And this is not a joke... the story was on the Tribune's website first. Believe me. I was there when it broke.
To paraphrase Jerry Angelo in what I assume will be Jay's final column, I was never one of his biggest fans. Stop. Wait a minute. Is he dead? No? Then let's be honest. Jay Mariotti is a shit columnist now and has been a shit columnist for an awful long time.
He was everything I despised about modern sports journalism. He pounced on athletes from the moral highground usually reserved for Trappists monks. His contrarian "approach" was nothing more than negativity-mongering; a cheap attempt to gain attention through meanness of his spirit. His opinions were never accurate and never were they held accountable by his peers. He missed the true beauty of sports in his eagerness to find the ugliness of its participants. Worse than all that, he was never that good at making sentences.
Jay's reason for quitting is simple: the newspaper business is dead. He's right. The internet has taking over. But you'd think a man who loves newspapers so much would understand how pivotal their role will be in a medium of frightening ambiguity and anonymity. Now, more than ever, we need the editorial concept. We need journalistic checks and balances. I've read almost everything Jay Mariotti has written in the last ten years. I've held a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times in my hands four times. The "paper" might die but the "newspaper" never will - especially if they come to embrace their identity on this crazy magic box.
Ultimately though, Jay buries himself. "To see what's happened in this business...I don't want to go down with it." He exits the stage as he always graced its wooden planks - with cowardice.
ADDENDUMS:
Steve Rosenbloom believes Ricky Manning Jr. had no business being cut and actually refers to him as our "best nickel corner." Whatabout his 2007 stats leads to this conclusion? The no interceptions? The one, one, ONE pass defended? If Ricky Manning were cut Saturday with the rest of the rest of the pink slippers, this would not have been a news item. But it happened on a slow Tuesday so Rosey's going to make it a big deal.
SI has the Bears going 6-10. They have the Eagles in the Super Bowl. Two years ago theyhad the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. I repeat that this is a better football team when nothing is expected from it.
Was awoken this morning by a frantic Reverend phone call regarding Brandon MacGowan's rumored usurping of Danieal Manning for the nickel corner gig. Two things: (1) Slow Wednesday for the Reverend. (2) I know I'm mighty tired of seeing Danieal miss tackles so if this puts him on the field less, it's worth a shot.
#2 Z said . . .FIRST
these last comments are just classic mariotti
1) he's the last one to realize something (that newspapers don't have the monopoly on disseminating information....what is this, 1996?)
2) he is negative when he doesn't need to be and it will make him look silly in the long run (i would say it's pretty likely that he writes for a "newspaper" again at some point in his life)
3) he just doesn't f-ing get it. like jeff says, nobody really reads his articles from pieces of paper....but so what? does he think that if he goes to prosports.com or something else that more people will read him? you're a writer....if you want to continue to be read, a big city newspaper is not that bad of an option. if you want to be read by millions walking around the city and where there's no one challenging what you say or competing.....then you were born 50 years too late.
thank goodness he's out! hope you go somewhere anonymous that i don't like.....like green bay?
August 27, 2008
#3 Sausage said . . .Good riddance. Every time he would seem like he might be making a little sense he immediately would write something ignorant and negative without fact or intelligent basis for what he is claiming.
Jeff, when he is begging you in six months to write a column on Da Bears Blog so he can get someone to read his garbage, just say no to Mariotti.
Strahan staying retired, no David Tyree for the 1st 6 weeks. Hopefully the Giants will not be very good.
GO BEARS!!
August 27, 2008
#4 V in GH said . . .jay mariotti,
i'm sure you've seen the website www.jaythejoke.com, to which i'm sure you passed off as simply "making [you] more famous." I can't possibly say it better than they already have, so, i'll just say this...
fuck you mariotti. you are not a celebrity. you are not important. you are a little man with plucked eyebrows. i hope you are as miserable as you seem to be.
August 27, 2008
#5 Shady said . . .Finally! Every time I read his articles it's always negative. This is like removing cancer from Chicago’s sports. I don't mind media critisize our teams, but Meriotti was the leader of sh!t reporting.
August 27, 2008
#6 Phil from SATX said . . .What a bitch.
August 27, 2008
#7 Phillip from NYC said . . .Ding dong the witch is dead! Really, good riddance to him - I always wondered how the great Rick Telander, a real sports writer, could stand to be shown on the same pages as Jay Jay the Jet Plane.
Back to the last post, I have to say I agree with Shady on this one - yes Fred Miller knows the system, yes he could just be a backup, but Fred Miller was really terrible last year and I never heard it was because of injury. Now he's a year older, and he wasn't in his prime last year. I rather take a chance on a younger guy we maybe don't know than the known quantity which is Fred Miller. Now Ruben Brown, he must still be hurt because I don't know why we wouldn't have gone after him.
Agree with Shady's overall Jerry comment too, he had one huge job that rose above all others in the offseason and he really failed at it. The line may be better than last year (it would truly be hard to be worse), but incremental improvement based on promoting second stringers was NOT what I was looking for. I'm not exercised about the Williams signing and subsequent injury, and again - I thank Jay for that since he revealed that all the tackles available to us had injury backgrounds. I just was certain that a relatively high profile guard had to be signed, whether through free agency or as a higher draft pick, and Jerry apparently disagreed.
I think we will be okay this year, I think the line will be improved over last year, maybe a big improvement when Williams gets worked in, and the changes in offensive skill players will help as well. I'm still hoping for a signing - seeing quite a few Olinemen cut on the the NFL Network crawl. Don't know if any can cut the mustard, but hope Jerry's looking, and hope he doesn't stop at Fred Miller.
August 27, 2008
#8 craig said . . .Of course, you know who hires him next.
The NY Post.*
So much for my nice, calm morning commute on the 6 train. Now I'll have to see his blathering in print, and not just on the web where I can alt-tab over to Hester touchdowns on YouTube.
* = Well, probably not. But shitty sports-related things from the Midwest continue to filter out here. Fav-ruh.
August 27, 2008
#9 Rancid said . . .Z, for the record, David Tyree has absolutely nothing to do with how good or bad the Giants will be.
August 27, 2008
#10 Da Coach said . . .The bastard will probably show up full time on ESPN or some other sports site I frequent. I won't believe we're really rid of him until I read he got hit by a bus or something.
August 27, 2008
#11 Idonije said . . .Good riddance to you and all your negativity Jay......go write for the city of Negadelphia where their fans love to boo every and anything.
August 27, 2008
#12 KidronMusic said . . .That SI football preview is the most worthless thing I've ever read. They project every playoff team the same as last year, minus the eagles.
August 27, 2008
#13 Al In WI said . . .Jeff, great summary of all my feelings on Mariotti...
I'm so glad to see him go. I'm sure he'll get picked up somewhere, but I really hope he is covering a sport or town I don't care about.
Hey Everybody, I'm just getting set for football season, and have been working too much to spend as much time here as I used too, so forgive me if this has already been covered, but has anybody thought about doing a free online fantasy league for members of this blog?
There's probably way to many people, but it might be worth a try.
August 27, 2008
#14 Sausage said . . .Thank God!!! This is the best Chicago related news I've heard since the re-signing of Hester. I'm so tired of hearing this guy refered to as the voice of Chicago, and asked to comment on the feelings of Bears fans. How the hell would he know? He is such a sissy he can't even show up for the games because he's affraid someone will kick his ass.
I'm sure espn will put him on more now though in hopes of hastening the slide of the network. Yuck. Man, this really brightened my day. Yes!!!!!!August 27, 2008
#15 Max said . . .jeff, as much as steve rosenbloom seemed on point when criticizing the bears coaches last year, i think it was a little more luck than solid investigative journalism. maybe this has changed, i stopped reading him [much like mariotti] a while ago, but it seemed that he sought the negative first and harped on it whenever he found a blemish. most of it was mindless conjecture. the cubs, early in the season, are one example. the sox, midseason, would be another. your manning example is the most current. he seems to me to be a mariotti-type, anybody else see this?
August 27, 2008
#16 Max said . . .McGowan couldnt cover my grandma. . . or even Moose!! I know Manning hasnt been good at all, but BMac hasnt done anything in coverage. He wasnt bad against the run when playin saftey but he was miserable tryin to cover anyone.
I have nothin to say to Jay cept peace out
August 27, 2008
#17 jeff said . . .Whoa Whoa Whoa. . . did i miss something??? We just offered Fred Miller a 1 year contract for minimum salary? Are you fuckin kidding me? The man was bad when he had a full training camp, you want to bring him back now? Jesus
August 27, 2008
#18 jeff said . . .so chris williams has not been placed on PUP. so this must mean the bears see him as an option the first six weeks.
August 27, 2008
#19 thegreenmenace said . . .unbelievable.
http://sportscracklepop.com/2008/08/25/lindsay-lohan-thinks-kyle-orton-is-super-hot/
August 27, 2008
#20 PolygonHell said . . .from the chicagoist"
Sun-Times EIC Michael Cook issued a statement today touting the paper's sports coverage as "the best sports section in the city" and boasting of its remaining columnists, yada yada. The statement also included this:The Chicago Sun-Times and suntimes.com will continue to have the scores and the stories before anyone else, anywhere, and the deepest and most comprehensive stats and standings. 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.
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.
August 27, 2008
#21 jeff said . . .I didn't think you could be placed on PUP unless you were on the PUP list at the start of training camp.
My understanding is that because Chris Williams was practiced, he can't be placed on PUP, just either the 53 man roster or Injured Reserve.August 27, 2008
#22 minnie Mad Dog said . . .you are correct, i looked it up. so he never practiced but he was active and thus can't be retroactively placed on PUP
August 27, 2008
#23 jeff said . . .Honest question for fellow bloggers.
On Thurs. I will be "waching" Bears from our boat in Northern Butt-Fuck Wisconsin over the wireless internet radio hookup which is slow, delayed, and 50% commercials. It sucks, but that's how it is. (Also, I will have large amounts of beer which will help.)
I am a fanatic Bears fan of 30 years, but by no means a football "expert". I hope to see the starting defense kick ass for 10 minutes and then leave the field, all unhurt. That part I know.
But what should I be looking for after that? Key players, competition, etc.? I know some of you are stoked over the rookie QB Caleb, whatever. I personally am not a big fan of QBs that scramble a lot and are athletic. They tend to end up in the hospital. Anyway, this is an honest question and I am a 100% dedicated BEARS FAN. Help me out.
August 28, 2008
#24 Z said . . .almost nothing to watch after the opening ten minutes, sorry to say. they'll have the 53 established before the game starts and won't risk a majority of those guys.
maybe, though...
bazuin vs. toeaina
danieal manning on defense...
the backup linemen.
the final receiver slot?
August 28, 2008
#25 Z said . . .Yes Craig I realize one miracle catch does not a good receiver make. I just get giddy whenever an another team that might try to take our playoff cookies away suffers any kind of loss to their arsenal. That may be a little barbaric but it is a brutal sport and if an opposing team's players can't stay healthy, I do not feel sympathy for that team like I am sure no other teams felt sympathy for us last year. I just want them out long enough to not play against us and until we have the playoffs secure. Well, 1st round bye and homefield too actually.
I also hope all good players are traded to or sign with AFC teams that we don't play against if they don't come to us.
Weren't our glaring weaknesses at the end of last season O-line, QB, RB, WR and S? Did we definitively address any of those besides maybe RB (which I am hopeful we did with a rookie and a player coming off major injury). I know we signed a bunch of our own but how much cap is left? It's like he is allergic to spending on O.
I am a Bear optimist so I think even as is that WR and KO may surprise us and our D and Brown at even 80% and Vash and Peanut healthy that we can make up for some of the young DB's that we are moving around back there. Its a stretch with the O-line as is to be optimistic about them but stranger things have happened. We did already get the gift of no Mariotti (at least at 1 of our 2 major Chicago papers). Maybe addition by subtraction can work sometimes. He did dog JA pretty good with the give back half your salary for being half a good GM.
I did read that F. Miller had surgery on his right ankle after last season, so maybe, maybe? He can't play much worse than last year right?
9-7 Sneak into the playoffs in the still weak NFC and grind out each playoff game. SB win.
August 28, 2008
#26 jeff said . . .And I still hate Mariotti and strongly feel that he is a douchebag. Just thought that was a good line and it was amusing to see a GM let a sports writer (and not even a good one) get under his skin so much.
August 28, 2008
#27 said . . .turns out all the danieal manning stuff was nonsense. great job trib and sun times!
August 28, 2008
#28 BigBadBill said . . .Hey da coach, you call it negadelphia for fans who boo? What about this town and everyone booing the QB, like Rex when he's already been demoted, and throwing a ball away to avoid a sack. The fans here at games are among the stupidest in sports.
August 28, 2008
Thanks for the love Sausage. I do appreciate it.
August 29, 2008
Here at DaBearsBlog, you are free to kill us or the Bears as you so wish. You are not free, however, to be an asshole. So if you spew racism or ill-meaning foul language (cursing about football is just fine) or anything of that ilk, your comments ain't gonna last long, jerk.