Mariotti to Tribune on September 1

The Tribune will be a better paper on Sept. 1. The first relevant columnist they've had since Lincicome left.

 

Nothing against you, senor . . . especially since we agree on 95%+ of broad
cultural issues . . . BUT

Relevant to what . . . button-pushing hackery?


Let's see:

The White Sox are scum.

Ozzie sucks.

Fire (whatever coach is going bad, at the moment . . .)!

Whoever serves me favorably, his song I sing.

The couch (or its approximate equivalents) is my friend.



Ring Lardner is vomiting in his grave at the very thought of this atrocity..

 

What a flake Mariotti is. So sickening to see the Tribune fall for his act while other true journalists are left jobless.

 

Some of you guys haven't read the Trib's response, apparently.

The Trib is denying the report. No Marrioti ... yet.

 

All I can figure is that Marriotti leaked his "talks" with the Tribune to get a better deal from ESPN.com.

 

Indeed, not so fast, my friends.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004001694

 

I think someone posted that yesterday, somewhere above.

If sportsbybrooks is still the only source for this, something is not quite right.

 

Mariotti may not (yet) be signed, sealed and delivered to the Chicago Tribune newspaper. But, if he's in negotiations to be part of Tribune Company's ChicagoNow.com, as this story says, well, then that other eventuality is probably not too far off.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?page_id=2317&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3af5555513-c950-4657-a93a-80db16fdf4adPost%3ad577f0dc-3379-4efb-837a-9718d2c0b955&plckCommentSortOrder=TimeStampAscending&sid=sitelife.chicagobusiness.com

Either way, I don't see how Mariotti could/should be working for both ESPN and Tribune Company (whether he works for that ChicagoNow site, or the Tribune newspaper).

How does this happen, the working for two companies that, heretofore, have been, and should be, arch, head-to-head competitors in a major market?

...Unless the lines of journalism and competitive ethics are becoming even more blurred than anybody could have ever imagined.

 

Your imagination needs work.

 

That may be true. But my ethics don't.

I'd guess that Mariotti might work for ChicagoNow under an independent contractor/freelance type of arrangement, which, technically, would make OK any other work that he does along with that.

But still, something would seem wrong about this.

 

Hell, several papers are printing competing newspapers. So that one paper saves the cost of running presses and the other can charge for the service.

That would be like you taking a package to FedEx and them sliding it next door to UPS to deliver.

 

If Jay goes to the Tribune, his appearances on "Around The Horn" will be over. They'll have to be. If you are ESPN, and you have launched a Web site, ESPNChicago.com, which is now a direct competitor with the Tribune, are you really going to allow a columnist at a competing outlet to appear on your network in front of a Tribune backdrop? No way.

I've had a theory for some time now that Jay would end up at ESPNChicago.com sooner rather than later. When he appears on ATH, he does so in front of the ESPN Chicago backdrop, so why not just add him to your lineup and negotiate a contract -- for TV and web?