OJ Simpson didn't get our sympathy as we all collectively called for his head to no avail, and other athletes have their personal lives studied and viewed by more and more people.
For OJ, it was his life, for Brian Urlacher, it's his children.
Urlacher, the linebacker for the Chicago Bears, has been going through a rough custody trial with the mother of his son, Kennedy.
The Chicago Sun-Times have taken heat for keeping controversial journalist Jay Marioti on staff, a writer that has made many people angry over the years with his detached relationship to sports (he rarely gets his own quotes from athletes) and his rants that seem to be featured in every issue.
However, this time, it's writer Joe Hosey who has me angry for not going to the athletes to find out the true story.
Hosey turned in an article after talking to Tyna Robertson who has been keeping Urlacher from seeing his son.
The reason, she has said, is that he is confusing the child as to whether he is a boy or a girl.
"You are confusing him, if he's a boy or a girl," said Robertson to Hosey.
Instead of telling Hosey to get both sides of the story and talk to Urlacher before saying these things about him, the Sun-Times decides to let the story run.
"Urlacher's son in Cinderella diapers, painted toenails?" was the headline that graces the Chicago Sun-Times, as this excuse for journalism is shown to millions.
The Chicago Tribune went about finding the truth about these things from the source, Brian Urlacher.
"He did get his nails painted. (My daughters) painted his nails. So what? His sisters were painting their nails, so he was like, 'I want to paint my nails.' He's three years old. Who cares? And, yes, he did have a pull-up on of his (three-year-old sister's). But she wears his pull-ups also. His were out, so he put on one of hers. So what? It's a pull-up," said Urlacher to the Tribune.
The big problem with all of this, however, is that Urlacher doesn't want to be involved in all of this, and information like this going to the newspapers and the media is the reason that he is so cold towards the media and, instead of actually saying anything of substance, he relies an a book of cliches.
And Robertson isn't the best source of information when it comes to certain things. She has also sent text messages to Urlacher saying that God gave him a bad back because he isn't a good father and not that he is just feeling the effects of nine years as a middle linebacker in the NFL.
"Stuff like that just shows how unreasonable she is," Urlacher said.
Another reason that she isn't a good source of information is her bad past. Just last year she was ordered to pay $11 million for bringing up a false rape charge. She has also been keeping three year old Kennedy from seeing his father.
According to Urlacher, he has gone up to three weeks without seeing his son because Robertson keeps him from seeing him.
He is trying to prove that he is a good father to his son and that he should be trusted to be with him, yet false, damning articles from supposed journalists who just listen to one source who is anything but trustworthy could cause him to lose any chance of ever getting custody of his son.
When you want to bring up information regarding an athlete or what he does as an adult is perfectly fine and they give up that right to their own privacy when they sign their contract, but the lives of young children shouldn't be thrown into the spotlight.
The life of young Kennedy should be kept out of the sports pages and where it belongs, with Kennedy and only Kennedy, not whoever gets the Sun-Times or has an internet connection.
The Sun-Times needs to do a better job of who they trust and what they print, or they could not only ruin the life of an athlete, but also the life of a young child.
Joe Hosey, you should be ashamed to have caused this and you will be lucky to have a job.
I'm Joe W.
Information for this article was found in the Chicago Tribune and on ChicagoSunTimes.com
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about 1 month ago
Excellent work, Joe. I hold virtually no respect for Urlacher, yet I fully support his and your position here. The Chicago Sun-Times' sports department is a disgrace for letting that story run, and someone should sue.
Also, the blogs some newspaper journalists run can be completely biased and one-sided -- which may be the point. But to my knowledge those entries aren't monitored and a guy like Brad Biggs (http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/) could easily put something like the above-mentioned article in.
I want to say more, but I don't know what to say. It just makes me mad that people like Jay Marioti and Joe Hosey have great jobs when honest, hard-working people struggle to find work.
It makes me mad.
about 1 month ago
That is something definitely unacceptable and my question is why is the Chicago-Suns Times' sports department continue to employ Hosey? After this article he should have been fired on the spot. What he's put in his article is unacceptable.
from about 1 month ago
I completely agree with you Steven. The article even tries to make Urlacher seem like a bad person by only using a quote from Urlacher's attorney that made them seem like they were angry and embarrassed which was likely taken out of context.
from about 1 month ago
I think the sports media just likes to portray athletes in a negative light because these players are doing something they couldn't ever dream of doing. The sports media is a joke. They now are getting on Stephon Marbury for not playing.
Yet, when you look at all the information that has come out of New York in regards to Marbury. It's the fact that Mike D'Antoni doesn't want to play him and Marbury doesn't want to play for D'Antoni because D'Antoni was never up front with Marbury. Ever after the press conference of the hiring of the new Knicks coach, there were reports that Marbury was on his way out the door to Phoenix for Barbosa and Diaw.
about 1 month ago
This is a pretty sad excuse for 'journalism' by Hosey.
There's no reason for a 3 year old child of an NFL player to be included in Chicago's sports pages, FOR ANY REASON, let alone linked with such a touchy subject as transgender confusion. He's three years old!
Robertson is not a credible source for many reasons, and I would lump Hosey in the same category. The two seem to be teaming up in an attempt to settle a personal vendetta against Urlacher.
The sad part is that the one who will be most affected by this is a helpless kid.
from about 1 month ago
I completely agree with you Brett.
about 1 month ago
Joe I don't know what else to say except that I wish they'd publish this in the CST. I know I'm a biased Bears fan and I've tried to look at this through a unfiltered lens, and I've determined that it's just wrong on so many levels. I mean, I had two older sisters growing up who insisted in making me wear a hideous set of pink pajamas when I was little. There are photos galore at my parents house to prove it. It's hard to imagine the kind of soul-sucking, gold-digging, leach this poor kid's mother must be to try to use this sort of thing as fodder against the boy's dad, because really that's all this is: a custody dispute between a hardworking father and his bloodsucking ex who's looking to publicly embarrass him.
about 1 month ago
Just like how the Tribune has ruined the Cubs, the Sun-Times has cost Grossman his job with horrible articles, misquotes of Rex's comments and now this. Horrible a--holes making there money off other misery is why i hate the media.
about 1 month ago
This was a great read, Joe. If Hosey wants to talk about Urlacher's on field career, then let him; that's his job. Bringing a three year old little boy into the media spot light because his sisters have painted his nails or because his dad ran out of pullups?! Are you serious?! That happens to ALL parents! And all because the mother's- who is hurting her own son by not letting him see his father- accusations make a juicy tabloid story.
How do people like that still have a job when people on this site and many others bust their butt to actually write about sports. It's ridiculous.
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