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Greene attracted national attention when he was forced to resign in September, 2002, after a sex scandal; he had admitted having had sex several years earlier with a then teen-aged girl, a high school student who visited Greene for a school project and had subsequently been the subject of a Greene column. The incident attracted considerable attention partly because Greene had made a name for himself as a crusader on behalf of abused children and as an advocate of family values, notably in his best-selling book Good Morning, Merry Sunshine: A Father's Journal of His Child's First Year.
Originally from Bexley, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus), Greene attended Northwestern University in Chicago and became a reporter and feature writer for the Chicago Sun-Times upon graduating in 1969; within two years he had a regular column in the paper and in late 1971 a collection of his writing was published in book form. Greene first drew significant national attention with his book, Billion Dollar Baby (1975), a diary of his experiences as a roadie for rock musician Alice Cooper. Greene's primary focus remained his newspaper column, for which he won the National Headliner's Award (an American journalism group) for best column in 1977. Shortly afterward, Greene switched to the competing Chicago Tribune. Greene also began making occasional guest appearances on local television, eventually landing a commentary slot on the ABC Television Network news program NightlineNightline is a late-night hard news program broadcast by ABC in the United States. It airs five nights a week (weeknights), usually for 30 minutes. Ted Koppel serves as main anchor. The program had its beginnings in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis..
During the 1990s Greene spent time covering Michael JordanMichael Jeffery Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a former National Basketball Association player, by many accounts the best in history. An unstoppable force at both ends of the floor, Jordan ended a career of 15 full seasons with a regular-season scorin of the Chicago BullsThe Chicago Bulls are a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded 1966 Formerly known as Home Arena United Center Uniform colors Red, Black, and White Logo design A red bull's head NBA Championships 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1 basketballBasketball is a ball sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points by throwing the ball through a basket. Basketball is highly suited to viewing by spectators, as it is primarily an indoor sport, played in a relatively small playing ar team. The two formed an unlikely friendship which Greene documented in two popular books.
Greene was extremely popular as a writer but he had his critics, largely because of his syrupy sentimentality and often heavy writing. A Chicago alternative weekly newspaper ran a column called Bob Watch: We Read Him So You Don't Have To, which made fun of his work.