaacson, et al. They’re a disgrace to the paper and a disgrace to the profession.
