Press Talk: When in Chi Town, remember The Goat

I found myself back in Chicago this week at a news media conference and — during a break — headed to one of my favorite haunts: A journalists’ hangout known as the Billy Goat Tavern.

A decade ago, I wrote a column about it, and thought I’d resurrect it here. Some things have changed. The Chicago Sun-Times building— once a few steps from The Goat — is gone, replaced by the upscale Trump Tower. But The Goat remains as it was back in the day. Check out the short video I took this week. Thanks.

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CHICAGO — Old-style reporters weren’t born in this tavern underneath Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.

But some of the best learned their craft here.

When I visit Chicago — my old hometown — I always stop in at the Billy Goat Tavern. Located halfway between The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, it has always been a meeting place for reporters.

Infamous national columnist Mike Royko often hung his hat here — and hung a few left hooks on those who disagreed with him.

John Belushi helped make the place famous when he did a “Saturday Night Live” skit on it. “Cheezborger!, Cheezborger! No fries, cheeps! No Coke, Pepsi!”

When Royko roamed the bar stools here 40 years ago, the world — and the newspaper business — was much different. If you could write, turn a phrase, dig up a juicy story … well, misfits and drunks were welcomed in the newspaper business.

Today, seminars, training sessions (seek first to understand before you seek to be understood) and learning about your inner self are all part of the program.

Back then in Chicago, learning happened if you were lucky enough to sit within earshot of Royko at the Billy Goat. Yes, you’d be sittin’ pretty, then.

Watch the classic ‘SNL’ sketch at: http://yhoo.it/Zvbmjw

This isn’t to say how it’s done today is wrong or bad. It’s simply different. It’s a good thing to seek first to understand before you seek to be understood. Royko certainly would have listened to you, if you had caught his ear. But if he didn’t understand you, get ready to duck. Part of his being a character landed him in trouble in and out of the Billy Goat.

One former reporter, who had her own set of troubles later in life, tells this story of Billy Goat’s and Royko:

“I remember my buddy Sharon and I in the Billy Goat Tavern every Friday, puffing cigars and asking Sam to fix us up with a couple of monster martinis, three olives each.

“We spent long hours pondering a legal way to get our pictures up on the Goat’s newspaper wall of fame.

“While Royko and his entourage snickered from their barstools, we’d scarf down cheezborger, cheezborger, imagining ourselves part of the in-crowd, listening intently. …

“As his viewpoint sometimes made me see red, I realized that he’d long ago hit that sweet spot we all look for, the one that brings a grunt of recognition and respect from even the most discerning reader. The bars. And the back rooms. That was still where the lessons were taught, over hard drinks and blade-edged babble.”