THE ISSUE IS ABOUT THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, NOT ABOUT ME IN LOS ANGELES

A newspaper never should subsidize a reporting job via a bank whose name is on the Chicago Sky arena, and when a Tribune reporter told me this via email, I ran it — and the usual hell is taking place

     I feel sorry for Chicago media people. They are locked in a world that isn’t real, like the guy on “Dark Matter,” an Apple TV+ program based in Logan Square. The other day, I wondered about the inner workings of the Chicago Sky beat and asked around in a city where I worked prominently for 17 years. Many people realize I’ve written on Substack since 2021 because, on occasion, I write about the demise of newspapers there.

     One of the reporters I contacted was Julia Poe, who covers the Bulls and sometimes the Sky. I don’t know her, and maybe she thinks I faded into hell, but I asked about the women’s basketball team. When I’ve been questioned by media members, I immediately ask if my comments are for publication. She knew who I was and instantly responded, “Hi Jay!” She knew I wasn’t passing time. I wanted information. I’m a sports columnist, and I’ve been one for decades. This is what we do for a living, ask questions. Damn, Jim O’Donnell writes often about me and Substack in the Daily Herald, including this week.

     Not expecting much and preferring to ride my e-bike to Manhattan Beach, I asked something simple about the Sky beat. Poe shocked me: She said the Sky writing position formerly was “subsidized” at the rival Sun-Times and was “previously supported through a sponsorship by Wintrust, which is one of the main Sky partners.” As I wrote, a media outlet has no reason to exist when it cedes control, when it removes independence and gives any reporting reins to a company — in this case, a bank called Wintrust that has naming rights at the Sky’s arena.

     The piece made the rounds. I contacted the Sun-Times twice, including executive editor Jennifer Kho, and haven’t heard back. The Tribune and I have been rivals, as it should be, and this is what I wrote to Poe when she asked me Thursday to “retract” her quotes. I have her lengthy quotes in my computer. They will not be retracted. This is what I wrote to her about her bosses at the Tribune:

     “Recently, I mentioned in a column how the Chicago Tribune accused me of videotaping an ESPN executive, not remotely true. The Tribune ran the story based on a lie written in GQ magazine, and we threatened to sue GQ. We chose a major retraction from GQ that paused production of its print edition. My lawyer then wanted to sue the Tribune because it never contacted me before running a fake story. We did not sue the Tribune. Oh, and the Tribune once ran that I was in a nightclub brawl. I was not.

     “Same applied to (sports columnist) Paul Sullivan, who wrote this year about an episode between Hawk Harrelson and I and left out very important facts from my end — he never contacted me — and I wrote the editor of your paper about it. I never heard back from him.

     “So, I CONTACTED you on email and asked about the specifics of the Sky beat. I also contacted others in Chicago by email. An experienced reporter would have told me, point blank, that your comments weren't for publication. You did not, or I wouldn’t have run your comments. You offered a tidbit, and I thought it was stunning. I ran it. I’ve since moved on to Willie Mays and LeBron James. If I were you, I’d ask your editors this: Why do they run lies about me without contacting me? I contacted you. And I appreciate your truthful feedback.”

     The issue is the Sun-Times, not me. I left that town in 2010, bored with the seedy politics while handing back a guaranteed fortune, and the one time I stick my head into something, I’m in the middle again. Please ask the Sun-Times why Poe said the position was “subsidized.” The Sun-Times should be calling her and calling me — and she calls me. And which team does she cover? The Bulls, as in Reinsdorf.

     Time for that bike ride and lunch by the ocean. As usual, it’s 72 and sunny.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.