Jay Mariotti resigns

If the Tribune gets Mariotti:

He'll get substantial traffic on the Web.

He'll have almost no effect on circulation. Maybe some small positive effect on the Tribune.

The goofballs in corporate will declare victory.

The question is, will those Web hits be worth the salary (let's say $200,000, his bargaining position ain't the greatest) and the heartburn suffered by the newsroom.

 

Of course. they'll save money from all the salaries they get to dump when people quit for hiring Munster in the first place.

 

Let's assume that's a ballpark number, though it could go much higher if Zell, Michaels and Abrams decide to define their star's brightness by how much money they push at him:

That's two or three people already shown the door who wouldn't have had to leave. That's Skip Myslenski and Ed Sherman, who were team players rather than the Two-I's-In-Mariotti egomaniac. That's a huge loss for the quality of that sports section, and a clear indication that the newsroom is no longer being run by journalists, at even the most fundamental levels.

 

Don't forget Sam Smith before them.

 

A hundred percent right on S. Smith. Hell, they wouldn't give Don Pierson a buyout a year earlier and he was so fed up he walked on his own. Big brass ones there. Now the sniveling place is courting Mariotti.

Mighty. Have. Fallen.

 

why is any of this is a surprise? He's the only columnist anyone really reads in Chicago right now.

 

Because to make this move is to invite an absolute staff revolt.

 

Hiring young Munster would be a complete repudiation of the Trib's entire sports-section history.

But, hell . . . why am I susprised at that? Silly me.

 

According to whom? Jay's agent?

 

I'm surprised the Trib is considering hiring Marriotti.

I would have guessed the janitorial crew was outsourced.

 

This reminds me of when NBC 5 hired Jerry Springer for a while.