Poll Rigging (cont)

On da TV today, WGN viewers were asked to say who would win da El series, or whatever you call the next three games @ Wrigley. 75% said the Sox would win. What has this world come to when even da Trib co can't even rig its own poll? Or perhaps they did to make it more respectable...

there is another non-disaster going forward directly behind this one

December 14, 2008: Zell expects housing recovery by spring

(Reuters) — A revival in the U.S. real estate market, key to a recovery in the world economy, should begin by next spring, property mogul Sam Zell told an Israeli business conference on Sunday.

"I believe that in a country that continues to grow and where the population continues to grow, we will see the first signs of equilibrium in the housing market in the spring of 2009 and I will expect by spring 2010 the housing market in the U.S. will look a lot better," Zell said.

Yay! Finally, some good news, and it's coming from someone who knows a thing or two about this stuff...

December 12, 2007: Zell says subprime meltdown is 'manageable'

(Reuters) — Billionaire investor Sam Zell on Wednesday compared the current credit-fueled crisis in U.S. real estate to the savings-and-loan meltdown of the late 1980s but said it was a "manageable" problem that would not drag the wider economy into a recession next year.

Speaking at an event in Chicago hosted by the Executives' Club of Chicago, Zell, who made his fortune in real estate, also predicted the U.S. property market would begin to recover modestly in 2009.

"I don't see any robust change," he said. "I also see no disaster going forward. . ."

"Commercial real-estate has always been (about) supply and demand," he said. "If you own the assets, those assets are going to benefit from the fact that there's little new supply and existing supply will be limited."

Zell said the key to the housing market's health going forward would be the strength of the U.S. job market. He expressed confidence that as long as unemployment stays below 5.5 percent, it was "very, very unlikely" that the subprime contagion would spread.

More (cont'd): Zell "sensitive" to Blago's "issue"

You're a newspaper. The governor of your state--a governor who has had the stink of corruption on him for years--has his people call you up and directly state that they'll help you out if you fire members of your editorial board. It is a phone conversation that not only wipes its ass on the ethical lines it crosses, it also treats the First Amendment like it's optional. And you don't report it? Why?

There's only one reason: Zell was entertaining the offer. . .

The Tribune could have and should have run the story of Blagojevich's call to Tribune Tower in 200 point type. They should have printed it in Rod's own blood. They would have brought down a sitting governor the same week that they were trumpeting the win of Obama. They would have pushed the Tribune's brand into the stratosphere, at just the time that it needed it.

But they didn't. Faced with a defining moment in journalism--this was the kind of story that we would have taught in journalism schools for years--Sam Zell decided not to do the right thing. It's not surprising--the guy is a waxed mustache away from tying a damsel in distress to a railroad track after all--but it's still a shock.

Cuban responds, "Phokk the refs!"

SEC charges Mark Cuban with insider trading

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team, was charged with insider trading in shares of Mamma.com Inc, an Internet search engine firm, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday.
Cuban, one of the five finalists to buy the Chicago Cubs pro baseball team, faces civil charges by acting on nonpublic information and selling shares of Mamma.com to avoid more than $750,000 in losses, the SEC alleged.
According to the SEC, Mamma.com invited Cuban to participate in a stock offering that would be conducted at a discount to the market price after he agreed to keep the information confidential.
However, within hours of receiving information, Cuban called his broker and told him to sell his entire position in the company, the SEC alleged.
When the offering was publicly announced, Mamma.com's stock price dropped 9.3 percent from the prior day's closing price.
Calls to Cuban's lawyers were not immediately returned.
Mamma.com has since changed its name to Copernic Inc.
~

I don't think anyone anticipated a Wall Street meltdown

News item: Cubs bidders face credit squeeze

Wall Street's meltdown threatens Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell's plan to get top dollar for the Cubs — and he's prepared to delay the sale in response.

a preview of the Trib's forthcoming endorsement of McBush

I almost cannot believe it is time for the suet-brained populace of this flagging Republic to be once again herded into the voting-booths to allegedly choose precisely which bloody-handed butcher will crack their bones and suck the marrow over the next few years.

Trib tackles the tough questions

Is it OK to wear jerseys of players who are no longer on the team?
Yes (956 responses) 70.2%
No (405 responses) 29.8%
1361 total responses (Results not scientific, but gargantuanly inane)

will it come with a free donut?

Trib buries news in redesign test
Crain's, July 21, 2008

The new face of the Chicago Tribune is taking shape, as staffers at the newspaper put the finishing touches on a prototype set for a test run in the next few weeks.

Crain's has learned that Tribune Co. will try out some dramatic changes in the 161-year-old broadsheet in a Saturday edition by early August. A version under consideration devotes the paper's front section to consumer-oriented and entertainment features. Local, national, international and business news is consolidated in the second section. Weather leads the third section, which also includes comics and classifieds, while the sports section is converted to a tabloid format.

It's not clear how many of these changes will make it into the final version of the prototype, which a spokesman calls a "work in progress." But aspects of the prototype that prove popular with readers are likely to find their way into a full-scale redesign of all editions of the paper, which Tribune expects to debut by September.

why the Chicago Tribune will survive

It captures the pulse of the city (for as long as we have one).

A field guide to Chicago's doughnuts
~

world's tallest billboard?

"Both Tribune Tower and Times Mirror Square are iconic structures, deeply intertwined with the history of this company," Chairman and CEO Sam Zell wrote in an e-mail to employees, according to the release. "But they are also under-utilized, and as employee-owners, it's in our best interests to maximize the value of all our assets."

PLEASE don't get rid of Drool Cup

Tribune to redesign papers, job cuts possible

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tribune Co plans to redesign its financially struggling newspapers in the next few months to save money while making them more appealing to readers, a move that could lead to more job cuts. (Skilly?! ed...)
.....

Cutting jobs could follow, including in the newsroom, where Tribune has been reviewing the productivity of each reporter.

"When you get into the individuals, you find you can eliminate a fair number of people, while not eliminating very much content," Michaels said. (Yeah, reporters? Who needs 'em... certainly not a newspaper... ed.)

I might need to raid my pension fund so I can afford a last visit to pay my respects

State's plan to buy Wrigley lands it on endangered list
While fans have been concerned about the possible renaming of Wrigley Field, some preservationists have been more worried about how the Cubs' park will look if the state buys the North Side stadium. The preservationist group Landmark Illinois put Wrigley Field on its most endangered historic places list Wednesday.

when does he start working this kind of magic on the Cubs?

For Whom the Zell Tolls

"I’d say people are shocked and demoralized," said one insider. "This billionaire [Zell] comes in and says he is going to save us and then he screws us..."

"The whole history of this being a great national paper, this is definitely the death knell," said one shell-shocked insider.

Sam Zell: a HYOOOGE @$$hole or the HYOOOGEST @$$hole?

It didn't take long for me to start hating dis @$$hole's guts. And this is a mortal lock: despite their Obama worship, the Chicago Tribune will keep their Republican-lovin' streak alive and endorse John McCain... oh yeah, screw the Cubs. 100 more years of suckin'! (or at least while this @$$hole owns the team...)

But don’t tell that to media mogul Sam Zell, new owner of The Tribune Co. Guess who he blames for the state of the economy?….Wait for it….Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Seriously.

"Obviously what we have going on is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Zell, chairman of Equity Investments Group and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other companies. "We have two Democratic candidates who are vying with each other to describe the economic situation worse."

Yep, no way it could be the ding-a-ling who's been in the White House for the last 7 years...

Resolved: The people of Chicago are entitled to tell Sam Zell what he should do with his asset

"We intend to sell the Cubs on our time frame and in the manner in which we choose," Zell said on CNBC. "The idea of a debate occurring over what I should do with my asset leaves me somewhat questioning the integrity of the debate."

EMPTY YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS TODAY!

Cubs tickets on sale
1:32 PM CST, February 22, 2008

MESA, Ariz. - Tickets for individual Cubs games went on sale at 8 a.m. Friday at Wrigley Field, at 10 a.m. at http://www.cubs.com/ and at 10 a.m. via phone at 800-843-2827 or 866-652-2827 (out of state).

our long civic nightmare resumes (cont'd)

News item: Cubs pitchers and catchers report today
News item: Dempster predicts Series title for Cubs