Entertainment

Ebert Slams Mariotti In Open Letter

Ebert To Mariotti: 'Don't Let The Door Bang You On The Ass'

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The Chicago Sun-Times' biggest star has a message for his former colleague Jay Mariotti, who quit earlier this week and said newspapers were on the brink of extinction.

After he abruptly quit the paper after 17 years as a star sports columnist, Mariotti blasted the Sun-Times in an interview with CBS 2.

Mariotti told CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker that he decided to quit after covering the Olympics in Beijing because newspapers are in serious trouble, and he did not want to go down with the ship.

"It's been a tremendous experience, but I'm going to be honest with you, the profession is dying,'' Mariotti said, "I don't think either paper [Sun-Times or Chicago Tribune] is going to survive.

"To showcase your work ... you need a stellar Web site and if a newspaper doesn't have that, you can't be stuck in the 20th century with your old newspaper.''

In an open letter posted on the Sun-Times' Web site, Ebert took issue with the claim that newspapers were soon to vanish. The letter was entitled "Jay the Rat," and Ebert criticized Mariotti's decision to attack newspapers in a television interview.

"Newspapers are not dead, Jay, although you predicted the death of the Sun-Times and the Tribune," Ebert wrote. "Neither paper will die any time soon. Job-hunting tip: It is imprudent to go on TV and predict the collapse of a newspaper you might hope would hire you."

Ebert also accused Mariotti of "shouting" at his readers, and "stomping your feet when owners, coaches, players and fans didn't agree with you." He called Mariotti's columns "1,000-word rants."

"On your way out, don't let the door bang you on the ass," Ebert said in concluding his letter.

Mariotti, 49, says the ferocity of attacks directed at him since his resignation Tuesday have taken him aback. He said he gave up a newly signed guaranteed contract with the Sun-Times that he would only say was worth "close to seven figures."

"My God, did I kill somebody? Am I a terrorist?" he said. "What did I do? I resigned from the paper and gave the money back. And this is the treatment? It's silly. It's juvenile."

The Sun-Times' response to Mariotti's resignation was, well, to pile on.

There was Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke issuing a statement that barely concealed his sarcasm.

"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," he said.

Sports columnist Chris De Luca wasn't nearly as subtle on Thursday, calling Mariotti "the venom-spewing columnist" who was acting like "a scorned lover."

And he took a shot at Mariotti's explanation for leaving.

"In spinning his story to the Chicago Tribune, Mariotti depicted the Sun-Times as the Titanic, and it was clear the self-proclaimed tough guy was knocking over the old women and children to be the first to jump ship," he wrote.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who sparred frequently with Mariotti, most famously in 2006 when he launched a profanity-laced tirade against him, didn't try to hide his glee.

"Am I enjoying this?" Guillen said about Mariotti's resignation. "Yes, because he tried to make my life miserable."

And to drive home the point that Mariotti's former boss, co-workers, and sports figures he covered weren't alone, the paper ran a front-page photograph of a sports fan whose only connection to the paper was that he said he would now start reading it now that the columnist was gone. 

Mariotti says he's having discussions with several Internet companies about working for them, but he declined to say which ones.

At least some media observers agreed the denunciations of Mariotti were over the top.

Being the sports pundit Chicago loved to hate was part of a schtick Mariotti's Sun-Times bosses themselves encouraged to draw readers, said Michael Miner, a media writer for the Chicago Reader.

"That's what they wanted him to be, and it's a role he played well," Miner said. "I thought he was a very good writer." He added that he felt going after Mariotti with such gusto, now that he's safely out the door, was "unseemly."

"It invites the question -- if he was such a terrible guy, why did you pay him so much money to stay for so long?" he said. "I find the gush of columns on the part of the Sun-Times embarrassing -- a testament perhaps to just how influential Mariotti was."

At least one Sun-Times columnist, Neil Steinberg, offered a defense of Mariotti -- of sorts.

He denied his colleagues hated him, saying, "We do not hate him -- at least we struggle not to."

"We can't honestly say that we are glad we met him," Steinberg continued, "but we pray that God speeds him to his next assignment, and that God blesses, nurtures, strengthens, supports and comforts all those who come in contact with him in the future."

Mariotti blamed the scandal-plagued past at the Sun-Times for its downfall. Former top execs Conrad Black and David Radler looted the company for millions of dollars, and both were sentenced to jail. The paper's ad revenues have been plummeting and more layoffs are expected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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