Mariotti's latest.... wow

The difference is that ATH is The Sports Reporters taken to a new level.  The Sports Reporters is the father to all (or at least most of) what is bad about sports journalism today.  On its own, it is relatively harmless (and entertaining), but since it inspired every other show that followed, I wish it had never been started.

It's like talk radio.  The first guys talking sports were good b ut now it has gotten out of control.  The guys who followed seem to want the protection and access afforded to journalists but don't want to follow the long-standing ethical practices of the profession.  Those guys need to go away.  

 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/telander/cst-spt-rick26.html

I'd venture a guess this column is a pretty good indication of how Mariotti's Sun-Times folks feel about him. I figure this extends from his colleagues and coworkers to his superiors, who allowed this to run. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of support for Mariotti.

 

Jay should have been told not to write about Ozzie unless he goes to the locker room.

On thing that amused me is that Jay is so, ah, self-directed, that he keeps referring to Ozzie getting in trouble for criticizing him.

Jay, that's not it at all. No one is upset by that. Most people cheered. It's just the word he used. Could have been talking about anybody.

 

Sorry, but the argument over whether Mariotti should venture into the Sox clubhouse is at best a diversion and at worst, a smokescreen.

How many political pundits go to the White House before or after they rip the president? How many other columnists pay a visit before they criticize Ken Lay, or Madonna, or anyone? Why are sports columnists to be considered differently?

I hasten to point out that Mariotti's raison d'entre -- to provoke reaction -- has succeeded mightily, with the less sophisticated in the audience doing most of the heavy lifting.

 

I disagree. I think if you come across as a hard-hitting bastard who tells it like it is, you might get readers and a certain respect.

When you come across as a whiny brat who can't handle the fallout from his actions and whose own coworkers are ripping him, you quickly become obsolete.

 

Why would he have to go to the clubhouse now? It wasn't a secret before that he doesn't go there. Going there now makes him the story for print, radio and TV.

 

He makes the point in his rebuttal that he has been on the receiving end of taunts by the mean old Sox. He was calling his critics liars by saying he has been there and has taken abuse.

He wasn't arguing that he doesn't need to go. Or never goes.

So go.

 

Does Marriotti believe he's the first sportswriter in the history of the trade to be called such a name?

Didn't Pedro Martinez have a special name for Shaughnessy a few years back? CHB? I think Chris L. still uses it to refer to Dan.

 

OK, sticks and stones will break his bones, but names will never hurt him.
So get off your ass, Munster boy and go.

 

I don't think the problem is Mariotti's refusal to go into a clubhouse. It's his excuse making for his refusal to go into a clubhouse.

I understand that writing a column doesn't require the writer to confront his subjets as Goal pointed out :

I still believe you are most effective and believeable as a columnist if you are willing to show your face to the people you rip. I don't like the idea of somebdy writing columns who isn't, at the very least, showing up to the games. Lobbing molatov cocktails from your office several miles or several hundred miles away is a chicken crap  thing to do.

Making excuses as to why you're doing it is an even bigger chicken crap thing to do.

Nobody likes going to the locker room, Jay. It's a miserable place to be, but it's part of the job. Deal with it or get a regular job and a blog [BLOLGS!] and get out.

 

I have no respect for Mariotti.

If he doesn't want to go into professional locker rooms, he should join me in Podunk for the next high school football game. I could give him a few pointers on how to be a professional sports writer.

That being said, Mariotti is the huge winner in all of this, no matter what he looks like. People are talking about him and his newspaper. It's not good publicity. But it's publicity.

 

Jay's father weighs in. Not a bad effort, if you can overlook the fact he doesn't address the locker room issue much, if at all.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_459533.html