Once upon a time in America, newspapers were entertainment.Comic strips, crossword puzzles, advice columns, bridge columns gave people relief from the tedium of the assembly line and nights with only three television networks.Every time I change a comic strip or panel, I find out that some people still care about those entertainment features and don’t hesitate to demand to know what I was thinking, or worse. But over my 14 years at the Trib. the breadth of anger when we’ve made a change on the comics page has diminished noticeably. That doesn’t mean we’re ready to quit providing you with delightful diversions. Soduko puzzles recently became quite the rage; so we got on the bandwagon. Humor remains the best antidote to a bad news day.And for those days I prescribe Tribune columnist Michael Grady and his Guy Side column that runs every Tuesday on our East Valley Life section cover.One recent column began this way:"Summer finds many couples trapped inside with each other’s movie rentals. Much has been said about the dangers of shallow, male-oriented action films, but a steady diet of chick flicks isn’t healthy, either. Years ago, after a Meg Ryan movie marathon, we had to detox a friend of mine, dragging him into a sports bar and cussing in front of him until he felt safe again."The Tribune’s East Valley columnist, Slim Smith, and sports columnist Scott Bordow can take you through a range of emotions from anger to laughter.Their value to you is insight and entertainment. Smith recently attended the opening of Cosmo Dog Park in Gilbert. There, he met Tony and Carolyn Fox and their Bernese mountain dog.Here’s an excerpt from his column: "Before going to the park, I went online to a site where you can find out what breed of dog you would be, based on your answers to 19 questions. Well, wouldn’t you know it, my answers revealed that I would be a Bernese mountain dog. "So I asked Tony and Carolyn to tell me what I’m like. "’They are very amiable,’" Tony said. "’They’re definitely not guard dogs,’" Carolyn offered. "Tony figures that the dog would protect you, when it got right down to it, most likely after a very careful risk assessment. He also said they are lazy and like to eat. "I’m kinda sorry I ran into the Foxes, now that I think about it."Jerry Brown three times a week lampoons the world of sports in his "Brownie Points" column.He and Michael Grady are our newsroom humorists.As I was writing this column assistant features editor Sam Mittelsteadt left me with an "I hadn’t thought about that" moment by pointing out there are more ways that the Tribune entertains than through the wits of our columnists or our standing entertainment features.Mittelsteadt works closely with photographers, artists and page designers to bring together East Valley Life section covers. Entertaining readers is as much his goal as informing them.I hope their (readers’) curiosity is piqued by at least one thing every day — an "I didn’t know that" moment, whether it’s in a wire Q&A or our centerpiece article," Mittelsteadt said. "I hope they find their questions answered and their brains tickled, because information without entertainment is basically an encyclopedia entry."You are the judge on whether we entertain as well as inform you.I do know that, if you spend some time with us, you will discover that the Tribune is a great guide to entertainment.The Tribune’s Get Out magazine and its web site, Getoutaz.com, are dedicated to helping you have a good time and to the trends in the East Valley among those who, well, get out a lot.Major professional and at certain levels of university sports is really entertainment, and our sports section is a guide to this massive entertainment industry.Les Willsey, who has covered East Valley high school sports for 21 years says he knows of parents of high school football players who return to Friday games long after their sons graduated. "They’re hooked," he said. And his job is to gather the information that will help them stay informed on the players and the teams. I’d like to hear which columnists you read and why. Please go to the blog version of this column at evtrib.com to comment.Next: How we do what we do.

Posted in: Uncategorized |

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.