I know it's the wrong forum, but I gave the guy a fuckin' thumbs up today!!!

From the Times: Sports columnist Jay Mariotti has left the Chicago Sun-Times to pursue other opportunities. Mariotti, also a regular panelist on ESPN's "Around the Horn," joined the Sun-Times in 1991.

From the Trib: Sun-Times columinst Jay Mariotti resigns

By Jim Kirk | Tribune staff reporter
9:39 PM CDT, August 26, 2008

Jay Mariotti, the opinionated and polarizing sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, told the Chicago Tribune he resigned on Tuesday after 17 years with the paper.

Just back from Beijing where he wrote about the Summer Olympics, Mariotti said in a phone interview Tuesday night that he decided to quit after it became clear while in China that sports journalism had become "entirely a Web site business. There were not many newspapers there.'' He added that most of the journalists covering the Games were "there writing for Web sites.''

Mariotti, whose public battles with fellow staffers, team owners, and rival columnists are legendary, didn't disclose any specific plans except to say he will continue doing his regular stint on ESPN's "Around the Horn.''

He said that he "is talking with a lot of Web sites'' and added that the future of his business "sadly is not in newspapers.'' Mariotti said that he sent a resignation letter to Cyrus Freidheim, Sun-Times Media Group Chief Executive and Sun-Times Publisher. When asked via email by the Tribune whether Mariotti had resigned, Sun-Times Editor Michael Cooke responded, "You're kidding?''

Cooke didn't reply to further requests for comment.

"They accepted it,'' Mariotti said of his resignation. "It was my call entirely.''

In a city with a strong sports journalism tradition, Mariotti is thought of as one of its premier columnists. With a style that relied on being contrarian no matter the topic, readers turned to him as much to disagree with what he had to say than agree. He added to his reputation with the scrapes he got in with the subjects he covered.

The highly-paid Mariotti quits after just signing a three-year contract extension in June. At that time, Cooke said that Mariotti was a "focal point'' of the Sun-Times sports section, praising his "pull no punches'' approach.

Commenting on his 17 years at the paper, Mariotti said he loved every minute of it. But he said that with the troubled times newspapers face, it was time to consider a new future.

"I'm a competitor and I get the sense this marketplace doesn't compete,'' he said. "Everyone is hanging on for dear life at both papers. I think probably the days of high stakes competition in Chicago are over.

"To see what's happened in this business...I don't want to go down with it.''

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The name's Rockmore. Beef Rockmore

Time to meet your next dontfademe.com handicapping expert!

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

www.WhiteSoxInteractive.com here comes Jay's resume...

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The name's Rockmore. Beef Rockmore

We're already celebrating that over there. This is one thing Sox and Cubs fans can agree on:

Mariotti is a fucking moron.

that ship is sinking.... stock's at .25 (sutm).... as for jay-jay, well, rat's are always the first to scurry 'bout

You do realize that Woody went back to the Denver Post, right?

"Shhhhh. Woody never worked for ESPN in Bristol. We're trying to erase that part of our history so that we don't get the pants sued off of us."


"Scotty, you know it wouldn't take a lawsuit for me to take my pants off!!!"


"That's why we let you go. I'm big sexy here. You're with me, leather!!!"

And so Mariotti, showing the maturity he's famous for, calmly assessed the situation and figured he was not going to let it bother him. Just kidding! He threw a fit worthy of a three-year-old. Then this bit of greatness: Mariotti resigned, and then headed to the Sun-Times office to tape his Around the Horn segment, only to find that his security pass had been deactivated while the paper was deciding whether or not to accept the resignation. They finally accepted it. Can't wait to tune in to see if Jay appears on ATH today from a local Starbucks.


Quote taken from Panther...

Thumbs up?!

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Yeah, I know Woody went back to the Denver Post, while Skip Bayless is now based in Bristol, CT on "ESPN2's First Take", the show that used to be called "Cold Pizza". Jay told "Waddle & Silvy" this morning that he'll be based in "another studio" doing "Around the Horn".

Can Downey follow him out of the newspaper business? That would be tremendous.

The best sports columnist in the area is Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald.

I find Downey easy to ignore...

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

Brilliant!

I want to bring up something Mac said about Jay, not having enough time to see if he was a bad teamate, I would ask this, didn't Mac get suspended or just a day off work, because of a fight between him and Mariotti. I think he got suspended because he talked about him, when management told him not too, but wouldn't that be a reason for a bad teamate. If people do forgot, hears what Mac said about Mariotti, I guess Jay pees sitting down.