February 7, 2006 For more information: Frank R. Scatoni 619-807-1887 frank@ventureliterary.com "No Kill Date" Venture Literary Sells Chicago Sports–Themed Debates to Sourcebooks On February 7, 2006, Greg Dinkin of Venture Literary sold the rights to Chicago Tribune sports columnist John Mullin’s Chicago sports debates book to Peter Lynch at Sourcebooks. In Best Chicago Sports Arguments: The 100 Most Controversial, Debatable Questions for Die-Hard Chicago Fans John Mullin mines the fertile sports experiences of Chicago while posing and debating hypothetical match-ups of the Windy City’s most storied sports figures, scandals, venues, franchises, and watering holes—to name just a few. The book reads like a Who’s Who of Chicago sports, analyzing city luminaries like Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, Michael Jordan, Sammy Sosa, Phil Jackson, and Mike Ditka. In addition to these dream rivalries, Mullin anchors the book with answers to sports questions that have buzzed through barrooms in Chicago and nationwide. For example, should “Shoeless” Joe Jackson be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame despite the infamy of the 1919 World Series and the “Black Sox” scandal? Who is the toughest of Chicago’s catalogue of smash-mouth players—a group that has epitomized its workman, hard-as-nails identity? Which player has most embodied the role of supreme villain in a city that has endured decades of heartbreak and disillusion? Punctuated by seldom but euphoric glory days, Chicago’s sports teams have been perennial underdogs. Mullin solves the mystery of which championship teams deserve to hold the city’s crown as best-ever. John Mullin is a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune who covered the Bears for more than a decade. He is the winner of numerous national awards, received an Emmy award for his “Bears Insider” segment on Fox-TV’s Bears Today show, and is the author of Tales from the Chicago Bears Sidelines, Tennis and Kids: The Family Connection, and The Rise and Self-Destruction of the Greatest Football Team in History: The Chicago Bears and Super Bowl XX. To learn more about Venture Literary, visit: www.ventureliterary.com. To learn more about Sourcebooks, visit: www.sourcebooks.com.