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Grit. Tenacity. Sticktoitiveness. By any name, it’s a dandy virtue, the one that explains why a handful of great men and women wind up in history books while so many others equally strong and wise vanish unnoticed. Tears come to my eyes whenever I think back on the Immortal Game, game six of the 2011 World Series. My gritty Cardinals twice fought back from the brink of defeat, and when Lance Berkman lashed a two-out, two-strike single in the bottom of the tenth inning to tie a game the Cardinals would win in the 11th inning, to tie a series they would win 24 hours later, announcer Joe Buck delivered what is to my mind the ultimate tribute:
They. Just. Won’t. Go. Away.
The Chicago Tribune shares in this fine quality. For instance, when I go on vacation and suspend delivery of the newspapers I subscribe to, the irrepressible Tribune will usually come regardless. It. Just. Won’t. Go. Away. Not even for a week. I can’t help but almost admire it. Possibly my feelings will change when I return from vacation and discover a pile of Tribunes outside the door and a ransacked house within. But for now . . .