I know this should be elsewhere but figured this was huge news and deserved to be in here....

 

 

Mariotti, WMVP's short marriage over

Radio host cites Bulls, Sox policy

By Teddy Greenstein

Tribune media reporter

 

December 28, 2004, 9:24 PM CST

 

Jay Mariotti is off Chicago's airwaves, and he says his departure from ESPN Radio's WMVP-AM 1000 is the result of the station's desire to curry favor with the White Sox and Bulls.

 

Mariotti said the station asked him to tone down his criticism of the Bulls and White Sox, whose games are broadcast on WMVP and whose contracts are close to expiring.

 

The station is in negotiations with the teams on a new deal.

 

A source said Mariotti received a written edict last month ordering him to ease up on the Bulls and Sox. Station executives followed that up with oral reminders.

 

Both sides finally had enough.

 

"We agreed that if I wouldn't agree to their editorial conditions, then I should leave," Mariotti said Tuesday.

 

"I'm not going to compromise my integrity to do favors on the air for the White Sox and the Bulls. When they ask me to treat two teams differently than the others, that's a red flag for me, and it has been happening quite a bit over the last few months."

 

WMVP's response? There was none.

 

Neither new station general manager Jim Pastor nor program director Len Weiner replied to several phone messages left for them Tuesday.

 

A spokesman for Bulls and Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said Reinsdorf had no prior knowledge of Mariotti's departure from the station.

 

"We weren't involved in this decision," said Scott Reifert, the Sox's vice president of communications. "The decision was made solely by ESPN Radio."

 

That said, when since-dismissed station general manager Bob Snyder hired Mariotti in February to host a daily radio show, few expected the marriage to last.

 

Mariotti has sparred publicly with Reinsdorf for a decade.

 

Yet WMVP pays more than $7 million per year to broadcast Sox and Bulls games, making those teams the station's most important business partners.

 

With the station's Sox deal expiring after the 2005 season and its Bulls deal ending after the 2005-06 campaign, negotiations had reached a critical point. The station apparently felt it had to appease Reinsdorf.

 

"It has been a struggle for most of the year, but I didn't waver on the air," said Mariotti, the Sun-Times sports columnist who also appears on ESPN's "Around the Horn."

 

"I thought it was important that listeners get an even assessment of every team in town. … I have to call it like I see it."

 

Mariotti also has feuded publicly with Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson, Reinsdorf's friend and adviser.

 

Their verbal war nearly escalated into a fistfight in the press box at the Metrodome in Minneapolis before and after a Sox-Twins game in July.

 

Told Tuesday that Mariotti was off the air in Chicago, Harrelson couldn't hide his glee.

 

"I'm happy for the fans," Harrelson said, "because he's a vicious guy.

 

"I said he wouldn't have that [radio] job long and I don't think he'll be a columnist much longer. He never lets the truth get in the way of a story. The city will be a lot better off without him."

 

Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune

Milton signs what yesterday or two days ago and he gets fired. What great couple days.

If only the Sun Times would wise up and fire him... :headshake

yipee

 

 

 

 

 

What now? Silvy and Carmon?

It would be better if it were Carmen and Jeff Dickerson instead... Silvy is a whiney ass Scrub fan...hehe

Great. Now we can get reporters who will keep telling us great we are. We need cheerleaders to tell us Jon Garland is Cy Young and Pods is better than Ricky and JR is the greatest owner in all sports.

Boy Tex you sure know how to bring down a party eh? lol

w00t

Great. Now we can get reporters who will keep telling us great we are. We need cheerleaders to tell us Jon Garland is Cy Young and Pods is better than Ricky and JR is the greatest owner in all sports.

But it's all true...

Boy Tex you sure know how to bring down a party eh? lol

 

 

I hate cheerleader sports guys. Down here, in a small market, that's all you get. They have their noses so far up these coaches and managers's asses it isn't even funny. Then, if they have a chance to visit Cowboy training camp, it's break out the chapstick and kiss every ass in sight.

 

Trust me, having someone in the media, like Mariotti, thinking the Sox should act like they are in Chicago and not Des Moines, and nothing less than a World Series should be the goal, is a good thing.

Don't be a pissant in Reinsdorf's world now Tex.

I'm glad, I can't stand him on Around the Horn, so it'll make me happy that he won't have that radio show anymore.

 

I hate cheerleader sports guys. Down here, in a small market, that's all you get. They have their noses so far up these coaches and managers's asses it isn't even funny. Then, if they have a chance to visit Cowboy training camp, it's break out the chapstick and kiss every ass in sight.

 

Trust me, having someone in the media, like Mariotti, thinking the Sox should act like they are in Chicago and not Des Moines, and nothing less than a World Series should be the goal, is a good thing.

They never asked Moron-oti to kiss up to Reinsdorf, they just asked him to put his chubby away when dissing the Sox and Bulls. He goes way overboard in his criticism, as he lets his personal anger get in the way. The Cubs can be 'aggressively outbid' for a free agent, but Reinsdorf 'grossly underbids'. And that is a tame example. Noone wants reporters, etc to tell us Garland is really Cy Young, when we allknow he isn't. However, he also is not the second coming of Jamie Navarro. He constantly calls Frank the Big Skirt, but didn't criticize Sosa too bad until the last year or so, when it became the fashionable thing to do. He is a contrarian by nature, saying things just to get a stir, but when it is regarding the Sox or Bulls, he digs extra deep. I am glad he is gone. I think he is an arragant pissant.

Trust me, having someone in the media, like Mariotti, thinking the Sox should act like they are in Chicago and not Des Moines, and nothing less than a World Series should be the goal, is a good thing.

Under any normal circumstances i'd agree with you. However I firmly believe that no matter what Mariotti goes out of his way to take shots at the sox. They could go 162-0, sweep the playoffs, and then sweep the world series and he would have something negative to say about it.

No one likes total yes men or homers but Mariotti is just the other extreme.

 

This ongoing fued should entertain Sox fans for quite awhile. Or atleast until Spring Training approaches.

 

Whether it's Around The Horn or his Sun-Times column, hatred for Reinsdorf will only magnify. Not that his biased criticism bothers me, but if anyone was tired of his deep routed anguish directed towards Sox/Bulls, their in for quite a surprise. Mariotti's ego won't tolerate this issue disappearing without him adding in a few shots.

:headbang

 

This ongoing fued should entertain Sox fans for quite awhile. Or atleast until Spring Training approaches.

 

Whether it's Around The Horn or his Sun-Times column, hatred for Reinsdorf will only magnify.  Not that his biased criticism bothers me, but if anyone was tired of his deep routed anguish directed towards Sox/Bulls, their in for quite a surprise.  Mariotti's ego won't tolerate this issue disappearing without him adding in a few shots.

That's a very good point. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Only time will tell.

Does anyone have a link to that story? I am trying to find it and cant.

Does anyone have a link to that story? I am trying to find it and cant.

www.chicagosports.com scroll down a tiny bit its there

Great. Now we can get reporters who will keep telling us great we are. We need cheerleaders to tell us Jon Garland is Cy Young and Pods is better than Ricky and JR is the greatest owner in all sports.

Give me a f***ing break. There's a difference between honest journalism and the abrasive spinster that is Mariotti.

Give me a f***ing break.  There's a difference between honest journalism and the abrasive spinster that is Mariotti.

Man I agree with you. Mariotti is that.

Mariotti also has feuded publicly with Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson, Reinsdorf's friend and adviser.

 

Their verbal war nearly escalated into a fistfight in the press box at the Metrodome in Minneapolis before and after a Sox-Twins game in July.

 

Told Tuesday that Mariotti was off the air in Chicago, Harrelson couldn't hide his glee.

 

"I'm happy for the fans," Harrelson said, "because he's a vicious guy.

 

"I said he wouldn't have that [radio] job long and I don't think he'll be a columnist much longer. He never lets the truth get in the way of a story. The city will be a lot better off without him."

I love you Hawk!!!

mariotti is in no way a fair or unbias columnist. He displays a blatant lack of impartiality. I'm glad that his narrow minded sniping has cost him his gig on WMVP. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.

mariotti is in no way a fair or unbias columnist.  He displays a blatant lack of impartiality.  I'm glad that his narrow minded sniping has cost him his gig on WMVP. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.

I've been saying that too. Anyone that has seen him write can tell he's Pro-Cubs and Anti-White Sox