And The Chicago Tribune’s Back in Our Bad Graces

Classiness has its limits, the Chicago Tribune’s Sports Section reminds us today with its decision to revise the tribute to Boston Marathon victims it published after the attacks. Goodwill between Boston and the Windy City was at a high in the wake of the bombing when the Tribune’s Sports Page published a full page graphic declaring “We are Chicago Red Sox, We are Chicago Celtics, We are Chicago Bruins…” etc.

Now, of course, the Bruins will face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals beginning tonight, and Chicago would like it known that they are no longer “Chicago Bruins.” Not just now, anyway. They ran this altered photo of the old viral front page in today’s sports section:

It’s kind of clever but we’re pretty sure there’s an unspoken “no takeseys-backsies” rule in place when it comes to heartfelt tributes to the victims of a national tragedy. BostInno has a photo of the image as it appears on the page:

On the other hand, the standard by which many decided we’d judge whether things had returned to normal after the attacks was whether the rest of the country could hate our sports teams again. All this Sweet-Caroline-at-Yankees Stadium stuff was moving, but unsettling in its own way, too. “Can Boston and New York fans hate each other again?” the New Yorker’s Ian Crouch wondered just days after the attack.

If that is indeed the standard for normalcy, well … things are about as normal as can be at this point. Even so, Bruins, if you could kick the Hawks’ butts in retaliation, that’d be great.

Update: A Tribune spokesperson emailed us to say, “We’ve received some complaints about today’s sport commentary feature called ‘The Main Event’ in our hockey special section. No disrespect to Boston was intended, and we regret that some readers were offended. Our original sentiments of support for Boston and the victims of the recent bombing still stand. The commentary meant to underscore the intense, but friendly, rivalry between the Bruins and the Blackhawks on the eve of the NHL championship series.”