Jay Mariotti

[Da Coach]

The controversial columnist at the Sun Times, Jay Mariotti, resigned abruptly saying he wanted to pursue other opportunities.
He also proclaimed that the sports journalism business is now an "entirely web site business". Despite recently signing a lucrative 3-yer extension with the Sun Times, he said he wanted to get out now because "newspapers are in serious trouble, and he did not want to go down with the ship".--

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-27-mariotti-jayaug27,0,609457.story

http://cbs2chicago.com/sports/jay.mariotti.quits.2.803995.html

[squirrel]

Losing both Novak and Mariotti. . .lot of change at the Sun Times.

[BUconnorD]

Don't know if this is good or bad...

he was obnoxious but at least he said things that needed to be said....occasionally

I personally enjoyed most of his writing (when he was ripping on Ozzie)

maybe he'll pick up a medium sized town's newspaper's sport section (PJstar???)

[Scouter]

Mariotti is a joke who had a reputation for his "hard hitting" columns, but also had a reputation for not going into locker rooms and dealing with the people he blasted. Good riddance.

[BradleyBrave]

Mariotti is a joke who had a reputation for his "hard hitting" columns, but also had a reputation for not going into locker rooms and dealing with the people he blasted. Good riddance.

He didn't go into the locker room because of several 'incidents' in the past where players did not respond well to some critical columns. He's a columnist, not a beat writer, so he doesn't need to be in the locker room. His departure is another tell-tale sign of the sinking ship that is the Sun-Times. Jay will resurface in the very near future, likely in an internet-based forum. I hope it's a Chicago-focused position, as he was just about the only one willing to call people out and write about a lot of the BS that goes on in the Chicago sports scene, but I am guessing he might go more national.

[Da Coach]

The Sun Times has a poll question "Mariotti leaves Sun Times, What do you think?". The choices are- Will you miss him? Yes or No.

They have had 1027 responses at this moment, the poll is running:
Yes- 23% (242 votes)
No- 76% (785 votes)

Feel free to vote--http://www.suntimes.com/sports/1128603,mariotti082708.article

[it's boogie time]

I didn't care for his style when I used to read the Sun-Times on a daily basis back in the late 90's. He would stretch a paragraph of information into a whole column.

The only good thing I remember him writing about was calling out the Cubs-WGN-Tribune conglomerate for the way the media part wouldn't talk about touchy subjects with the Cubs. I'm sure others did it too. He didn't mind saying people's names.

[BradleyBrave]

There is a rumor circulating...Mariotti to Boston....
fine they can have him...........

The thing is, while Mariotti was unique here in the conservative midwest, there are several Jay Mariotti-types out east. There's one at just about every major newspaper out there. I personally thought he might end up with a web-based syndicate like Yahoo sports. Their sports columnists seem to be growing and growing.

[BradleyBrave]

Roger Ebert writes an open letter really ripping Jay Mariotti
It's a great read...
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...TARY/808289997

It is a quality read. We've heard Jay's reasons, now we get the other side, which is very, very passionate. Highly recommended.

[Scouter]

Fantastic read by Roger Ebert. And a fantastic mullet by Jay Mariotti in the accompanying headshot.

[Scouter]

I think Ebert intentionally chose that older picture of Mariotti because it makes him
look like a middle aged, plump woman with a man's mullet....

I think you're on to something...

[Da Coach]

Roger Ebert has not been in very good health recently, and I suspect he wasn't real close with Mariotti. But it's unlikely Mariotti would return shots at Ebert, who is universally liked.

There is no shortage of other columnists and former collegues who have written opinions about Mariotti since he announced he was quitting the Sun times. And they are all negative. Here are a few I found--

Rick Telander, who he had a feud with--

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-080827-telander,0,7448377.story

This one reports that 76% of the respondents in the Sun Times poll were wouldn't miss him--

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080829/SPORTS18/808290392/1066

Here is an example of some of the emotion and vitriol among those who are glad to see him go--

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/Amishbear/165267

Here is one with a little satire--

http://www.serioussportsnewsnetwork.com/2008/08/jay-mariotti-quits-sun-times-life.html

This blog from the Wall Street Journal suggests part of the reason mariotti quit was that he wanted to write an attack column about Barack Obama, and a perceived slam against the Cubs, but that a different Sun times writer was given the job instead of Mariotti.--

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2008/08/28/obama-isnt-the-only-cubs-detractor/

And here is one more column, by a collegue at the Sun Times, that suggests Mariotti was mad about a column of his about the US Olympic basketball team was delayed a bit before it got posted. And it's reported that it was Telander that got the assignment to write the Obama column that ticked off Mariotti. This writer also takes a shot at Mariotti for writing about events that he didn't attend, which apparently he did often.--

http://blogs.suntimes.com/fullcourtpress/2008/08/my_take_on_jay_leaving.html

More reader comments--

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/jay.mariotti.newspapers.2.804364.html

Phil Rosenthal, a popular Tribune columnist writes about Mariotti. He recalls one incident when they were in Nagano, Japan for the Olympics, and they had a lot of stuff to report and the deadline was approaching, yet Mariotti used the time to write yet another column ripping Chicago Bulls management.--

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-thu-phil-rosenthal-28aug28,0,4708625.column

Today's Rosenthal column, and Mariotti is still ripping Jerry Reinsdorf--

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-fri-phil-rosenthal-829aug29,0,5826145.column

[Da Coach]

It had been rumored that Jay Mariotti might go to work for the Chicago Tribune. But now that isn't going to happen.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-080916mariotti-talks,0,2626187.story

[tornado]

Jay Mariotti is always a little tough to read or listen to...but this is humorous....
... note his last couple columns which
appear to directly condradict each other...

--"It's going to take time for the American public to move past the ongoing steroid scandals,
the '09 double whammy of Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez .."

http://jay-mariotti.fanhouse.com/2009/07/15/barack-boos-and-bud-baseball-in-limbo/

-"no one cares that the hero committed a hideous baseball crime....Manny Ramirez..
Nor does anyone seem to mind ..."

http://jay-mariotti.fanhouse.com/2009/07/17/night-in-mannywood-fans-blind-to-truth/

-"..a collective yawn from a public that, overall, doesn't care that much.
People have moved past the Manny Ramirez scandal"

http://blog.mlive.com/its-just-sports/2009/07/ink_stained_2.html

http://deadspin.com/5318806/not-even-jay-mariotti-agrees-with-jay-mariotti