The University of Chicago Magazine August 1995
Fifteen minutes of (sports) fame: The straw-hatted pundit steadying a half-smoked stogie in one hand and the June issue of the University of Chicago Magazine in the other is Bill Gleason, a sports columnist for the Daily Southtown. The scene is the poker-table set of Sportswriters on TV, a sports talk show produced by a Chicago-based cable station, the SportsChannel, and syndicated across the U.S.
The topic under discussion one week in June was U of C economist Allen Sanderson's nine-inning analysis of the financial realities undergirding Major League Baseball. Sanderson's "Bottom-Line Drive" was introduced as "a list of nine things the baseball owners should know."
"My question to you," one of Gleason's colleagues began, "is: Have the owners read this list?"
"I doubt it," Gleason harrumphed, "because what owner would subscribe to the University of Chicago Magazine?"
We're not sure, from our side of the fence, just how many owners watch Sportswriters on TV, but if any of them caught that particular episode, they witnessed a lively discussion in which the writers took turns pronouncing their favorite Sanderson arguments.
Only Bill Jauss of the Chicago Tribune took issue with one of the article's "innings," Sanderson's contention that it costs less than ever to take a family of four out to the ball game--but he still admitted, "Pal, eight out of nine is pretty good." Translated into the language of batting averages, that's .889.
Gleason got his copy of the issue from Bill Barnard, AB'47, of Hinsdale, Ill. Meanwhile, Fred Howell, MBA'72, of Grand Rapids, Mich., provided similar grist for Bob Becker's column in the Grand Rapids Union sports pages. Before summarizing Sanderson's article for his readers, Becker modestly admitted that because the Magazine "is a scholarly publication, most of its articles zing way above my head."
Though the editorial staff appreciated Becker's plug for "Bottom-Line Drive," we're still wondering just what part of June's article on Madonna he didn't understand.
In "Moving Pictures" (June/95), we forgot to credit photographer Stephen Longmire. In addition, the story's opening image should have been credited as follows: "The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, ©1942 by Virginia Lee Demetrios, © renewed 1969 by George Demetrios. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved."--M.R.Y.
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