Mariotti Yawns: Film At 11

Ozzie's "back to basics" direction has rubbed columnist Jay Mariotti the wrong way again. I believe that Jay was happiest when Ozzie was being muzzled last year by sensitivity classes and the ramifications that followed. Why was he happy? It was all Jay's doing.

I get that Jay is tired of Ozzie's antics. That's fine. He's entitled to his beliefs. I also know that Jay needs something to write about. Yesterday's column included Jay yawning in the middle of his column. I agree. Jay's rantings about Ozzie and the White Sox are boring. It's about time someone tells him.

Jay is a bitter man, who can't take a joke. I was initially excited by the hype that surrounded his hiring in Chicago. I was quickly bored to tears by his opinions and his columns. Then a funny thing happened. I started to dread reading the sports page. I knew I would have to flip past him to get to everything I wanted to read.

Not that I stopped reading Mariotti. I read his column to laugh. His serious opinions couldn't be read without laughing. They were that ludicrous. I was fine with him being in his own little corner of the newspaper, quietly bitching to himself. Then people started paying attention to him.

Other people started to get brainwashed by his unique perspective. He rode the Sox hard in 2005. He took joy in their near collapse late in the year. He was right all along and no one else's opinion mattered to him. When the White Sox won it all that year, I imagine Jay was throwing fits in a lonely stall in the mens room of the Sun Times building.

It was his goal to undermine the White Sox staff, who in his eyes, made him a laughingstock. I can almost picture him plotting his revenge behind closed doors. He started public war of words with Ken Harrelson, the White Sox television broadcaster. Hawk is easy to bait, and he took it as easy as his golf stories and Yaz stories roll off his tongue.

Then came his grand finale. Getting Ozzie in trouble. That was easy. Wait for Ozzie to say something off color, which is not as hard as it appears. Make a big deal out of it and the rest is history.

After Ozzie got in trouble, you could almost see the joy in Jay's writing. Now that Ozzie decided to return to his previous form, Jay naturally has a problem with it. The new attack culminated in a front page blurb that read, "Shut Up And Win".

I do agree with the last line in Mariotti's column on Tuesday. "Do yourself a favor and ignore him". I would just apply that to Jay Marrioti instead.