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.

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.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

34 thoughts on “Jay Mariotti Coming To Boston? (Updated)”

  1. Wow, that would be horrible if Mariotti came to Boston. It’s not just that Mariotti is an unabashed jerk who is disliked by players, owners, fans, readers and even colleagues. But reading his columns is like getting bashed on the head with a sledgehammer. His writing style is so boorish and overwrought that he would be even more hated in Boston than in Chicago. Please stay away!

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  2. I just got sick reading that one of the Chief Hacks in the sports media world could be coming to Boston.

    Jay Mariotti makes Shaughnessy and Massarotti look like David Halberstam. You hit the nail on the head Bruce, Mariotti is the symbol of what is wrong with sports journalism (entertainment) today. He’s despised by pretty much every player/media member in Chicago.

    Any place he ended up in Boston would be horrible.

    Hasn’t the local media already reached their hack quota.

    Herald: Tomase
    Globe: Shaughnessy and Massarotti
    WEEI: Borges + 80% of on-air talent

    This could turn Boston media into Hack Central.

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    1. Here’s a priceless quote by Michael Cooke, Editor in Chief of the Sun-Times,

      “We’re not hearing from grief-stricken fans. The truth is quite the opposite. Quite the opposite. We’ve gotten hundreds of e-mails, including ones that say ‘Now we’ll buy the paper.’ By all indications our circulation will go up.”

      Here’s another zinger from Cooke, commenting on Mariotti walking out on his contract slated to end in 2011,

      “It’s interesting that a guy walks out on a contract after spending a lifetime criticizing other people for not observing their their contracts,” says Cooke. “I’m sure that irony won’t escape our readers.”

      HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. Oh, mercy. Mariotti and Massarotti under one roof…and they’re BOTH bitter, angry fossils of the sports media cabal. If that Mariotti does land in Boston, which incumbent sports journalist will quietly take him aside and say, ‘This isn’t your town, JAY. We have ways of dealing with people like you if you decide that you’ve forgotten your place here.’ Shaughnessy? Ryan? Massarotti himself?

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    1. Another soon-to-be-brilliant move by that media giant WEEI. He’s a perfect fit. And if you haven’t noticed EEI cares about money, not brains.

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  6. I’m not sure who the bigger bafoon on Around the Horn is, Mariotti or Woody Paige–but it’s pretty close.

    Please keep them both out of the eastern time zone.

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  7. This is amazing… the Sun Times ran this column (as linked by Deadspin):

    http://www.suntimes.com/sports/1131768,CST-SPT-deluca28.article

    If Shaughnessy left the Globe, all his editors and colleagues would be singing his praises on the way out, even if he napalmed the bridges behind him. In this case, even Mariotti’s own editors are throwing him under the bus. How hated is this guy to warrant such a public rogering from his own paper?

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  8. I liked this from his wikipedia page:

    “Once at the News an anonymous colleague took a Mariotti column and with a red pen circled all the times he used “I,” “me” or “my” in the course of the column. The total was 142. It was posted on a bulletin board in the newsroom for days.

    Sums him up in a nutshell.

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  9. Mariotti would fit right in with Felger. Felger pushed the “there must be something to it” line in the Tomase fiasco. His typical attitude towards both the Sox and the Pats is “but isn’t there something wrong here?” It’s the negative “controversial” take masquerading as “being objective.”

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    1. nail on the head MarkB. I used to think Felger was OK, back before the EPSN radio gig. He seemed to offer some sane conversation when competing the the meatheads on the Big Show. But, over time, he discovered his niche, by being that pain in the butt guy who could stir things up when news was slow. Get under Coach B’s skin with his report card, etc. Now it’s just stir up some junk and make controversy where there was none to start with.

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  10. Actually, Mariotti saw that Massarotti was hired by the Globe and thought it was talking about him.

    Boy is he going to be surprised when he gets here.

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  14. Anyone know what’s up with him and eye shadow? Is it something the tv make-up people do or does he just naturally look like the scariest looking weirdo in the history of mankind?

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  15. I say bring it on! I want Jay here. Right in the hub. We will give him the full fury of what it’s like to be hated in Boston. We will eat him for lunch and spit him out. He will be so sick of us that he will never even watch another sporting event. Give that loudmouth fool one year in this town and he’ll be crying for his mommy. Come on Jay tell us how over-rated Brady and Belichick are. I dare you.

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    1. You are aware that Jay never attended a sporting event in Chicago and just hid in his* home and copied and pasted quotes from the various AP reports. The last time he* went to an event was around 4 to 5years ago.

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  17. I do not believe any Boston media outlet has the wherewithal to support Jay in the manner to which he has become accustomed, unless WEEI was planning to replace either Dennis, Callahan, or Ordway, which seems very unlikely.
    Say what you will about Jay, he’s a hard worker. That should be constituted as an endorsement of his work ethic only.

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    1. ‘Hard-working?’ This is the guy who was legendary for avoiding team locker rooms while writing columns filled with quotes from players. Out of respect for all the ‘hard-working journalists’ everywhere, it’s not quite an accurate description of Jay.

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  18. Holley would be a better fit WRITING for WEEI then anyone else rght now & Felger would be better on air with dale. Talk about the good & evil. Felger by far is better than holley on the airways!!

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  19. Felger was destroying Dale today. Being strong and assertive, using relevant stats. Dale was exposed as the milquetoast fraud that he is.

    Dale at one point cited the record of the Yankees AAA and AA teams and Felger ripped him, told him MiL W-L records are meaningless and pulled out prospect rankings that show the Red Sox are well ahead of the Yankees.

    I am sure that after the show the Great Pink Dhale ran to management to complain that the new guy was bullying him. Holley should take a page from Felger and stand up to the preening little loser. Dhale’s one recourse was to talk about all the inside baseball knowledge that he has as the Wednesday night voice of Red Sox baseball. Of course, he presented the insight in the most condescending, I-know-something-you-fans-don’t-know manner. Eff him.

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    1. Infighting among sports media personalities is increasing, partly because the supply of them exceeds demand. Also, there’s resentment from ‘incumbents’ like as Dale when ‘refugees’ like Felger tread on their turf. Many of these media hacks are looking for soft landing spots as they see their beloved womb-to-the-tomb jobs evaporate.

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      1. ….”infighting”??…I’m not so sure about that. I think it’s all an ACT if you ask me. I can just see Felger and Arnold BEFORE they go on the air. “OK, I’ll take this position, you take the oposite position, let’s really “go at it” today like we really hate each other”…..same thing with the supposed “fued” between D&C and the BIG SHOW….remember this is the same station that fed us the, “MIKE ADAMS TAKES OVER THE RADIO STATION! bull sheet…..

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        1. Their show wasn’t some act unless Dale said to Felger “Ok, you act real smart and I will act dumb, just talking out of my ass. It will be great radio.”

          Felger makes Dale look ridiculous. It is not an act.

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    2. I only caught bits and pieces but on Thursday Dale was softly criticizing Brady for being in inHollywood and not town with the team this week(and Felger was more than happy to join in). But it turns out, Dale misread the caption for a globe that showed Brady with Giselle and son at Gillette stadium, not in Hollywood. He did a sort-of mea culpa later but now that “Brady is a bad teammate/not focused on football” is out there.

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  20. Mariotti isn’t any worse than Massarotti, meaning their both angry middle aged men. Posting about these cretins gives them undue validation.

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  21. How about getting rid of mr perfect & condescending dale & putting FELGER & HOLLEY together 10 to 2??

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