Controlled Chaos

He's Italian....I'll take him!!!

Richards, offended club guests to meet Fri Dec 1, 12:45 PM ET LOS ANGELES - Michael Richards will apologize in person to the four black men he targeted in a tirade of racial slurs during a recent comedy club performance. A retired judge will mediate the meeting and determine whether he should take any other action to resolve the matter, Richards' spokesman and an attorney for the men said Friday. A cash settlement could be part of the resolution, said Howard J. Rubenstein, who represents Richards. "My client Michael hopes to put it behind him," Rubenstein said. A time and place for the meeting has not been set. Rubenstein complimented attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing the four comedy club patrons, for recommending the meeting. Allred said Richards should meet with her clients "to hear the pain that he inflicted on them and to apologize to them." She and the four men were scheduled to hold a press conference later Friday. Richards, who played the wacky neighbor Kramer on 'Seinfeld,' has been on a campaign of contrition since videotaped footage of his Nov. 17 outburst at the Laugh Factory nightclub surfaced on the Web site TMZ.com. He has apologized on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's nationally syndicated radio program "Keep Hope Alive" and the "Late Show with David Letterman." He also apologized to civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton. Richards has said the tirade was fueled by anger at being heckled and not bigotry.

Congrats ScoPo! Hopefully, you look at this as a chance to redeem yourself and prove you belong. Work your ass off and get back to where you were.

What is your position on the role of government in supporting innovation in the field of biotechnology? Recent research has shown that empirical evidence for globalization of corporate innovation is very limited and as a corollary the market for technologies is shrinking. As a world leader, it's important for America to provide systematic research grants for our scientists. I believe strongly there will always be a need for us to have a well articulated innovation policy with emphasis on human resource development. Thank you.

Chicago Creates a Nativity Scene by Natalie Finn Just when Wal-Mart was finally going to be wishing shoppers a "Merry Christmas" again, rather than saying "Happy Holidays," Chicago officials have decided to make a downtown Christmas festival a little less Christian. Concerned that ads for the upcoming Xmas-themed film The Nativity Story might alienate non-Christians, city officials asked the organizers of the German Christkindlmarket to drop New Line Cinema as a sponsor this year. A spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Special Events said that the city of Chicago did not want to appear to be endorsing one religion over another, and that there would still be a nativity scene set up in Daley Plaza—along with a Hanukah menorah and other religious symbolism—and items for sale related to baby Jesus' birth. "Our guidance was that this very prominently placed advertisement would not only be insensitive to the many people of different faiths who come to enjoy the market for its food and unique gifts, but also it would be contrary to acceptable advertising standards suggested to the many festivals and holding events on Daley Plaza," Mayor's Office executive director Jim Law said in a statement. According to studio executive Christina Kounelias, New Line had planned to spend $12,000 in advertising at the festival as part of its nationwide Nativity Story campaign, which includes screening clips of the movie. Kounelias told the Associated Press that, as far as she knew, this was the only instance in which the studio's sponsorship was turned down. "One would assume that if [people] were to go to Christkindlmarket, they'd know it is about Christmas," she said. Echoing Kounelias' sentiments was Paul Braoudakis, a spokesman for the Willow Creek Association, a group of more than 11,000 churches of various denominations in Illinois. "The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still spell out Christ," Braoudakis told the AP. "It's tantamount to celebrating Lincoln's birthday without talking about Abraham Lincoln." Or, according to the Parents Television Council, whose job would be made easier if all TV and film pregnancies were achieved by Immaculate Conception, Chicago's stance is one of "anti-religious bigotry." "What we haven't seen in decades from Hollywood is a reverent recounting of the birth of Jesus," PTC president Brent Bozell said in a statement Tuesday. "The New Line studio is filling that void with its new movie The Nativity Story, which simply retells the story of the first Christmas. "The City of Chicago’s decision not to be associated with a film like The Nativity Story is a form of anti-religious bigotry and indirect censorship. It is ludicrous that the city would blatantly attack a movie that will be exceptionally well-received by millions of people in and around Chicago, most of whom are members of one Christian denomination or another." The Nativity Story, which on Sunday became the first film to have its world premiere at the Vatican, stars Whale Rider's Keisha Castle-Hughes (who happens to be expecting her first child in real life, too) as Mary, 24's Shohreh Aghdashloo as John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth, and Oscar Isaac as Joseph. Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) directed the film, scheduled to hit U.S. theaters Dec. 1. This film recounting the birth of Jesus also happened to be partly filmed in Matera, the same Italian town where Mel Gibson shot his similarly controversial opus about the death of Jesus, The Passion of the Christ. The American Center for Law and Justice said Tuesday that Christkindlmarket organizers and Chicago officials should definitely rethink their decision to ban The Nativity Story promos. "To suggest that a movie about the birth of Jesus Christ should not be included in a Christmas festival is absurd," Jay Sekulow, the ACLJ's chief counsel, said. "This transcends political correctness and centers squarely on religious bigotry…The city and festival organizers must respect the First Amendment and put an end to the discriminatory practices." Copyright 2006 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All rights reserved.

QUOTE(mreye @ Nov 22, 2006 -> 10:09 AM) My three wonderful, pain in the ass, beautiful, bratty, cute, crabby, hilarious girls. (Anyone with kids knows what I mean) I'm also thankful for my friends, my job, my wife that I love, the weather and this great country. Fixed that for ya!!

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Nov 22, 2006 -> 09:26 AM) When did we drop a bomb on China? actually I just meant to put asian/oriental looking people and typed Chinese. They're all the same to me anyway.... OOOHHHH racist!!!

What if the hecklers were Japanese and Kramer said..."Didn't we drop a bomb on you like 30 years ago?? Shut up and get out of here. Get the little jap men that can't see out of here. Get the f*** out of here" Well first off the audience would have laughed, cause it's ok to rip on japanese people and secondly, if that happened, we wouldn't have even heard about it. All Richards had to combat these people was that they were Black. So he drew on history to find something to rip on them. It doesn't mean he is a racist and wants to lynch anyone. It doesn't mean he supports lynching. He was just in a fit of rage and thats all he had as a comeback. It was a very poor choice, but I think he was trying to be funny in the beginning. He just failed miserably.

I think of Bobby. He came out of nowhere to finish so many huge games for us. Maybe it's just seeing him on the mound at the end of the game, but he really pops into my head when reminiscing of 2005.

QUOTE(Soxy @ Nov 17, 2006 -> 01:48 PM) Only if it's peppermint flavored. I'm not sure exactly how we got here, but I'm having a real difficult time deciding between the better beer and the Peppermint Pootang.

This is a recap that I usually write each week, but sometimes I get another coach to step up and write one. It could be used to talk trash or just write a recap. but if you're in a league with friends it adds some more fun to Fantasy Football. http://csmaster.sxu.edu/djones/ffl/2006/Week%2010.htm

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 02:02 PM) see the terrorist are winning! CAIR’s Congressman: Will the media care about his troubling ties? By Joel Mowbray Tuesday, November 7, 2006 Barring a cataclysmic event, Minnesotans today will elect the first-ever Muslim to the U.S. Congress, and odds are the media serenade won’t be far behind. What remains to be seen, though, is how many journalists will be willing to strike a discordant note by questioning Keith Ellison on his Nation of Islam past or his open embrace of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group founded by two self-identified supporters of Islamic terrorism. Defenders of the Democratic frontrunner thus far have dodged most legitimate questions, instead choosing to smear critics as Islamophobic bigots. The tactic has worked, enabling Ellison to win comfortably the September 12 Democratic primary—and soon the general election. But no amount of obfuscation or misdirection changes some simple facts: Ellison had a much deeper involvement with the Nation of Islam than he’s acknowledged, and he has forged an extremely close alliance with CAIR. The organization’s officials, in fact, have helped raise over $50,000 for Ellison. These are obviously legitimate—and necessary—questions, but few in the mainstream media have the stomach to go against the tide. And with Ellison becoming the first-ever Muslim Congressman, the media “tide” isn’t hard to predict. For the most part, Ellison hasn’t had to defend himself because most in the local media apparently don’t believe the candidate’s past and present affiliations warrant scrutiny. Or maybe they just don’t want to be labeled bigots for questioning a Muslim about connections to certain Muslims. When Ellison was taking heat this summer—including from other Democrats—state Democrat-Farm-Labor Party Chairman Brian Melendez lashed out at critics: “There are people in this world who hear Muslim and think terrorist. They’re bigots who wouldn't vote for Ellison anyway.” Of course there are anti-Muslim bigots, but there’s no evidence suggesting that any of Ellison's public critics are. The state DFL chairman not only sullied Ellison’s critics, but also almost certainly preempted others who might otherwise have asked uncomfortable questions. Dishonest “apology” When Ellison’s history with the Nation of Islam initially surfaced as an issue, the candidate wrote a letter of apology to the Jewish community. He could have used this forum to come clean and display genuine contrition. Ellison chose not to. Ellison wrote in his letter that his involvement with the NOI was limited to 18 months and that he was never a member. Thus, he claimed that he didn’t realize until later the organization’s racism and anti-Semitism. But it appears he wasn’t honest about either the duration or the depth of his ties to the NOI. The candidate has acknowledged helping organize the NOI’s Million Man March in 1995, and when he ran for the state legislature in 1998, he was identified in the Star Tribune as an NOI member. Further, columns he wrote while in law school at the University of Minnesota defending NOI leader Louis Farrakhan indicate he was a member as far back as 1989. That’s almost a decade, not merely 18 months. (Powerline and Minnesota Democrats Exposed have been instrumental in unearthing this information.) And Ellison was not merely a member. According to press accounts at the time, Ellison served as NOI spokesman at a 1997 public hearing where he defended—in his own words—“the truth” of a government official’s supposed comment that “Jews are the most racist white people.” How exactly could he have not understood those very words to be anti-Semitic? Ellison’s embrace of CAIR Most troubling about Ellison is the considerable support he has received from CAIR—and his subsequent show of solidarity with the group. Several CAIR executives have made contributions, CAIR co-founder Nihad Awad headlined an Ellison fundraiser in Minnesota, and just last month, the candidate flew all the way to Florida for a CAIR-hosted fundraiser. CAIR was created in 1994, spun off from the Islamic Association of Palestine. Though the group bristles at that characterization, its two founders, Awad and Omar Ahmad, were both high-ranking IAP officials in 1994, and they maintained close relations for years afterward. IAP, which appears to have ceased operations within the past two years, was an openly anti-Semitic organization long believed to be Hamas’ political front in the U.S. A civil court judge in Illinois last year confirmed those suspicions when he declared that there was “strong evidence that IAP was supporting Hamas.” Both of CAIR’s founders have given rhetorical support to Islamic terrorism. In a speech at Barry University in Florida in 1994, Awad declared, “I’m in support of the Hamas movement.” Addressing a youth session at the 1999 IAP annual convention in Chicago, Ahmad praised suicide bombers who “kill themselves for Islam”: “Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide. They kill themselves for Islam.” (Transcript provided by the Investigative Project.) Though the candidate refused to talk, Ellison’s campaign downplayed the connection to CAIR and Awad when contacted by this columnist. Even when this conversation took place in early September, the campaign’s claim that Ellison neither wanted nor had asked for Awad’s assistance was tough to swallow. After all, Awad headlined an August fundraiser that netted just under $20,000. In July, CAIR’s co-founder apparently bundled contributions totaling just over $10,000. (The campaign issued a terse denial on the latter point, though it refused to explain away overwhelming evidence to the contrary.) While Ellison could have been ignorant of Awad’s ugly beliefs at that time, after he won the primary—and long past the point of plausible deniability—he traveled to Florida last month for a CAIR-hosted fundraiser on his behalf. Ellison’s decision to lock arms with CAIR was certainly a lucrative one: the event pulled in over $20,000. Despite Ellison’s decision to cement his connection to CAIR with the Florida trip, local media largely gave the candidate a pass. It could be a symptom of the general media ignorance about CAIR, or it could be that reporters mistakenly believe that criticism of Ellison’s embrace of CAIR is nothing more than typical political sniping. But perhaps it is something more pernicious: The fear of being deemed a bigot by other journalists. Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman helped stoke that fear by insinuating that Ellison is only being criticized because he’s Muslim. If anything, the opposite is true here. Had a white Christian candidate served as David Duke’s spokesman, for example, would the media have let him skate by with a deceptive apology that falsely downplayed his role in the organization? And if that candidate had also received significant support from an avowed supporter of the Irish Republican Army, would the media keep mum?

Go to tripadvisor.com and read the reviews wherever you go.

The person slept on a waterbed and was drowned.

Just saw this on you tube after reading Marriotti say something about Suppan doing a political ad. It says "Response to Fox" ad so I thought I'd post it here for you all.

Buy a portable DVD player and watch a movie or two. Time flys I actually don't mind flying and I love taking off. My friend freaks out and holds on for dear life at any sign of turbulence. I told him when you drive your car you hit bumps in the road. These are just bumps in the air. There's nothing unusual about them. The best thing for him though is to be distracted and a movie usually works best. Flying at night should help as well...

Second Exotic Dancer in Duke Lacrosse Case Says Alleged Victim Was 'Fine' Oct. 13, 2006 — Kim Roberts, the second exotic dancer at the now-infamous Duke University lacrosse team party, is changing her story about what happened on the night of March 13, 2006. This spring, three Duke lacrosse players — David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty — were indicted on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense after a student from nearby North Carolina Central University told police she was raped in a bathroom by three men at a lacrosse team party, where she had been hired as an exotic dancer. From the beginning, there has been doubt as to whether the alleged victim gave Durham, N.C., prosecutors a straight story, and the latest interview with Roberts has raised more skepticism. Just months ago, Roberts was considered the backbone of the prosecution's case against the three players. "If the truth was on their side, why are they supporting it with lies?" Roberts said in April. But in a "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcast this Sunday on CBS, Roberts dropped a bombshell: She no longer supports the alleged victim's story. "Did she give you any reason to believe that she had been assaulted?" Ed Bradley asked Roberts. "No," Roberts said. "She obviously wasn't hurt, because, you know, she was fine." For the three players charged, Roberts' change of heart could hold the final key to their defense. Already, two of the defendants say they weren't in the house when the alleged rape occurred. For the first time, one of them is speaking out. "Thirty years," Evans said. "I could go to jail for something that never happened, based on a lie." DNA tests have reportedly failed to link the players to the alleged crime, but for now Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong says he will continue to press the case."The lack of scientific evidence is starting to pile up," said ABC News Consultant Joe Tacopina. "Now, when her friends are calling her a liar, there's really not much left for this prosecution."

Issue Date: October 2006, Press Boxing To the players he savages in print and to the local sportswriters he derides as "housemen," Jay Mariotti is not a popular guy. But the Sun-Times columnist says that is simply the price for telling it like it is. photograph: PETER BYNN THOMPSON Jay Mariotti was having lunch in Keefer's Kaffe on Kinzie, a ham-and-cheese on panini and a bottled water. Behind him, a big-screen TV flashed images of the White Sox game. He ignored the game. The Sun-Times sports columnist was on vacation, a sudden departure that would stretch to five weeks and spark rumors that he was leaving the newspaper. Or being canned. As anybody in a Chicago newsroom or pro clubhouse could tell you, Mariotti's departure would have been met with cheers from many of his colleagues, not to mention the sports figures he bludgeons. And he knows it. "You'll be hard-pressed to find anybody in this city who likes me," said Mariotti. The contempt for Mariotti among writers and sports figures became the talk of the town last June, of course, when Sox manager Ozzie Guillen called the columnist a "f**" during a locker-room tirade. Astonishingly, it was Mariotti who was then put on the defensive. "Wouldn't you think the headlines would have been 'Gay Groups Outraged'?" asks Mariotti. Why did I become the news? Isn't this a little warped?" For the slur, Major League Baseball ordered Guillen to attend sensitivity training, which drew mostly chuckles from his fans, while his gay hairdresser was trotted out to say that Ozzie really wasn't a bigot. Oh, and the hairdresser disliked Mariotti, too. Mariotti, meanwhile, was ripped by sportswriters coast to coast, from the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times, for his aversion to visiting the Sox clubhouse. Rivals at the Chicago Tribune knocked him, gleefully publicizing a blog called Jaythejoke.com. And he didn't escape criticism on the pages of his own Sun-Times, where columnist Rick Telander - he and Mariotti have feuded for years, in some cases verging on fisticuffs - took a written jab at him. Even the Reader piled on, calling Mariotti "a humorless loner." When Mariotti suddenly disappeared from the newspaper following the Guillen fracas, it fueled talk that he was leaving the Sun-Times, willingly or not. After all, Mariotti has long battled with his bosses, claiming the paper has been too willing to listen to the complaints of Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Sox and Bulls, and too meek in its support for its own columnist. In late June, Mariotti went public with his beef, telling WSCR radio that his paper had failed to support him adequately after the Guillen slur. But Mariotti's detractors did not get their wish. In late July, he was given a contract extension at the Sun-Times through 2009 - hammered out in negotiations during the columnist's abrupt vacation - while keeping his regular gig on the popular show Around the Horn on ESPN. Mariotti, 47, would seem to be living the dream of every kid in J-school: a widely read column, a measure of national celebrity, a combined salary north of $500,000, and the power to make sports gods squirm. Or scream, as in Ozzie's case. So who needs friends, right? "Take your shots at me," Mariotti says of his colleagues, leaning back in his chair and raising his palms to the air. "All you're doing is making me more famous." Humility, it seems, has never been Mariotti's strong suit. But since when did that become a sin in journalism? He is scarcely the first Chicago columnist with a cocky swagger and a punch-in-the-nose style. The late, beloved Mike Royko, after all, had a mean streak the length of Milwaukee Avenue. So what else is at work here? Mariotti glances sideways, making sure no one is eavesdropping on his lunch conversation, and lowers his voice. "I don't play by jock rules," he says. "I'm not part of their frat house, not part of the clique." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I can't imagine how it is to be him," says Rick Morrissey. "Having so many people angry at you. Being so angry yourself." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Mariotti tells it, his status as a pariah speaks volumes about the clubby world of sports reporting - who fits in, who doesn't - and the adoring way pro athletes and coaches are treated, and protected, at least if they're winning. To be certain, anyone who thinks Guillen's homophobic slur was an anomaly among sports figures - or some kind of a translation malfunction, as his absurd initial explanation had it - has not spent much time in a locker room. Sports heroes do get to play by different rules. In his 15 years in Chicago, Mariotti - who lives in the north suburbs with his wife and two daughters - has proved himself one of the most prolific sports columnists in America. He writes a dizzying number of columns, upwards of 300 a year. He is so fiercely driven he will sometimes rip up a column between editions and start over. His columns can infuriate, but also sparkle, like fireworks with cinders that fall and burn wherever they land. It's certainly no fun to be the object of Mariotti's ire. But he can be a pleasure to read. Along with his sharp tongue, however, Mariotti apparently has a thin skin. He is known for firing off blistering phone messages and vitriolic e-mails to writers he believes have wronged him. He publicly lambastes other Chicago sportswriters as "housemen," doing the bidding of the teams they cover. This will not make a fellow popular in the press box. In the view of his critics, Mariotti,s true sin is in violating "The Code." He doesn't go down to the Sox locker room. He stopped going, he says, because he was threatened and harassed. He does visit other clubhouses. He rattles off a list of threats and crude acts of humiliation at Sox park, from an angry Carl Everett screaming and confronting him in a hallway outside the clubhouse, to Guillen rushing over to Mariotti, as the journalist was doing a live on-field set for ESPN, shouting for Mariotti to get off the field. Mariotti says the ill will from Guillen goes back to his playing days. The columnist has claimed in print that Guillen, after a Sox loss to Baltimore in 1996, crept up stark naked behind him and began thrusting his hips in a suggestive manner. (Guillen denies through a team spokesman that the incident occurred.) "In any other setting, he'd be thrown in jail for lewdness," says Mariotti. "But in sports, well, it's just "Ozzie being Ozzie." Nobody in any other line of work would be expected to put up with that kind of treatment. Look, this isn't about fear. It's about dignity. I'm just not going to subject myself to that." But many other sportswriters and athletes believe that writers must "face the music" after they have bruised the egos of stars. It's said to be the manly thing to do. T. J. Simers, a Los Angeles Times columnist and a former colleague of Mariotti's on Around the Horn, says, "Athletes thrive on intimidation. If you're not able to stand in front of them and take it, they won't respect you." Simers speaks from experience. He proudly recalls the time an angry Jim McMahon, playing with the San Diego Chargers in the late eighties, blew his nose on Simers's shoulder. Mariotti doesn't think taking snot from players is any kind of badge of honor. "I'll meet with Ozzie anytime he wants," says Mariotti. "We can sit down here like you and I are doing. We can talk. But I'm not going to do it in that zoo of his clubhouse with his PR people and 50 television cameras zooming in on us, just so that he can go off on me." In Mariotti's view, it is the job of a columnist to step back and write opinions, not to schmooze with the players or the coaches. Keeping a certain distance from the performers, he insists, allows him to be more fearless and honest, at times brutally honest. He is a critic, not a beat writer. "If Roger Ebert criticizes a movie, is he obligated to run out and face down the producer?" Mariotti asks. He argues that there is a price to be paid for access. Sports figures, like politicians, do not usually become friendly with journalists unless they are looking for favorable treatment. Mariotti himself says he's been guilty in the past of getting too chummy. He became close enough pals with former Bears coach Dave Wannstedt to go out for beers and talk shop. He was also tight with Sammy Sosa. But when things went south for the Bears, and when Sosa was discovered to be using a corked bat, Mariotti wrote columns that lit into people who thought he was a friend. "They thought I stabbed them in the back," he says. "And you know what? Maybe they were right." Mariotti has rankled colleagues from the beginning of his career. "They'll tell you that I didn't pay my dues," he says. "They'll say, Who the hell are you?" He doesn't even look the part of the stereotypical guy in the press box. Print journalists have never been the most stylish cats, and sportswriters tend to look even more rumpled. But at lunch at Keefer's, Mariotti is urban hip: jeans, sandals, and a black T-shirt, shades pushed up over short-cropped hair that looks as if it's been coifed in a high-priced salon. He grew up in suburban Pittsburgh, the son of a man who was an acclaimed high-school sports star. But when Mariotti was going through high school, nearly 30 years ago, and football was the macho king of steel mill country, he chose to play soccer and tennis. An only child, and a precocious one, he started first grade a year early and never looked back, eventually graduating at 16 from Trinity High School in 1976. On the college paper at Ohio University, where he served as sports editor, Mariotti was known as serious, demanding, hardworking - and abrasive. Even in those days, he could rub people the wrong way. "His exterior was a little gruff," recalls John Enrietto, now the sports editor at the Butler (Pa.) Eagle. Straight out of Ohio University, Mariotti took a job at the Detroit News. He was given a plum assignment as media columnist and, he says, promptly "made some enemies for life." At 25, he took a job as a columnist at the Cincinnati Post. Soon he was lured to the Rocky Mountain News in Denver to be a featured star. It didn't take long for him to cause a stir. "He hadn't been in Denver for six months," recalls Rick Morrissey, the Tribune columnist who was then in Denver himself, "and he was calling John Elway a greedy punk." Morrissey adds: "That's how he works. He attacks. That's his m.o. I can't imagine how it is to be him. Having so many people angry at you. Being so angry yourself." In Denver, Mariotti could dish it out. But he didn't always like to take it. When a radio host criticized him, he sent the man a venomous letter. Today Mariotti describes the letter as "nasty and sophomoric, something I regret." Mariotti left Denver after the Sports Illustrated legend Frank DeFord started The National Sports Daily, a talent-rich but ill-fated daily sports newspaper. He worked as a columnist in Detroit for The National before being moved to New York. The paper folded in 1991 - just as the Sun-Times was shopping for a big new star. When Mariotti arrived in Chicago, giant sketches of his confident mug were plastered on billboards and delivery trucks. "Sports With An Attitude," boasted the ads, scrawled in graffiti style. He was an instant celebrity in perhaps the most sophisticated sports town in the nation, and he was just 32 years old. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the view of his critics, Mariotti's true sin is in violating "The Code." He doesn't go down to the Sox locker room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is hardly surprising that some of the journeymen in Chicago saw Mariotti as a spoiled, mouthy kid. After all, he had never even covered a beat. Reporters who have been through the boot camp of beat reporting - covering game after game, begging for scraps from players and coaches, swallowing your pride around arrogant stars who can ruin your career by simply ignoring you - could be forgiven for being a little galled by the meteoric ascension of a smirking young lad like Mariotti. But he wasn't about to change his style, a sharp-as-a-knife approach that he believes newspapers must deliver, certainly now in the age of the Internet and round-the-clock cable sports debaters and a market of 20-somethings who have better things to do than read a newspaper, dude. He's called ex-Sox player Frank Thomas "The Big Skirt" and referred to ex-Cubs pitcher LaTroy Hawkins as "LaToya." But he's apparently really gotten under the skin of Jerry Reinsdorf. "His secretary called me once at the Sun-Times and said, 'Mr. Reinsdorf says I am never to speak to him again,'" says Mariotti. Stung by what it considers Mariotti's relentless and unfair criticism, the White Sox management has taken a bare-knuckles approach to the columnist. Scott Reifert, the club's vice president for communication, acknowledges that the club monitors Mariotti's critiques and fires back. Reifert, in fact, writes a blog linked to the team's homepage that frequently blasts Mariotti. When Mariotti was axed from his role on WMVP radio two years ago, during a period when the station was negotiating to become the Sox flagship station, he blamed Reinsdorf and still does. At the time, the Sox insisted the club brass had played no role in Mariotti's departure. The radio station, likewise, said Mariotti's digs at Reinsdorf had played no part in the move. But the Tribune's Ed Sherman expressed skepticism in his media column, noting that Mariotti's radio ratings had been soaring. The lofty numbers, Sherman wrote, appeared to "support Mariotti's contention that he was let go because of his repeated attacks on White Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf." Reinsdorf declined to be interviewed for this article. But the editor of the Sun-Times, John Barron, acknowledges that Reinsdorf is known to call the newspaper on occasion and complain vociferously about Mariotti's columns. "Sometimes he's got a point, sometimes he doesn't," says Barron. "We'll air it out." Mariotti complains that the intersecting pattern of sports and media ownership in Chicago makes it difficult for writers to cover the teams objectively. The Tribune Company owns the Cubs, as well as WGN TV and radio (and, for that matter, Chicago magazine). With Reinsdorf in charge of two of the major teams, the Bulls and the Sox, the city's sports media business has the appearance of centralized power. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'll meet with Ozzie [Guillen] anytime he wants," says Mariotti. "But I'm not going to do it in that zoo of a clubhouse." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I've always loved the city," Mariotti wrote in an e-mail after inking his new deal with the Sun-Times, "but I'm not too fond of the sports media climate, which is soft, political, clubby, and too often governed by the sports franchises themselves' sometimes without the writers and broadcasters even realizing it." The city's media outlets, meanwhile, scoff at the notion that they force writers to kowtow to the interests of owners. Barron says Mariotti's freewheeling column is proof of that. "He's free to have at the Sox, have at the Bulls, have at the Cubs." Barron praises the columnist, but it's hard to miss the tone of exasperation that creeps into the editor's voice. "For 15 years, the Sun-Times has let Jay write whatever he wants. If that's not support, I don?t know what is." Around the country, Mariotti's notoriety owes mostly to his work on ESPN, where he's the most contrary and pugnacious guy on the panel. His television fame probably irks some colleagues back home, too. "Jealousy is not unheard of in this business," says Vince Doria, the vice president and director of news at ESPN. Mariotti says he's relieved to be back writing for the Sun-Times - upon his return he reeled off columns on seven consecutive days. And he is enjoying having the last laugh. "I feel I'll be here as long as I want to," he says. He still doesn't expect to win any popularity contests. But in his hometown, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently ran at least one letter that stuck up for him. Under the headline "Mariotti often treated unfairly by fans, media," the letter praised the columnist?s "courage of conviction." It ended: "How do I know all this" I'm Jay's father." It was signed, "Geno Mariotti." Geno Mariotti is 74 years old, a retired executive for Sears. His son didn't know he was going to write the letter. If he had known, Jay says, he would have tried to talk his father out of it. But after a summer blizzard of stinging criticism, the columnist adds: "It's nice to know your family's got your back." Jay The Ripper OVER THE YEARS, Jay Mariotti has launched some bracing insults from his daily Sun-Times column, "The First Word." A sampling: [Jerry Angelo has] graduated from a mere cartoon character into Chicago's biggest ongoing sports buffoon, which is some accomplishment given the assortment of idiots around here. - 1/4/05 If someone in charge doesn't muzzle Ozzie Guillen with duct tape, inject him with a horse tranquilizer or simply order him to shut the (bleep) up - his favorite expression, not mine - the man is going to talk himself out of a job and shame the city and ballclub he represents. - 4/23/05 I can safely say the Sox won't win a World Series as long as [Jerry Reinsdorf] owns them. - 6/7/05 For less than $1 million a year, the price of a backup infielder, the Cubs have sold what's left of their rapidly decaying soul. -4/2/06, on the selling to Anheuser-Busch of the naming rights to the Wrigley Field bleachers Sox fans are better than Cubs fans. They're smarter, more discriminating, and less tolerant of bad management. - 3/31/03 It seems clear, almost 10 years after he was drafted as a Texas phenom, that [Kerry] Wood's head is too cluttered with Cubdom's exhaust for him to ever reach his full potential in Wrigleyville. - 4/14/05 Barry Lamar Bonds is the one with the issues, more than anyone in sports. And I speak for much of America when I hope his pathetic saga soon ends unhappily. - 4/20/06 DePaul is DePressing, Northwestern left its game in a Tijuana bar, Notre Dame is rejecting the concept of Layup Jesus and Illinois is a charity case with a lame-duck coach. - 3/5/96, on the four teams' not even qualifying for the NCAA Tournament Sorry, but the great state of Illinois cannot be represented in Washington by Sen. Limp Ditka. - 7/13/04, on Mike Ditka's possibly running for Senate Hopefully, this is just a cowardly way of diverting attention from [Mayor Daley's] City Hall scandals and not an elaborate brainstorm to host the world when Chicago has enough trouble managing itself. - 7/28/05, on the city's expressing a hope to host the 2016 Olympics No show is nuttier than the ongoing soap opera at Notre Dame, where priests are selling out priests, female administrators are shaving their heads, a North Shore CEO is the real Touchdown Jesus and the football coaching position - once the proudest berth in American sports - has become as desirable as a pricker bush. -12/10/04, after eight people turned down a coaching position at Notre Dame

Dam French!!!

Professional Golfer.

QUOTE(Shamrock4Life @ Oct 13, 2006 -> 02:02 AM) bought mine a month or two ago from deepdiscount for 45. i am not complaining. Me too, but I would have liked them for $24.95. Great find Felix.

QUOTE(Steff @ Oct 11, 2006 -> 10:25 AM) Friday is considered a "weekend". Does that article specify? I'm not registering, and there is no confirmation of this anywhere else including WhiteSox.com. It says this in the article steff... It is not easy to conjure $500,000 out of the ether, but the White Sox have discovered a way. Their financial trick was really quite simple. They changed their weeknight starting times at U.S. Cellular Field. No more 7:05 p.m. or 7:35 p.m. games, of which there are about 50. They will all begin, for the next three seasons, at 7:11 p.m., courtesy of 7-Eleven, the convenience store giant, which will pay the team an average of a half-million dollars a year to be the name behind the time.

Congrats man!! Great news!!