WHEN MICHAEL REINSDORF RIPS COMCAST, LET’S STUFF HIM INTO AN EASTER EGG
The man who runs the forgotten Chicago Bulls should not attack a media company’s kingpins, when Comcast and other cable TV providers recognize three teams are rampant losers and deserve no air time
As president of the most underachieving sports team in America, Michael Reinsdorf is a farce when he takes on media companies. He should stay quiet at events and eat the chicken, unless he explains why the Bulls have plummeted since Michael Jordan left 27 years ago. Chicago would like to know how much Reinsdorf and his father will pay Coby White and Josh Giddey, or if both will leave for other franchises.
Otherwise, don’t say Comcast has acted in “bad faith” in refusing to strike a deal with the Chicago Sports Network. And please don’t say: “It’s discriminatory. It doesn’t make any sense to me.” And please don’t say: “It’s disappointing you can’t go to bars and restaurants to get games. They’re costing people money, and they’re costing people enjoyment, and to me that’s not right.”
We’re actually going to cry and sniffle with the Reinsdorfs?
How about stuffing them into an Easter egg and hope it cracks? How about turning them into bulky matter for torpedo bats?
To hear them target corporate leaders at Comcast — the biggest are Brian Roberts and Michael Cavanagh, who would squash Michael and Jerry into mincemeat — enables the latest debacle in a godawful sports town. They’ve been fighting since October. The Bulls, White Sox and Blackhawks no longer are teams needed by Comcast because, well, they are rampant losers. Fans aren’t complaining as much as appreciating no headaches and better stomachs without suffering defeats.
Bad faith? Reinsdorf should feel fortunate that Comcast is talking to him and a weak network, which was launched recklessly as regional operations die. With April upon us, people want to know how the Sox can avoid 100 more losses and what happens to the Bulls after a postseason defeat and whether Connor Bedard might ask for an eventual trade. Am I negative? No, the teams are negative. I am very demanding about a place that deserves so much more.
I live in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers are 8-0 after another game-winner by Shohei Ohtani and where the Lakers will toss LeBron James and Luka Doncic into the playoffs. My region is No. 2 among national markets. Chicago is No. 3 among national markets. Teams out here try to win championships. Chicago teams try to avoid annual depression.
And yet the sports media writer at the Sun-Times — a paper always in the pockets of the Reinsdorfs — attempts to tell readers that Comcast is the problem. “It's time to press Comcast about prolonged Chicago Sports Network blackout,” came the headline.
Sorry, few care about a baseball franchise that lost 121 games, a basketball team that reduced a dynasty to a mockery and a next-to-worst hockey team that might be victimized in goal-scoring history by Alex Ovechkin.
Crain’s Chicago Business invited Reinsdorf and Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz to a Thursday function. Next time, ask Bears boss Kevin Warren to explain the differences between downtown and Arlington Heights. Comparatively, that would be a hoot.
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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.