Initially I had only sent an email to some Chicago sports fans about the departure of Jay Mariotti from the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this week but something happened after that which bears repeating. In just about any workplace there is going to be inevitable conflict. Sometimes it’s more magnified in some places than others but usually cooler heads prevail and it doesn’t become a public matter. When that person leaves, people usually either say something nice about that person or they don’t say anything at all or are secretly happy that the point of conflict has been removed.
Not so with the Sun-Times! Jay Mariotti has been stirring the pot since he arrived in Chicago 17 years ago and while he has had some legitimately critcizable targets (Hawk Harrelson, Jerry Reinsdorf, Tribune ownership of the Cubs, Bears ownership and management…), he also has let a lot of personal grudges seep into his articles as of late. While it makes for great copy, he burned a lot of bridges with Chicago sports teams and, more disturbingly, his own colleagues. He had a penchant for writing about items as though he had intimate knowledge yet he never was seen in such places (such as the White Sox clubhouse).
Anyway, he quit on Tuesday and by yesterday his colleagues had already started to trash him in print. Read this Kyle Koster article and all the links within it for a better understanding of what all went down but I wanted to highlight some of the most damning quotes. Never before can I ever recall when an ex-coworker was so routinely trashed in the public spotlight. The bottom line is if you’re in a profession where people have the wherewithal to make their opinions known to a potentially limitless audience, you might not want to step on a lot of toes unless you simply don’t care.
Rick Telander, Sun-Times sports writer – “If he’s gone, I don’t even know how to describe it. I am reborn.”
Chris DeLuca, Sun-Times sports writer – “We’re talking about a columnist who detested bloggers – mainly because he was easy fodder for their biting humor. He acted as if he stood on a level above bloggers. Most of the better bloggers have the kind of wit he couldn’t touch.”
The most damning quote came from Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke – “We wish Jay well and will miss him – not personally, of course – but in the sense of noticing he is no longer here, at least for a few days.”
Ouch, ouch, and more ouch.
Even my favorite Sun-Times writer, Neil Steinberg, posted this status update on his Facebook page yesterday - "Neil is mourning the loss of Jay Mariotti, albeit in his own special way."
It takes a special kind of person to be so reviled by your coworkers that they were overcome with glee the day you leave.