There will never be another man like him in the city of Chicago or the country for that matter. He was the greatest columnist ever.
I still read some of his old columns and picked up a copy of Boss. I'm really surprised that Daley, Dorothy "The Hat' Tillman, or other Aldercreatures never sent people to rough him up.
Am Yisrael Chai!
As a Chicago born, Bensenville raised woman, I agree. It was nice to see a fellow Ukrainian make good. Chicago sure does/did have it's literary characters. Look at Studs Turkel!!!
shareMike Royko was the real thing and defintely one of a kind. I never lived in Chicago but I enjoyed his writing style. It's surprising how many people don't know that Belushi a character was based on Royko.
shareJohn Belushi's character was pretty obviously based on Mike Royko, who I agree is the finest columnist ever – though Jack Anderson Molly Ivins and Ellen Goodman were excellent as well. It's sad that era of the powerful newspaper columnist has faded, because bloggers just don't do it for me.
shareBelushi's Suchak is definitely based on Royko. His column is even positioned in the same place Royko's was when Royko was with the Sun-Times. One thing you can bet on though: Royko would have never left town no matter how high the heat was turned up on him and, truthfully, any editor worth his weight in gold would have never suggested such a thing. Not in Chicago and not then anyway.
shareGood point. It is pretty wimpy, isn't it? A true journalist wouldn't go into hiding, and Royko absolutely wouldn't. Print journalists are rarely portrayed realistically in films. Of course, that probably applies to every profession (including the oldest one).
shareRoyko would've stayed if threatened and would've written daily columns describing the events and daring Richard the 1st to come after him.
I know Kass would do it, and Kass (while still great and the closest thing Chicaog has to Royko today) is a little lower than Royko on the totem poll of great columnists. If Kass would do it, then Royko definitely would. (
"Alexei... YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! HISTORY!" - Hawk Harrelson's call of Buehrle's perfect game.
I'm glad there's at least a John Kass at the Trib to carry on the tradition of columnists like Mike Royko. Influential newspaper columnists are becoming increasingly rare in this age of tweets and bloggers -- as are newspapers, unfortunately.
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