Fast takes on the five most viewed Tribune stories on the paper’s Web site last week. Find them quickly at chicagotribune.com/most.
1. Forte shines in debut as Bears stun Colts (Sept. 8). His name is Matt Forte, he’s from Tulane University, and he ran for 123 yards in the Bears’ 29-13 upset win Sunday. Did you watch from the bedroom or the living room, Cedric Benson?
2. Indiana girl clocked at 118 m.p.h. held on DUI (Sept. 10). At about 6:30 Wednesday morning, a 17-year-old Crown Point girl was pulled over after weaving in and out of interstate traffic in her 8-year-old Toyota with three fellow high school students in the car. Although drunk, according to police, she claimed to be hurrying in order to make it to class on time. It’s so important to be responsible.
3. Ebert confirms fellow critic hit him at Toronto Film Festival (Sept. 11). At a screening, Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who can’t talk because of cancer treatment side effects, tapped New York Post reviewer Lou Lumenick on the shoulder several times, hoping to get him to shift so Ebert could see on-screen subtitles better. Finally, Lumenick turned around and whacked the 66-year-old critic on the knee with a binder. But that’s nothing compared to what happens when you ask Lumenick to stop talking on his cell phone.
4. Internet-fueled panic rocks United stock (Sept. 8). A December 2002 story about the airline filing for bankruptcy protection somehow drew attention on the Web site of a Florida newspaper and was picked up as new by Google News. A Florida financial news distributor then found it, failed to recognize that it was obviously old news, sent it to a business news outlet, and, suddenly, United’s stock plunged, temporarily, from $12 to $3 per share. Some stock did rise in the incident: that of good, flesh-and-blood journalists relative to all the money-saving shortcuts companies take to try to feed news to the Web.
5. Look who’s talking now: It’s Bears (Sept. 8). After pulling off the biggest upset in Week 1 of the NFL season, the Bears were all smiles and plenty of positive chatter. If they can make Peyton Manning look that bad, it’s a shame they don’t have little brother Eli on the regular-season schedule.
