1. A downside to high teen self-esteem? (July 4) A surprising chart-topper is this tale of rising teen self-regard, fueled by society’s ready praise and awards and often leading to a big letdown when today’s kids, inevitably, meet their first failure. Reading about our cocksure pre-adults, you can’t help thinking that this is why nature came up with acne.
2. Bulls emotional roller coaster ride keeps rolling (July 5). LeBronquest was responsible for five stories among the week’s top 10. The coaster, of course, crashed, hard. And LeBron James, by teaming up with fellow top free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat/Yankees, has made himself into a villain, to a degree that I don’t think he yet realizes.
3. Chicago’s Manly Man vs. America’s Manliest City survey (July 8). Looking at a picture of a hefty guy smoking a cigar in Lake Michigan, John Kass makes the case for old-school manliness, maybe thick around the middle, maybe eating a sausage product, but definitely not apologizing for any of it. It’s the kind of man LeBron James might have become if he’d had the courage to come lead a team, rather than go join a conglomerate.
4. Ex-Hawks enforcer Probert dies (July 5). Speaking of tough guys, Bob Probert played hard and lived hard, cleaning up his addictive ways at least twice. At age 45, he suffered a fatal heart attack while boating with family members. It’s too bad Probert never got the chance to deliver a bone-crunching check to, say, LeBron James.
5. The Declaration (July 4). The editorial board argues for reading the still-potent Declaration of Independence as part of Fourth of July activities. I can’t think of a better addition to holiday traditions that include, in my case, watching the town fireworks from the high school athletic field and, next year, lighting a sparkler in honor of the internal dissension that kept LeBron’s all-stars from advancing past round two in the playoffs.
sajohnson@tribune.com
