Let me ask this Mariotti question....Updated by Moddy.

[Bob Cook]

Re: Let me ask this Mariotti question....

You know you're at odds with your paper when they start doing gratuitous stories like this one: DITKA: I LIKE OZZIE!

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sports/cst-spt-ditka27.html

''Personally, I don't really know Jay Mariotti,'' he said. ''I've heard of him. I'm sure he's probably written critical things about me. ... I guess he rips a lot of people. But you can't control what these guys write when they choose to rip you, and that's part of the problem with journalism today. Its values have changed."

Ditka likes Ozzie?

Well that cinches it. Mariotti is done in Chicago.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

For Eddie to place himself above and beyond the S-T is laughable.

 

[CornFlakes]

Of course, Mariotti wanted to go on vacation. He probably thought of it immediately after he was told to show up for Sox-Cubs at Wrigley.

Ozzie used the wrong word to describe this idiot -- gutless is the proper one.

 

[jason_whitlock]

cubs-white sox series is the perfect time for a chicago columnist to announce his unplanned, indefinite vacation.

 

[goalmouth]

Re: Let me ask this Mariotti question....

Will Telander one day be taken out Mo Green style, a shot between the eyes?

C'mon, Jason, get your facts straight. Moe Green was shot in the eye.

Call yourself a journalist...


If Jay sells papers, he'll be back, Albom-style.

 

[Left_Coast]

He might not be back.
The paper has thrown him under the bus and hasn't stopped its own columnists from pounding on him.
I'd like to think he sees the writing on the wall, but as this whole week/month/years have shown, Jay's not the brightest light in the harbor.

 

[jason_whitlock]

goalmouth, you don't come out to vegas and speak that way to man like moe green.

 

[BMuddMan]

Did Mariotti not get fired from the Sun-Times once already but used some union thing to get his job back or am I dreaming that one? Interesting haven't heard one Chicago radio host - albeit on The Score, WGN or ESPN - support him one iota.

 

[goalmouth]

Jason, don't you ever -- EVER -- go against the family.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

One nit to pick --
Moe Green took one IN the eye, not between them.

 

[Idaho]

Re: Let me ask this Mariotti question....

Will Telander one day be taken out Mo Green style, a shot between the eyes?

C'mon, Jason, get your facts straight. Moe Green was shot in the eye.

Call yourself a journalist...


If Jay sells papers, he'll be back, Albom-style.

One nit to pick --
Moe Green took one IN the eye, not between them.

D_B'd in the same thread.

 

[Ace]

Idaho,

How long will F_B have to sit in the penalty box?

 

[DyePack]

One nit to pick --
Moe Green took one IN the eye, not between them.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

This is an amazing story.

I can't help but wonder...if the beleaguered Dusty Baker had said it, would Mariotti's own co-workers and employer be throwing him under the bus like this? Whitlock makes a good analogy here -- all of Mariotti's enemies using this issue to take him down, at a time he's expecting support. (However, Jason, I can't believe you don't know how to spell Reinsdorf.)

It is truly incredible to see how Chicago's fans and media are rallying around Guillen -- despite the bad slur -- and using this as an opportunity to take out Mariotti. What's also clear is that Mariotti lacks a good friend who could have sat him down and told him how to handle this properly. Guillen calls him a fag, initially mocks the sensitivity classes, refuses to change the way he is, and gets off with a laugh. (And I like Guillen, respect his honesty and the way he led the White Sox from a late-season near collapse to a World Series crown. No complaints from me that his team's vorps were crap.)

Mariotti has really been neutered here.

 

[BTExpress]

It is truly incredible to see how Chicago's fans and media are rallying around Guillen -- despite the bad slur -- and using this as an opportunity to take out Mariotti.

Not as incredible as yo may think.

Sportswriter uncovers scandal in a college program, reports that coach paid for players and arranged for transcripts to be falsified.

Who gets more death threats, sportswriter or coach?

Sportswriter, of course.

And at least the sportswriter in this case is doing some good.

Mariotti has done nothing that can be classified as good and is doing much that can be classified as bad.

 

[Starman]

When you spend every single day of your whole career furiously pumping **** in every direction, it can't be any surprise to get showered in it yourself when the opportunity arrives.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Name one monumental contribution Mariotti has made to the city of Chicago or Chicago sports -- as compared to Guillen.

 

[BMuddMan]

In the entire time he's been in Chicago, I've never once heard anyone have a good thing to say about the guy or his work. Fans hate him, he tried to pass himself off as  a "Chicago guy" when he first got here (like Sean Salisbury is doing on ESPN radio locally), even though we know Jay's been all over the country. Loves to cover the "major" events (NBA Finals, British Open, Super Bowl), but never goes to Wrigley, Solider Field, the United Center or of course the Cell, yet comments about it all like he's on the local beat. I guess calling Frank Thomas the "Big Skirt" is ok, but getting called a fag by Ozzie isn't. Got run off at least two radio shows, has been in pissing matches with just about every radio host/reporter, TV reporter or writer in town - and now this. Geez, I think I'd take a hint and pack.

 

[SF_Express]

Long day on the golf course...and then in the bar...which makes me unqualified. But I have to say this.

I played golf with three guys, and then went to an afternoon bar with about 20 guys (and one lovely woman bartender).

I played OK...39, and a horrendous 46...but here's the point, and I wonder what it means.

In my corner of SF (wherever that is, up to you)...

Not ONE SINGLE PERSON...knew the current contemporary significance of Jay Mariotti. Not a single one.

I have to say, in our business, I was shocked.

Didn't know his role at the Sun-Times...didn't know ATH...nothing...blanks...every one...nothing about Guillen or the f word or anything...

I admit, I was disappointed or sad or something...

But nobody...knew...nothing...

I wonder what that says....(and no, SF isn't South Fork, Montana)...

 

[SF_Express]

Replying to yourself seems bad form, but what the hell...

I got several PMs after the last post noting that maybe we're worked up into a frenzy over something nobody outside of Chicago or our business cares about.

I admit, it's a bit disappointing. I kind of always figured we were the center of, I don't know, something.

Did this thread screech to a halt because we're confronting the fact that this is the ultimate Inside Baseball story, and beyond that, nobody gives a ****?

I love this business...but sometimes I wonder...is this an indication that we get worked up a little bit over things nobody else does? (Not that there's anything wrong with that, any more than a group of accountants gets worked up over a big accounting story.)

I suppose I'm interested in thoughts.