Mariotti Bids Adieu To The Sun-Times

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 27, 2008 4:20AM

And, lo, there was much rejoicing in the Windy City.

Yes, Chicago, our long sports journalism nightmare is over. Jay Mariotti has left the Sun-Times to "pursue other opportunities." Mariotti was at the S-T for 17 years, for good and for (mostly) ill. He's also been one of the intolerable screaming heads on ESPN's Around the Horn for several years. And his resignation comes on the heels of his re-upping with the S-T through 2011 and his successful barley endurable stint in Beijing. So what gives?

Sayeth Jay (to the Trib, of all sources): it's all about the internets.

Just back from Beijing where he wrote about the Summer Olympics, Mariotti said in a phone interview Tuesday night that he decided to quit after it became clear while in China that sports journalism had become "entirely a Web site business. There were not many newspapers there.'' He added that most of the journalists covering the Games were "there writing for Web sites.''...He said that he "is talking with a lot of Web sites'' and added that the future of his business "sadly is not in newspapers.''

Sad trombone. Jay added, "I'm a competitor and I get the sense this marketplace doesn't compete. Everyone is hanging on for dear life at both papers. I think probably the days of high stakes competition in Chicago are over. To see what's happened in this business...I don't want to go down with it.''

We anxiously await your resume, Jay (sorry, Benjy).