Joe Cowley is a columnist writer for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

''. Cowley, a graduate of

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in A ...

, served the same role for the ''Sun-Times'' sister publication, the

Tinley Park Tinley Park (formerly Bremen) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The village is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 55,971. It is one of the fastest growing suburb ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

''Daily Southtown'', for several years before being hired by the downtown paper before the 2006 season. Cowley was one of the regular beat writers covering the White Sox during their

2005 World Series The 2005 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2005 Major League Baseball season, 2005 season. The 101st edition of the World Series, it was a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven ...

championship.

Controversies

In May 2004 while traveling with the White Sox on a road trip to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, Cowley made disparaging remarks about the city of Toronto in a radio interview, calling it “nothing but a city in a third-world country." Subsequently during the series in Toronto, Cowley refused to stand for the Canadian national anthem prior to a game.

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

president

Paul Godfrey Paul Victor Godfrey, CM, OOnt (born January 1939) is a businessman and former Canadian politician. During his career, Godfrey was a North York alderman, Chairman of Metro Toronto, President of the ''Toronto Sun'' and head of the Toronto Blue ...

described Cowley as having “bad manners” and had letters of complaint sent to both Cowley and his publisher over the incident.