4 comments Jay Mariotti Thinks Jim Calhoun Needs To Be Nicer, Then Writes 1,000th Consecutive Negative Column About Ozzie Guillen

Jay Mariotti thinks that Jim Calhoun is insensitive by yelling at a reporter for asking him a question about his salary. I am sure Jay would react perfectly well if you saw him in a coffee shop and asked him how much money he made...and that is a big "if" because that would involve Mariotti having to come out and face the public, who mostly despises him, twice in one day, one time for "Around the Horn" and the other to go to the coffee shop. Jim Calhoun makes $1.6 million to coach college basketball and probably makes even more than that in endorsements and other little perks like that. No one knows how much Mariotti makes because it is not public, though we do have this story that tells us he probably made $500,000 at the Chicago Sun-Times. That is a lot of money for someone who contributes nothing to the public, so just remember that as Mariotti writes about how much Calhoun makes.

But just because it was presented by the notorious Ken Krayeske doesn't mean it was inappropriate, that millions of Americans weren't curious to hear the answer.

I don't care. I would put my first ever poll up on this site asking what percentage of my 8 readers care about how much Jim Calhoun makes but I would estimate maybe 1 person would really care.

Much like Peter King, Jay Mariotti can't differentiate between why players and coaches can get paid millions of dollars while Joe Mainstreet is getting laid off from his job. The reason is that those players and coaches are part of an entertainment product that the customers like to see, and they like to see this product played at a high level and you have to pay those who play and coach at a high level with a lot of money. Hence, high salaries for them, while others get laid off. It is completely unfair but there is a reason Mariotti has never written a column on Joe Mainstreet and he has written one on Jim Calhoun. If no one cared about these high paid coaches and athletes Jay would not have a job on ESPN and would be writing obituaries in Des Moines, Iowa working on his 6th marriage. People do care, so Jay gets paid and Jim Calhoun gets paid.

Why, Jim Calhoun, should the University of Connecticut men's basketball coach be the state's highest-paid employee at $1.6 million a year ... when the state has a $2 billion budget deficit?

Why should the Sun-Times be laying off employees and you get to sign a new deal reportedly worth $500,000 until 2011?

Instead, Calhoun morphed last Saturday into a hybrid of Bob Knight and Col. Nathan R. Jessep, he of "You can't handle the truth'' fame.

You owe Bill Simmons $1 for that movie reference. Simmons has a patent on movie humor and humor about injuring yourself in anger or frustration. He invented them and if you use either of these, you will be copying Bill Simmons.

"Not a dime back," Calhoun shot back pompously at his post-game news conference. "I'd like to be able to retire someday. I'm getting tired."

Guess what, I hate Jim Calhoun. I hate him because of 1999 and 2004. I hate UConn and I can't wait for Thabeet to make the NBA so he can become a poor man's Dikembe Mutumbo, which ends up being another Shawn Bradley. Jim Calhoun is making a bullshit excuse here, there is no way I could defend him.

He needed to bring facts about the popularity of UConn basketball and how the state benefits, which Calhoun eventually would relay to Krayeske but only after making an ogre of himself and becoming a brief YouTube phenomenon.

I like how Jay Mariotti is describing to Jim Calhoun how to not exacerbate a confrontation, like Mariotti knows anything about this. The way Jay diffuses a confrontation is that he writes a column critical of someone, then talks about it on "Around the Horn," then goes into hiding so he doesn't get his ass kicked, and finally will make cheap shots directed at that person for the next two and a half years while never actually being willing to talk to this person. Jay is a coward, he would have done the same thing Jim Calhoun did and then leave the press room and go write a column destroying Krayeske.

By cracking wise, one of the best basketball coaches of his time momentarily became the Mike Gundy of 2009, the latest man who loses perspective in a press-conference setting and employs intimidation tactics when backed into a perceived corner.

These are two completely different situations. Mike Gundy was defending Bobby Reid at a press conference because a local columnist had written a column saying very negative things about Bobby Reid. He was defending his player. I realize sports columnists don't think they should be held accountable for what they write, but Mike Gundy apparently disagreed and made it very public. Mike Gundy was in the right in my mind and Jim Calhoun was being an asshole.

Still, I don't think he should have to justify his salary in public. Talk to the Athletic Director or someone else at the school, they are the people who gave him the salary. Maybe ask Calhoun in private instead of a press conference after a basketball game. My point is that a press conference is a bad place to bring this up and expect a good answer.

"My best advice to you: Shut up. If you want to talk to me outside, I'd be more than happy to talk to you. We're talking about basketball."

Exactly. This, ironically, is the advice I would like for Jay Mariotti to heed as well. I doubt that will happen.

If Krayeske wanted to talk about this he could have talked to Calhoun in private, but he did not want to do that because he did not really want to ask the question, he wanted to publicly try and make Jim Calhoun seem like he was stealing money from the state of Connecticut and giving nothing back.

Jim Calhoun did respond in a bad way, but what else should someone expect when you confront another person in public about their salary? If you are going to be rude enough to bring it up at a press conference following a game, then that person is going to be rude enough to give you a short and ill tempered answer.

He finally seemed to realize it, but the way the coach articulated his message was embarrassing, as if his program's finances were no one's business when they're actually everyone's business in that state.

He was put on the spot by some asshole guy who pretty much tries to make trouble wherever he goes. He was surprised to get the question and responded with the anger he felt. It was the wrong way to react, but everyone can't be so sensitive and get upset that Calhoun did not put up a pie chart and give handouts to everyone in the crowd justifying his salary.

Besides, $1.6 million is not that much money for a high achieving coach like Jim Calhoun is. If you compare this money to what Pete Carroll gets at USC, Nick Saban gets at Alabama and many of the other college coaches receive in college basketball, it is actually pretty fair for the going rate on success. Sure, the state of Connecticut has a budget deficit of $2 billion but I am pretty sure it is not completely because of Jim Calhoun's salary and is probably because the state legislature has spent as shitload of money on useless stuff.

"We make $12 million a year for this university. Get some facts and come back and see me. Don't throw out salaries and other things. Get some facts and come back and see me. We turn over $12 million to the University of Connecticut, which is state-run. Next question."

In truth, Calhoun and Auriemma collectively turned over $12,603,755 to the university.

Jay, notice how he used the word "we," that infers there is someone else involved and that person is Gene Auriemma. Notice how Jay uses, in truth, and then ignores the "we."

In truth, Calhoun said "we,"...asshole.

Calhoun makes considerably more than $1.6 million a year, as he said. And he deserves to be paid among the best, given the intense pressure of Big East basketball and the tireless work ethic he has poured into his profession for decades.

I am not sure if even Jay Mariotti knows what the hell his point is. He thinks Calhoun is worth the money he is paid, that Krayekse should not have brought this up at this press conference, and that Jim Calhoun's numbers were correct (before expenses). He just wants him to be nicer maybe?

One could make a compelling argument that big-time college coaches, like corporate CEOs, should give back some of the money. What these men make in the current economy is disproportionate to reality.

The only reason this argument would be compelling is because these are two completely different situations and the argument would be compelling in that it is compellingly stupid to make this argument. The corporate CEO's in the financial sector of the United States need to give money back because they went to Congress and asked for bail-out money, then took home massive bonus checks. Jim Calhoun and the University of Connecticut have asked for $0 in bail-out money from the state of Connecticut, though they do obviously use some tax payer money for the college, and he brings more into the school than he is paid.

But just the same, they're still selling out arenas and generating the same television revenue. If UConn men's basketball had $7.33 million in revenues, Calhoun's $1.6 million salary at a state university is fair enough.

In case Jay can't see, even though he just described it very well, the CEO's of firms who needed the bail-out money are not generating revenue for anyone but themselves AND they want more money, while the UConn men's and women's basketball teams are generating revenue that is shared throughout the university. This is a very poor comparison in my opinion.

"I think it was unfair in that setting," Auriemma said. "I would venture to say it's unfair in any setting. I'm sure Jim was thrown for a loop. He handled it better than most coaches would have handled it.''

Auriemma hates Jim Calhoun and he is defending him publicly. That tells me a little something.

I don't think it is unfair in ANY setting but I do believe there are better places to pose this question. I bet 9 out of 10 people would have reacted very similarly to Jim Calhoun if this question had been posed publicly to them, it's just human nature to get defensive about your salary and someone questioning your worth.

All I'm asking for is some civility and understanding.

If you know Jay Mariotti, you know that is all he has ever asked for. I am not even going to link the articles but Jay Mariotti has never shown civility and understanding whether it be in writing articles about individuals he doesn't like, getting along with his co-workers, quitting his job, explaining why he quit his job, in responses to movie critics who wrote about him quitting his job, or living his day-to-day life.

In this economy, it won't be the only occasion when someone asks a coach about the practicality of sports in an ailing nation.

This person won't be Jay Mariotti though. He would actually have to come face to face with athletes and coaches to ask them questions like this, that would involve going to press conferences and into locker rooms, and Jay Mariotti is afraid to do that because he would get his ass kicked in pretty much every single locker room in America.

In conclusion, Jim Calhoun should have been nicer in defending his salary, because he did come off as a pompous ass and acted as if it should be no person's business, which is not true. Calhoun was out of line but if anyone thinks they would have reacted differently, they are wrong.

Ray Ratto, whose picture on CBS Sportsline never fails to make me smile, also wrote about this situation...except he threw an interesting analogy in there.

Calhoun has always enjoyed his exchanges with the Connecticut media in the same way that people enjoy being hit in the stomach with sandbags. In fact, he actually tends to come off as giving far more than he actually has to take, which has led to his reputation as a poison sumac-based skin ointment in human form.

A poison sumac-based skin ointment in human form? Would this ointment prevent or cause this skin cancer? The same kind of cancer Jim Calhoun was diagnosed with in May 2008? Why don't you say that he looked like he wanted to leave the podium and go take a piss or make fun of him for having prostate problems while you are at it?

In today's overly sensitive society if Ratto had written, "Kay Yow would rather have her head shaved than lose a game," then he would have gotten letters demanding his apology for being insensitive to the fact Yow had breast cancer.

I just felt like pointing this out, I really have no point.

Umm...Jay Mariotti still stinks.