74 replies to this topic

[ifmanis5]

http://www.chicagotr...0,1339701.story

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.''

[...]

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

Jay's usually full of crap, and it's unlikely that he's actually telling the truth here and more likely he's looking for more money elsewehere or had a falling out with the paper's editors, but he might have a good point. What's the future of newspapers? Not much of one in the physical form I'd say.
Jay's free to move on since he has ESPN money and maybe that's what the future really is for newspapers- a stepping stone gig to give you credibility so you can then move on to bigger and better things as a basic cable talking head bloviator.

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

He's completely full of shit. According to Deadspin (which I believe a billion times more than this windbag) Mariotti wanted to write a column about Barack Obama for Tuesday's edition, the paper said no that it wasn't his turn to write and besides another sports columnist (can't remember who) was writing one. Mariotti went ballistic and turned in his resignation. As an aside, while the paper was mulling over the resignation they turned off his key card allowing him entrance into the building. Apparently he was late to a taping of "Around the Horn" because he was outside of the paper's studio slamming on the door because his card wouldn't give him entrance.

Jay Mariotti sucks BTW, he's going to have a hard time finding a job, I think.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Check out this link about Mariotti's departure.

Mariotti's resignation allowed the S-T to save the jobs of three columnists, a reporter, a photographer, and five editorial assistants. It makes you wonder exactly how much coin this douchebag was pulling down.

[Rocco Graziosa]

He's completely full of shit. According to Deadspin (which I believe a billion times more than this windbag) Mariotti wanted to write a column about Barack Obama for Tuesday's edition, the paper said no that it wasn't his turn to write and besides another sports columnist (can't remember who) was writing one. Mariotti went ballistic and turned in his resignation. As an aside, while the paper was mulling over the resignation they turned off his key card allowing him entrance into the building. Apparently he was late to a taping of "Around the Horn" because he was outside of the paper's studio slamming on the door because his card wouldn't give him entrance.

Jay Mariotti sucks BTW, he's going to have a hard time finding a job, I think.

Unfortunately he's got too much experience in electronic media, that its safe to say he'll at the very least land on his feet there. Its unfortunate because he did truly seem like a stupid prick.

On a different topic, people say that newspapers are dying, and I don't disagree, but how far is this "death" gonna go? I honestly can't see a scenario where there are no more actual newspapers. Subscriptions might be down, but I still see newspapers EVERYWHERE. Where newspapers screwed the pooch was not universally making their content pay per view online from the start. I remember when they first started putting their content on the website and thinking, "wait a second, they're letting people view the newspaper I bought for 50 cents on the internet for free? On the same day I bought it???" It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make sense now.

Edited by Rocco Graziosa, 28 August 2008 - 08:42 AM.

[ifmanis5]

Apparently he was late to a taping of "Around the Horn" because he was outside of the paper's studio slamming on the door because his card wouldn't give him entrance.

"I'M IMPORTANT! LET ME IN DAMMIT! I OWN A DODGE STRATUS!"

[Lose Remerswaal]

He wasn't late for any ATH tapings this week.

Edited by Lose Remerswaal, 28 August 2008 - 08:30 AM.

[Razor Shines]

Who would have guessed that Ozzie Guillen would outlast Jay Mariotti?

[WakefieldKnuckler]

White Sox on Mariotti exit: 'It's about time'...

BALTIMORE -- Word of Jay Mariotti's split with the Chicago Sun-Times reached the White Sox' clubhouse minutes after their victory Tuesday night against the Baltimore Orioles, and the reaction could be heard outside.

Once again, Mariotti should've been there to witness it first-hand.

Ozzie Guillen -- the top target of the venom-spewing columnist who called for the Sox to fire their manager this season despite the team being in first place -- said his e-mail inbox had a record number of new arrivals by Wednesday afternoon.

It was a steady stream of digital high-fives.

''When people wish the worst on people, you have to be careful because the baseball gods are going to get you,'' Guillen said. ''He was not asking just for my job, he was asking for thousands and thousands of people's jobs over the years. I'm not going to say I will get the last laugh because I will get fired from this job. But the day I get fired is the day I lose interest in this game.

''Am I enjoying this? Yes, because he tried to make my life miserable. He did everything in his power to make my life go the wrong way, but he didn't make me miserable because I don't believe him. Maybe if somebody else wrote that stuff about me, then I would put attention on it. And that's what he wanted. He wanted attention. He has to thank me because I gave him a lot of [stuff] to work with. I know I helped him the last four years to make his money, and, obviously, he did not help me at all to make my money.''

If the White Sox win the title this year, you know Mariotti will take credit somehow for strengthening the team morale with his exit...

Can we get CHB out the door sometime within the next 2 weeks? If so, I would not bet against Curt making a "magical" recovery and leading the Sox to another World Series...haha

[Drocca]

Check out this link about Mariotti's departure.

Mariotti's resignation allowed the S-T to save the jobs of three columnists, a reporter, a photographer, and five editorial assistants. It makes you wonder exactly how much coin this douchebag was pulling down.

That's not what that link says at all.

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Where newspapers screwed the pooch was not universally making their content pay per view online from the start. I remember when they first started putting their content on the website and thinking, "wait a second, they're letting people view the newspaper I bought for 50 cents on the internet for free? On the same day I bought it???" It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make sense now.

This is 100 percent right. For some reason, during the initial internet land-grab, there was this idea that people needed to be enticed there with free content, but all that did was create an expectation of free content among users, which basically means no one's been able to charge for anything but the most specific and hard to find information and make any money.

One thing to remember in the whole "newspapers are dying" argument is that only the most elite web sites actually turn a profit while paying decent salaries. Meanwhile, even my local weekly turns a profit and pays people. Internet advertising is growing, but only for national web sites and national advertisers. The local pizza joint and attorney and Curves location is still going to need a venue to advertise and that's still going to be some form of a printed paper ... until paper and distribution get so prohibitively expensive because of energy costs, that is.

[The Four Peters]

Our worst fear:

Please, no.

Chicago columnist Jay Mariotti abruptly resigned his position with the Chicago Sun-Times this week, to "pursue other opportunities." At the same time, he proclaimed newspapers a dying industry and stated that sportswriting has become "entirely a Web site business." (Which he might be correct about.)

This morning, Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal ended his column on Mariotti with the following chilling passage:

One rumor on which Mariotti would not comment had him bound for Boston and an array of multimedia opportunities. How he would find flaws in a city with defending champs in basketball and baseball is anyone's guess.

"An array of multimedia opportunities" - where would he get those? WEEI.com? (BSMW colleague David Scott has already gotten a denial from an Entercom source) Boston.com? They just hired Tony Massarotti to be "the voice of Boston sports on Boston.com." The Boston Herald to replace Massarotti? That's a newspaper…a dying industry. A revamped ESPN Boston? Doubtful.

An emailer to BSMW yesterday also stated that Mariotti was dropping hints about Boston his radio show yesterday. I did not hear the clips, so I cannot verify them, but it seems worth mentioning, especially given the content of the Rosenthal column today.

I really hope this does not happen. Marriotti symbolizes pretty much everything that is wrong with the sports media business right now. He's all about faux controversy, storylines and manufactured outrage. We've got enough of that right now in this town.

Link

Edited by The Four Peters, 28 August 2008 - 10:02 AM.

[ifmanis5]

White Sox on Mariotti exit: 'It's about time'...

That was just an all out attack!
I don't think I've ever seen a newspaper go so far out of its way to rip a former employee (calling him a flip-flopping coward) quite so publicly as that. Wow.

[braudimusprime]

Truly weird. If no one liked him, no one respected him, he was overpaid, and circulation might well increase with his departure, why was he there?

[HomeBrew1901]

Truly weird. If no one liked him, no one respected him, he was overpaid, and circulation might well increase with his departure, why was he there?

That's an easy one. Contract.

This seems to be a case where a douchebag thought too much of himself and thought he was greater than the whole. He probably said "I Quit!!!" expecting a "No no please don't go, we'll give you what you want" response. Instead the Tribune said, "Accepted, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out".

[gars finnvold]

Rick Telander was on XM's "The Baseball Beat" with Charlie Steiner yesterday afternoon and they were talking about Marrioti's resignation. I have never heard one member of the media rip into another to the extent Telander tore into Marriotti. He basically said that Marriotti had no qualms about backstabbing anyone he came across to advance his interests; tthat Marriotti would habitually threaten to resign after every Olympics and that, thankfully, it was accepted this time.

According to Telander, the celebration inside the White Sox locker room after they heard the news of Marriotti's resignation was comparable to the celebration after they won the 2005 WS.

Here is a link to some quotesTelander comments highlighted in The Big Lead

Edited by gars finnvold, 28 August 2008 - 11:28 AM.

[Lose Remerswaal]

Truly weird. If no one liked him, no one respected him, he was overpaid, and circulation might well increase with his departure, why was he there?

You could be talking about CHB or many "unpopular" radio hosts (see Stern, Howard). Just because folks "hate" someone doesn't mean they don't read (or listen) to them every day, to see what they come up with next.

[Rocco Graziosa]

As many know I am NOT a media basher. I like a lot of guys and the guys I don't like I simply just ignore. For some reason this Marriotti hit me the wrong way on that Around the Horn show. I just hated him from the moment he opened his mouth. I had no idea of his writing, but this montage is absolutely unbelievable.

http://blogs.chicago...ariottis_y.html

How did they put up with that in Chicago? Say what you want about CHB, at least he's fairly consistent and you pretty much know the shtick. Some of that shit is like the level of a game thread on SOSH.

Edit: And make no mistake.......I have NO problem with guys that bash the home team.

Edited by Rocco Graziosa, 28 August 2008 - 12:32 PM.

[dolomite133]

Unfortunately he's got too much experience in electronic media, that its safe to say he'll at the very least land on his feet there. Its unfortunate because he did truly seem like a stupid prick.

On a different topic, people say that newspapers are dying, and I don't disagree, but how far is this "death" gonna go? I honestly can't see a scenario where there are no more actual newspapers. Subscriptions might be down, but I still see newspapers EVERYWHERE. Where newspapers screwed the pooch was not universally making their content pay per view online from the start. I remember when they first started putting their content on the website and thinking, "wait a second, they're letting people view the newspaper I bought for 50 cents on the internet for free? On the same day I bought it???" It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make sense now.

Make them all subsription based? OK, not a bad idea, but who leads the charge? And what about the web sites that will continue to offer free information regardless of what newspapers and their web sites do?

[twoBshorty]

From that Sun-Times article:

Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke said it best.

''We wish Jay well and will miss him -- not personally, of course -- but in the sense of noticing he is no longer here, at least for a few days,'' Cooke said. ''A paper, like a sports franchise, is something that moves into the future. Stars come and stars go, but the Sun-Times sports section was, is and will continue to be the best in the city.'

Vicious! And yet so funny.

According to that article, he got a contract extension just a few months ago. If everyone hated his guts so much, why did that happen?

[Rocco Graziosa]

The EDITOR really said that? Holy crap. Vicious indeed.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I dunno, I read that a couple of times and I suspect that's a joke between the editor and Mariotti.

Of course, I can't really imagine a complete dickwad like Mariotti having a sense of humor.

[Rocco Graziosa]

Make them all subsription based? OK, not a bad idea, but who leads the charge? And what about the web sites that will continue to offer free information regardless of what newspapers and their web sites do?

I think the cats out of the bag and there isn't much that can be done now. As I said, when this first started I found it preposterous that they posted the newspaper material on the website the same day it was published. Why would they want to offer something for free in one venue and then charge for the other? Eventually people will choose the free vehicle. I don't think it would have taken a whole lot of foresight to envision how this has evolved.

Edited by Rocco Graziosa, 28 August 2008 - 01:39 PM.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

You know what, I take it back. That is a vicious rip job by his editors. Holy shit, there's no joking around in there.

They are literally pissing on his grave there. They're even using it to sell more papers:



Here's the link to that story.

[Fred not Lynn]

I think the cats out of the bag and there isn't much that can be done now. As I said, when this first started I found it preposterous that they posted the newspaper material on the website the same day it was published. Why would they want to offer something for free in one venue and then charge for the other? Eventually people will choose the free vehicle. I don't think it would have taken a whole lot of foresight to envision how this has evolved.

It's all about the form factor - electronic delivery is either impossible or really awkward in a lot of places you read the paper. People will be buying paper newspapers as long as there are diners, buses and sit-down toilets.

You aren't paying for the information anymore, you're paying for the delivery of it. When you go to the movies, you're paying for the experience of sitting in the theatre and enjoying their kick-ass sound system, and when you buy the paper, you're quite literally paying for the paper.

Edited by Fred not Lynn, 28 August 2008 - 02:01 PM.

[Mad Johnny]

Jeez I'm gettin frostburn here. Ice cold.

EDIT: ^^^^^Beaten like a red-headed stepchild

Edited by Mad Johnny, 28 August 2008 - 01:59 PM.

[Mad Johnny]

http://www.bostonspo...oming-to-boston

YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME

[dolomite133]

Maybe they need to bundle the print/online products. If they do that, they need to cut the cost of the print product, IMHO, and the best way to do that is up the ad percentage and decrease the number of pages and destracting filler. A slimmed down print product and enhanced web site, all for one *low* price (although not as low as the previous print subscription alone), could be the way to go.

[The Allented Mr Ripley]

That is effing awesome.

Edited by The Allented Mr Ripley, 28 August 2008 - 02:05 PM.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

http://www.bostonspo...oming-to-boston

YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME

Whoah, did you see the update?

Update (1:45pm): Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald has Mariotti saying that he hasn’t talked to anyone about coming to Boston, but that he “would fit right in” here.

He'd fit right in? We have enough miserable shit-stirrers in this town already, thanks.

[Mad Johnny]

Whoah, did you see the update?



He'd fit right in? We have enough miserable shit-stirrers in this town already, thanks.

How long would it take before the first "Fire Francona" column? Seriously what the fuck Boston media.

[deanx0]

You know what, I take it back. That is a vicious rip job by his editors. Holy shit, there's no joking around in there.

They are literally pissing on his grave there. They're even using it to sell more papers:



Here's the link to that story.

This is awesome. If this works, maybe the Globe would consider an "axe CHB subscription drive"

[Drocca]

How long would it take before the first "Fire Francona" column? Seriously what the fuck Boston media.

As far as I know, the only person saying he "might" come to Boston is a guy he used to work with. Am I missing something?

[TomRicardo]

Mariotti hates Brady and Belichick. They would be his white whale.

[Rocco Graziosa]

Roger Ebert BLASTS Mariotti:

Dear Jay,

What an ugly way to leave the Sun-Times. It does not speak well for you. Your timing was exquisite. You signed a new contract, waited until days after the newspaper had paid for yourtrip to Beijing at great cost, and then resigned with a two-word e-mail: “I quit.” You saved your explanation for a local television station.

As someone who was working here for 24 years before you arrived, I think you owed us more than that. You owed us decency. The fact that you saved your attack for TV only completes our portrait of you as a rat.

Newspapers are not dead, Jay, and this paper will not die because you have left. Times are hard in the newspaper business, and for the economy as a whole. Did you only sign on for the luxury cruise?

There’s an old saying that you might have come across once or twice on the sports beat: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Newspapers are not dead, Jay, because there are still readers who want the whole story, not a sound bite. If you go to work for television, viewers may get a little weary of you shouting at them. You were a great shouter in print, that’s for sure, stomping your feet when owners, coaches and players didn’t agree with you. It was an entertaining show. Good luck getting one of your 1,000-word rants on the air.

And it goes on. Unreal.

http://bostonherald....position=recent

[Talon]

Roger Ebert is my new hero.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

That is a major league ass-kicking by Ebert. Holy shit.

They must've LOATHED him on the working floors of that paper.

[Tizzolator]

Anyone have the video clip that Ebert references?

This is going to get uglier still... I, for one, can't wait!

[mt8thsw9th]

How long would it take before the first "Fire Francona" column? Seriously what the fuck Boston media.

You just essentially equated Ozzie Guillen to Francona. Take that back!

[sachmoney]

I absolutely hate Jay Mariotti (almost as much as Woody Paige), and I hope he doesn't make it Boston. I wouldn't say Newspapers are a dying medium. I think everyone enjoys reading the paper if they have the time. I mean I was kind of hoping I had the paper today so that I could read about the DNC, so I could know the Sox score (I haven't had TV for four days).

If he came to Boston, we'd finally have someone to Patriot-hate the same way Ron Borges did. I don't think Jay adds anything new to the Boston Sports scene, and I think he's not worth the money. Although it would be a big name signing for the Herald, the other newspaper.

[pedros hairstylist]

It is virtually unprecedented for a paper to let its other columnists, writers and editors talk this much shit about a former colleague in print. Holy crap, Mariotti must've been the world's biggest dbag to work with for them to okay this train of an ass-raping.

[thrawnqq]

Wow. This is just awesome.

Good riddance.

t

[thrawnqq]

ps. please don't come to Boston.

[Mad Johnny]

You just essentially equated Ozzie Guillen to Francona. Take that back!

I wasn't aware that was scientifically possible but I apologize to Tito.

[pedros hairstylist]

JMOH should make CHB vs. Mariotti the daily poll tomorrow. "?Quien es muy cunty?"

[Oil Can's Liver]

I would actually enjoy watching Bob Ryan kicking the crap out of Mariotti on a daily basis like he ALWAYS does on "Around the Horn".

[BU1995Hockey]

Bottom line is Mariotti wrote, easily, the best sports column in Chicago and nobody came close over the past 5 years. The guy can write an enjoyable column and was the only must read (spare me Peter King fans) aside from SptGuy33's for the past while. Rick Telander is so uninteresting that I've made it through exactly one article of his during that time.

Chicago sports were in a brutal slump since '98 and Mariotti took everyone to task who deserved it and who underperformed (and there were a lot of targets). His beef with Ozzie was just stupid became downright childish at times - two guys with egos that wouldn't fit inside a warehouse going at it - this was the only part of Mariotti's tenure that made me cringe.

As for him being a major league asshole, who cares.

[Doug Beerabelli]

Though doth protest too much, BU. Does Mariotti have pictures of you with farm animals?

[67YAZ]

Neil Steinberg with a "Tribute to Jay Mariaotti."

The second misconception I want to clear up is the idea that his colleagues hate him. We do not hate him -- at least we struggle not to. I have helped friends work through their intense feelings of deep visceral dislike of Jay, assuring them that it puts them at his level, and is also unnecessary.

"The man is his own worst punishment," I always say.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Holy Christ. The level of glee at his departure from his own former colleagues is off the charts. I've never seen anything like this.

[JimBoSox9]

Holy Christ. The level of glee at his departure from his own former colleagues is off the charts. I've never seen anything like this.

The level of glee for a hated colleague leaving is something that has probably been repeated many, many times before. But for the employer to allow, and probably encourage that glee to be unleashed in public forums; that is pretty much unprecedented in business in general, let alone the newspaper industry.