Gentlemen:

So long as you favor Jay M. from the Sun Times, I'll never be able to respect your opinion on anything other than what day of the week it happens to be.

His writing is pedestrian, predictable, offensive, and juvenile. He made, I'm certain, a great writer for whatever high-school paper gave him his start, and maybe his editors require him to cater to a certain demographic, but I like to think you guys are aiming a bit higher.

Also, it gets annoying when you guys team up on Harry. That makes you seem like bullies---the kind of guy that we all couldn't wait to stop hanging around once graduation came.

Best, Patrick

1000 bucks says Patrick is a White Sox fan and if Jay started in on the Cubs, he would love Jay. Jay does a good job of selling papers.

jay probably is the best writer in the country.

He may be all these things, but the only one that matters is entertaining. Jay is very entertaining and creative in his writing style.

You don't have to like the man to enjoy his articles.

Well, regardless of how good of a writer (technically) he may be, he falls into the Rosenblog category of "journalists..." saying or writing something for the sole purpose of getting a response, not because you necessarily believe it.

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but hes doing his job. his job is to write stories that will sell papers and he does just that.

Waste of time. Next time, please use macjurkoharry@espnradio1000.com for thoughts.

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Every article includes:
The "Evil" Stoney.
How Ozzie called him a burrito.
or
Ozzie's hatred of burritos
How Ozzie called Mags a "Venezuelan S___"
How Reinsdorf is cheap, greedy
Wrigley is falling apart/has nets

He consistently mentions stuff like this, from this last Feb,

How old is this? Didn't this all happen a couple years ago? Drop it already. It's stuff like this that makes me think he's just filling in a template every once in a while with clips of fresh material.

Mariotti is much better, MUCH better, when writing about College events. MUCH better when he's not grinding his axe.
For those of you who think he don't pick on the Cubs, in every article he will mention Bartman, Goat, Towel Drills, and Dusty dude.
On March 3rd we were treated to the fill in the blanks article about the Lou Pinella explosion machine. It was about the Marquis situation, and Jay managed to blow it way out of proportion.

Flipped like Simon Cowell? William Hung? Is this 2002 again? This is the hotshot English Major sportswriter in town?

Furious? Imp-Lou-sion? This could have been written by Mrs. McGreevy's 4th grade school paper.
How often do we get treated to a Mariotti nickname? Turnoverasaurus Rex, The AlBentross, the Blizzard of Ozz, Carmody Central, Bug Bum

I don't think you have that kind of pull, Jay.
Don't you have anything from the 21st century to reference?
This sounds like something my stepmother would say. "That Ozzy is such a terrible person, he peed on the Alamo!"
Ugh. Mariotti seems lazy to me. He does not go to the clubhouses. he prints quotes that his colleagues generated. He shows prejudice in every article.
Do people really buy this newspaper to read Mariotti? I doubt it.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

damn darkside I have to +1 you for the first time ever, great post. Mainly how he pulls the Ozzie burrito comments into every f'ing sox article even when it is not salient to the point of the piece. Get the F over it.

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"Stay out of courtrooms-but if you must go in be Well Armed and Don't compromise. You are innocent, remember that. They are guilty" -- Dr. Gonzo

http://www.jaythejoke.com/

Take your Jay gripes to this website and I'm sure you'll get an audience.

Stu is that disturbing Chrisopher Walken avatar from a particular film?

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"Stay out of courtrooms-but if you must go in be Well Armed and Don't compromise. You are innocent, remember that. They are guilty" -- Dr. Gonzo

Good to see I've got a fan now. It only took 2 years.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Maybe he did and they didnt read it and since when is it up to you who and what people post here?

and we're off...

Its always been up to me what is posted here, jackass. I am The Almighty and don't you forget it.

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Shit! Not only are you the Sentry for the Sacred Sox Section, but now you're the Golem at the Gate for MJH? Wow. That's impressive. By the way, do I need permission to post this?

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

I'm neither a Sox fan, nor a Cubs fan. I'm a bemused spectator of Chicago sports fans.

Honestly, I listen to SportsTalk radio as much for the sociological analysis as to hear useless updates on whatever Bears back-up OL pulled his hammy while eating a sandwich in Bourbannais this week.

The Cubs overpay for players. The Sox overpay for players. Chicago sports fans overpay for tickets. And Radio hosts are WAY overpaid for talking about them.

In my humble opinion....

Oh--and thank you Darkside for pointing out some of Jay's flaws. Appreciate it.

And I'm pretty sure I pay WAY too much for this board.

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I hear this myth alot from sports fans that columnists sell newspapers. Nonsense. Any newspaper marketing person will tell you the top four things that sell newspapers are: 1) the front page story above the fold; 2)breaking news ; 3) weather; and 4) want ads. Sports news is in the top ten. Columnists of any kind...news, political or sports...aren't in the top ten.

I find it hard to believe that Jay Makes $500,000 a year according to that website. He does less than Mac and makes a half a mildo?

See if Nas can get a hold of Jay's W2 and verify that!

I don't know what he makes, but don't forget that the Sun Times managers and editors who hired and signed Jay were idiots and crooks who took the company to the brink of bankruptcy.

Jay also gets money from ESPN for doing around the horn. Agree with Coast about Jay selling papers as well...especially now that you can read him online for nada.

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you think the sox overpay for sox players, have you seen the money costanzas getting paid by this boards management?

Darkside, you forgot about his stupid rivalry with Hawk Harrelson.

I ignored that. Them two are made for each other.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

That's about as closed-minded as you think Jay Mariotti is.

Actually it's one of the few reasons I grab the Sun-Times over the Trib everytime.

While I can't disagree with your top reasons that newspapers sell, I think you are missing the fact Coast that we are also talking about buying one newspaper over the other. I think you then throw out weather and maybe the want ads. If we aretalking about competitive selling I'd say Top Fold and columnists are the top two reasons why one paper sells more than another. I would say your weather and want ads will sell any paper just as much as another paper. I've never heard someone say they have to get the Sun-Times over the Trib for weather.

You might be right Coast. I might be different than most. I buy the paper for one reason - habit. Usually it's the Sun-Times just cuz it's easier to read.

I actually enjoyed the columnists when I was a kid. Now, I barely read any of them. I usually can tell what's gonna be written by the headline. Occasionally some headlines will interest me.

I don't think we have any skilled writers that make you want to read just for their writing style. Lincicome, Royko, and Verdi were those types. We don't have any of those types in Chicago now.