NYC vs. Chicago: Showdown in the Papers

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Feb 8, 2006 3:07PM

While Chicago may not be the "First town" of the nation, the babbling rant from the New York Post's gossip columnist Cindy Adams was odd in general, hilarious at best. In a column reminiscent of, oh, the fight over the World's Fair of 1893, the
lady prattled on about how she read in an unnamed newspaper that the Windy City was number one over the Big Apple. For one, no one can figure out where that was published; and two, the first word in the lead is "EXCUUUUSE." Caps hers. And count 'em: four U's.

There is really no end of interesting lines in the piece, which uses both "toddlin" and "cockamamie" as adjectives at various points, but it seemed easier to dismiss it as writing fit for the grocery check-out lane than to actually get angry.

That is, until Richard Roeper’s rebuttal in the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday. Roeper is quick to point out all of the anachronisms in Adams' writing, like the fact that she listed the stockyards and Al Capone as some of the city's main attractions. And it is, of course, great to have Roeper’s rapier wit unleashed on a 75-year-old Post columnist (who is, by the way, top on our online reading lists from now on).

But when this all dies down in three or four hours, we will still be here in sweet home Chicago where, as stated by a guest on This American Life "In the Shadow of the City" recently: "Chicago is a wonderful place where there’s a bar on every corner and the bridges sometimes smell like chocolate." It's true—sometimes even delicious brownies.

Thanks, Alicia!