You may have heard that newspapers are struggling. Except the Chicago Sun-Times, which recently discovered a complex business model for twenty-first century profitability -- a "Who Has Hotter Fans?" poll, perfectly timed for last weekend's (and this weekend's) crosstown White Sox vs. Cubs series.

It's the golden rule of the internet: polls + reader submitted pics + hot girls + galleries = page views = advertisers = $$$. Thus, the Sun-Times received such a bejesus-load of traffic in the poll's first week that they've meekly embraced their sex-driven, journalistically-bankrupt fate:

The response to our Hottest Fans contest has been so overwhelming --nearly 7 million online page views and nearly 40,000 votes (Cubs fans leading with 61 percent) that we've decided to extend the voting through the end of the season.

You can just picture the editorial meeting where the web crew pitched this to their print bosses. "This baby could double our profits for the second fiscal quarter, people! And aren't we the newspaper that employs Jay Mariotti as a featured columnist? Screw it! Let's cover our ears, ride this thing out and pray we don't encounter David Simon in any dark alleys."

So welcome to the party, print hacks. Our beloved web has been at this game for a while now. For further instruction, see Hottest Girls of MySpace.