Jay Mariotti resigns

One of the great mysteries of modern existence.

 

Couple of quick thoughts:

The only person at the Tribune who might quit if they hired Mariotti is Mike Downey. I understand he has a lot of dough. He might rather be in L.A., anyway. Nobody else could afford to quit in this environment.

If Zell/Abrams do hire Mariotti, why would they have to give him a mega-salary? They are bidding only against themselves at the moment. For most media outlets, Mariotti has become like Manny Ramirez. Remember when the Red Sox couldn't give him away?

 

the way this whole thing has gone down now makes me wonder if marriotti's resignation was a ruse in the first place, and whether there were back-channel talks between the trib and marriotti's agent before beijing.

conveniently, after marriotti quits -- and just after he signed a new contract -- the trib shows interest. oh, please. like they weren't interested before. sounds like a top-down type of thing engineered by lee abrams, randy michael and sam zell.

if i am the sun-times' attorneys, i am suing that bastard and tribune for breach of contract.

 

Downey has done very well (investments, etc.), plus he's married to Dean Martin's daughter. That alone qualifies him for legend status.

 

Bringing Downey out of early retirement was an attempt at a bold move that didn't really pay off.

So the journalists/managers at the Tribune can't really bellyache if Zell and his bobos force Mariotti on them. It's been a meh section for a long time, making itself vulnerable to this sort of meddling.

 

Perhaps, but no one is going to buy the Trib to read him, but there sure as hell will be several who stop because of him.

 

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. It's just too bad that the Tribune never did much to eclipse Mariotti as the (cough) "best" sports columnist in town. It either hasn't hired (or tabbed from within) any real big guns lately or it didn't do much to tout ones that it had in past. That left Zell & Co. confusing decible levels for quality. Mariotti is the former.

 

The Tribune should have done everything possible to hire Wilbon years ago. Instead they got Michael Holley. And the rest is history.

 

Jay and I certainly were never friends, though we were competitors for a brief time. And I have no argument with those who say he can be difficult to get along with and I find that is compounded by a sportswriting career that -- in my mind -- mirrors Geraldo Rivera's in "news".
Nevertheless, he is probably right about the future of news; Thankfully I have been retired for a good while and I still receive e-mails from working friends who wish they were in my retired shoes. It's sad, but Jay is probably right about the future/
One more sorta postiive Marriotti note; I DID see him humble once, but it was a very long time ago. Covering a Detroit Piston basketball game, he spotted Bob Seger at center court across the way and wanted me to accompany him over to introduce ourselves to the singer. I declined.
Jay went over and came back a couple of minutes later with the biggest sincere grin I have ever seen on his face.
He told me: "I stuck out my hand and said, "Hello, I am Jay Mariotti" and he said, "Oh, I know who you are, I read you and Charlie Vincent all the time."
It was the first and last time I saw Jay in that light.

 

Great story, Charlie. But notice how Mariotti was delighted because, once again, it was all about him. Story of his career and, I'm just guessing here, his life.

 

To Michael Wilbon's undying gratitude and credit. One of the great non-moves in sportswriting history! (Holley's has to rank among the great job reversals, too, the way things have gone at the Tribune.)

 

Sorry, just had to.