8 comments Fresh Off a Week of Blaming Tom Coughlin for Using a "Safe" Strategy, Gregg Talks About How NFL Coaches Should Stop Playing It Safe

Gregg Easterbrook made his non-triumphant return to writing TMQ, albeit for a different news outlet, last week. I haven't met the person who is really excited that TMQ is back, but maybe I run in company that all think like I do. This week Gregg talks about how moving the extra point back hasn't been the cure-all to get NFL coaches to be more aggressive as some (umm...Peter King) thought that it might. For some reason, the "Times" hasn't updated the picture of Gregg beside his column. This really shouldn't bother me, but it does for some reason. Find a newer picture of Gregg and not one taken when he was in his early-40's. The new, shorter TMQ is a much easier read, but I don't understand why he is explaining his ridiculous nicknames for each NFL team. Those people who have read TMQ at ESPN are probably still reading it and don't need him to explain his ridiculous team nicknames. If Gregg does the explanation for new readers, well there were probably new readers every week at ESPN.com and he didn't explain the ridiculous nicknames on a weekly basis, so why explain them now? Actually, how about just calling each NFL team by it's real nickname? I guess that's not annoying enough.

The N.F.L.’s new try rule — “try” is the correct term, not point-after attempt, which applies only to kicks —

Don't be so pretentious about correcting what the right term would be to use. Pretend for a second you like sports and aren't an academic.

is having the desired effect of making after-touchdown placement attempts no longer automatic. In the 2014 season, there were eight missed extra-point kicks. Already this season, with extra-point attempts snapped from the 15-yard line instead of the 2, there have been nine.

Great success! The NFL can fix anything once they put their mind to it. You know, except for their inconsistent disciplinary policy.

But the flip side of the new rule — encouraging the deuce — has not panned out. This season there have been 15 two-point tries. That’s not the landslide expected by those who backed the rules change, considering an average of seven two-point tries in the first two weeks of the previous 10 seasons.

(ahem, Peter King)

NFL coaches are going to suddenly become less conservative after the extra point was moved back from being a 99% probability of success to a 90%-95% probability of success. That's exactly what will happen.

At work may be the same risk-aversion that causes N.F.L. coaches to order punts on fourth-and-short. A deuce try is essentially fourth-and-goal from the 2

Nooooooooooo, you think Gregg? You don't think the same coaches who punt on fourth-and-short are afraid to try for a two-point conversion, do you? It's not like the two-point conversion was moved up, so coaches still see a guaranteed point as better than trying the two-point conversion. The idea there would be initially be a substantial increase in two-point tries amuses me. That wasn't happening with the current attitude NFL coaches have towards the two-point conversion, so why would it change if the extra point was moved back slightly? 

If the coach sends in the kicker for the singleton attempt, he’s doing the “safe” thing. If the coach orders a deuce try that does not succeed, the coach is criticized.

Gregg believes that coaches make every decision based on avoiding criticism. This is his belief. Unlike Gregg, I can't read the minds of people, so I'm not sure if this is a correct assumption or not. I do believe NFL coaches are too conservative, but also that they see the advantage of kicking the extra point and guaranteeing that his team gets an additional point. The belief is the two-point conversion won't be converted at such a high rate as to justify kicking a two-point conversion rather than an extra point. When Gregg spends time in TMQ pointing out how the Bears couldn't get the ball in the end zone on four tries during Week 1, it doesn't help conservative coaches like John Fox to believe going for the two-point conversion is worth it.

I know they aren't totally analogous situations, but I can't help but laugh at Gregg and how he eviscerated the Giants for going for a touchdown, as opposed to doing the "safe" thing and running the clock out in Week 1 versus the Cowboys. Tom Coughlin didn't do the "safe" thing and was criticized. He essentially tried a two-point conversion to ice the game (except it would have been a touchdown) and Gregg thought this was a terrible decision. Remember this when Gregg talks about how NFL head coaches should go for two more often.

Chip Kelly, case in point. At Oregon, where Kelly was worshiped by the local media, he often went for two. This season, Kelly, who is getting hammered by the Philly sports press, has not ordered a deuce try.

Yeah, but..............

Of course it’s not as if he’s had a lot of touchdowns to work with.

"Here is my criticism of Chip Kelly and I want you to take it seriously, despite the fact I'm about to point out the fallacy of my criticism. The larger point is to ignore that Kelly hasn't had a lot of touchdowns to work with and take my observation from a two game sample seriously and see how it proves my larger point." 

What do the numbers show so far? Eight of 15 on deuce tries, 146 of 155 on extra-point kicks. This suggests 100 two-point attempts would produce 106 points, while 100 extra-point kicks would produce 94 points. That seems a strong case for attempting a deuce.

I mean, it does seem like a strong case for attempting the two-point conversion league-wide when using a sample size of 100 touchdowns. I don't think this information can be viewed in this way though. Each team may have different success rates on the two-point conversion over a sample of 100 touchdowns. It's like saying college basketball teams should never shoot a two-point shot because the average 3-point percentage is 38.6%, while the average 2-point percentage is 47.0%. So if a team only shot 3-pointers for 100 shots then that team will score 116 points, while they would only score 94 points if they only shot two-point shots. These percentages aren't necessarily true for every single college basketball team, and in terms of football, each team won't convert a two-point conversion at a rate of 53%. Like much of the reason a college basketball team might make 38.6% of 3-point shots is because some of these are open shots and teams are selective when taking these shots, an NFL team may try a two-point conversion because they have a two-point conversion play they feel they can run effectively against a certain team's defense.  

Because the N.F.L. is pass-wacky, coaches who do go for two are showing an inclination to throw.

Gregg will provide information below about the percentage of successful two-point conversions when teams pass and when they run the ball. At no point will he provide information on how many times teams attempted to pass and attempted to run the ball on two-point conversions. So who knows if teams are showing an inclination to throw? Gregg never provides information showing this.

Sunday, the Steelers and the Packers went with empty backfields on deuce attempts. Rushing for two might up the odds of success, making the deuce more attractive.

Or it might not. Gregg will see the results of teams running the ball on two-point conversions and then base his opinion on the outcome, like he normally does. 

Scott Kacsmar of Football Outsiders — by a huge margin the best independent football website —

A huge margin. It's a landslide. Football Outsiders is 47.62% better than any other independent football website. Wait, did I use too much specificity for Gregg when rounding to the hundredth decimal?

recently analyzed all N.F.L. two-point tries from 1994 to 2014. He found that 44 percent of passing deuces were successful, while 56 percent of rushing deuces were.

I would be interested to know how many two-point attempts were rushes and how many were passing attempts. I feel like this would be interesting information for me to know in order to decide if the rushing attempts were successful because defenses predominantly are used to facing passing attempts on two-point conversions. 

The numbers show that N.F.L. coaches ought to try for two, and ought to do so by rushing. Instead they are avoiding the deuce, or when they do try for two, are ordering passes. This is National Football League resistance to change in a nutshell.

Yes, the NFL is resisting changing to a running league. For decades, passing has been the law around the NFL, while rushing has been given the short stick. But now, NFL teams need to run the ball more, despite the entire history of the NFL being a passing league and that's how touchdowns have traditionally been scored. 

The Steelers’ try succeeded, putting Pittsburgh ahead, 8-0, and firing up the home crowd. Seeing their coaches go all-in to win, rather than stick with “safe” tactics, seemed to fire up Steelers players, too, setting in motion a runaway victory.

These aggressive tactics fired up the Steelers team and that's why they won the game. The natural question would be why the aggressive tactics that Tom Coughlin showed the week before when trying to score a touchdown rather than running out the clock didn't fire up the Giants, but don't worry about the failure of non-"safe" tactics in helping the Giants lose a game and just focus on when "safe" tactics win games for NFL teams. There's no need to pay attention to when Gregg's contentions don't seem true and he instead criticizes a head coach for not playing it "safe." Do whatever ends up working, that's all Gregg asks for head coaches to do.

Did Bill Belichick Stage the PSIcheated Scandal to Get Brady Fired Up? Last season’s No. 1 pass defense was Seattle, and the No. 3 unit belonged to Buffalo. At the Super Bowl, Tom Brady threw for 328 yards against the best pass defense; Sunday, he torched the third-best pass defense for 466 yards. At times, Brady was toying with the Boastful Bills.

It's almost like Tom Brady is a really good quarterback or something. 

He completed 18 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns to Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, and it just never seemed to occur to Buffalo that Gronkowski and Edelman were being targeted.

OR, Gronkowski and Edelman are really good football players who find a way to get open when running the offensive plays called by Josh McDaniels, who is most likely calling plays in an effort to get these two players open. Simply because a team knows a certain receiver is being targeted doesn't mean that team can stop that receiver from catching the football. If that were true, then the best wide receivers in the NFL would barely catch any passes. There is a difference in knowing these two players are targeted and actually being able to stop these two players from catching the football. Because Gregg makes everything black and white, I wouldn't expect him to understand this difference. 

At Buffalo, the recent waiver-wire acquisitions Dion Lewis and Scott Chandler combined for nine receptions for 121 yards. Lewis, dubbed a bust by the Eagles, the Browns and the Colts,

Dion Lewis was a 5th round pick. I don't think any team will call a 5th round pick a "bust" by any stretch of the imagination. Gregg consistently fails to understand that some running backs fit the system one team may run better than he fits the system another team may run. The Patriots like pass catching running backs and lost Shane Vereen in free agency. The Eagles had Darren Sproles to catch passes and LeSean McCoy to run the football, so they didn't need Lewis on the team. I can't speak for the Browns and Colts, but maybe the Patriots know how to utilize Lewis better within their system. Either way, not one of those three teams think a 5th round pick is a "bust."

blitz-blocked well and ran two perfect “wheel” routes, the most challenging pass pattern for a tailback.

Yes, this wheel route is the most challenging pass pattern for all tailbacks. Every single one of them believe this. There are no exceptions and don't question this. 

Two undrafted free agents started on the New England offensive line and noticeably outperformed Buffalo’s megabucks defensive line of three Pro Bowlers.

How did the left tackle and right tackle for the Patriots do in this game? You know, the first and second round picks who have a combined cap hit of $12.6 million. Did they do okay during the game or they don't merit a mention since they aren't undrafted players? 

What is Belichick injecting these guys with? I’m guessing grape Ovaltine. But I’m still trying to confirm that story.

This is remarkably unfunny and incoherent. 

Stop Me Before I Blitz Again! Jersey/A leading Atlanta 20-17 with 1:53 remaining, the host Giants big-blitzed, leaving Julio Jones single-covered deep for a 38-yard touchdown reception that gave the visitors the lead.

Yeah, but why would any team double-cover Julio Jones? He's just a highly-paid glory boy who doesn't block in the run game and is singlehandedly to blame for the Falcons not making the playoffs in a given season.

I still love how Gregg considers Jones to be one of the best receivers in the NFL when it was just last year Gregg was discussing how the mega-trade for Jones didn't work out for the Falcons because of the team's record since drafting Jones. Gregg wants his readers to choose to not remember or simply forget about all the things he's written about Julio Jones since 2011. 

Defensive Tackles Cash In, Zone Out. Coming into the season, defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Marcell Dareus signed mega-contracts, each with around $60 million guaranteed. Both are celebrating by seeming to take the 2015 season off. Sunday, Suh’s stat line was one tackle, nothing else, as Miami lost to the woeful Jaguars. Sunday, the Bills’ Dareus was totally outplayed by the undrafted New England free-agent rookie David Andrews.

Yes, Suh is paid to get tackles, but that's not really all he does as a defensive tackle. Same thing for Dareus, but I get Gregg's point based on a one game sample size.

In the Dolphins’ opener, the cloak of invisibility was draped over Suh by the Washington rookie Brandon Scherff.

What else would you expect from a highly-paid, glory boy like Brandon Scherff? Though the Redskins are now 1-2, so the Redskins decision to draft Scherff has not paid off with wins. Using Gregg's logic to criticize Julio Jones, this must mean that Scherff was not worth the draft pick.

Sunday, Scherff neutralized Aaron Donald, who has been playing well.

Here is a great example of Gregg Easterbrook lying to his readers and hoping that no one has the energy to look his lie up. Welp, I have the energy and Gregg is a liar. Donald's line from the game:

0.5 sacks and three tackles. Is the really "neutralizing" Aaron Donald? At that rate, he would end the season with 8 sacks and 48 tackles. I'm pretty sure that would make him one of the best DT's in the NFL if those were his statistics over a full season.

N.F.L. received wisdom is that guards should not go high in the first round. Chosen fifth in the 2015 draft, Scherff is the highest-drafted guard since 1975, when Ken Huff was selected third over all.

Facts are so annoying! The Redskins drafted Scherff as a tackle and not a guard. Yes, he is currently playing tackle, but the plan was for Scherff to be a tackle in the NFL. So he can play both positions, but he wasn't drafted as a pure guard. 

All units, all units, be on the lookout for the Seattle Seahawks, who stretching back to last season have lost three straight. Then again, in 2014 the Seahawks opened 3-3 and looked blah: They ended that season one snap away from a Lombardi Trophy.

"Here's the point I want to prove about the Seahawks, they are just not very good, but don't listen to me because they have been not good in the past before and almost won the Super Bowl. Well, do listen to me, but don't listen to the parts I don't want you to pay attention to, which is mostly that you shouldn't be listening to me." 

All units, all units, be on the lookout for an explanation for the Washington defense, currently ranked No. 1.

After two games against the Rams and Dolphins. That was before they gave up 363 yards to the New York Giants. 

Undrafted and in the News. Undrafted Seth Roberts of Division II West Alabama — school of undrafted Malcolm Butler, Super Bowl hero — caught the winning touchdown pass as Oakland upset Baltimore.

Who threw the ball? Oh yeah, highly-paid glory boy second round pick Derek Carr. Nice how Gregg leaves that out.

Bot Meets Barbie. Maybe The Upshot’s 4th Down Bot should ask A.I. Barbie out. Their first-date conversation:

4th Down Bot: How’s your burrito? Hey, can you believe Chip Kelly punted on fourth-and-1 at midfield against the Cowboys?

A.I. Barbie: I love what you’ve done with your grappling hooks! And those new treads really complement your look.

4th Down Bot: People say I’m just a machine. Nobody understands me. You’ve been dealing with “she’s just a doll” for like 50 years. How do you handle it?

A.I. Barbie: I believe in gurl power! Why don’t you use your parents’ credit card to order some genuine Mattel fashion accessories for me?

This is shockingly unfunny. There's no punchline and no point to it. 

Johnny Football Report. Last season, Johnny Manziel started a game for the Browns in which his team had 38 snaps, a season low for the league. (N.F.L. teams average 64 snaps per game.) Sunday, Manziel started and the Browns won, with just 47 snaps. Nearly all of Cleveland’s passing offense came on two plays, completions of 60 and 50 yards. Defenses are choking up to stop Manziel from scrambling, which allows the occasional deep throw. But if Cleveland doesn’t snap the ball more, the Browns won’t go far.

I mean, yes and no. Yes, they won't go far if they don't snap the ball much because their defense is on the field and the offense can't manage to stay on the field. But no, they could go far if the Browns are possessing the football on long drives that lead to points on the board for the offense. 

I’d Rather Be Blue. Boise State is on a 94-4 run when playing at home. This has something to do with its recruiting edge over many opponents — the Broncos just had their way with lower-division Idaho State — and with Boise’s 2,700-foot elevation. But T.M.Q. thinks the blue turf is a factor. 

Yet all N.F.L. turf remains standard-issue. The City of Tampa Buccaneers (see explanation below) could make their ugly new video-game-icon uniforms less visible by playing on Creamsicle orange turf that harks back to the founding of the franchise. The Cleveland Browns could make their new kids-pajamas uniforms less visible by playing on turf that’s Tootsie Roll brown. The 49ers could install black turf as camouflage for their Black-Widow-inspired new unis. Why don’t N.F.L. teams explore the possibilities?

Because the NFL has a strict dress code about players can wear their socks and what celebrations a player can and can not do after a touchdown. Does Gregg really think the NFL will allow the Colts to paint their turf all blue? The NFL had a six month investigation into whether a football was missing air by a few tenths of the regulation PSI, but they are going to let the Saints have a gold field? Get the fuck out of here if this is a real question. 

Ye Gods. The Eagles have 70 yards rushing this season. DeMarco Murray has carried 21 times for 11 yards. At Dallas, Murray played behind the league’s best offensive line. Maybe his Boys stats were a reflection of the blocking.

Maybe a running back's statistics are partly dependent on how well his offensive line blocks for him! This is such an obvious observation I have no doubt that Gregg will have an entire TMQ dedicated to trying to figure out the answers. Yes, maybe the fact the Cowboys have the best offensive line in the NFL does have something to do with DeMarco Murray's great rushing statistics last year. Look for Gregg to explore this idea further in an upcoming TMQ. I have no doubt he will. 

Does Belichick Have Hillary’s Missing Emails? Bill Belichick is so paranoid that the team’s website says UNOFFICIAL DEPTH CHART lest an opponent glean some minute tactical advantage from knowing who’s third string at tight end.

Or he just wants everyone to know the Patriots have no official depth chart and will start certain players (especially running backs) depending on the matchup and which players he perceives will give the Patriots an advantage. I'm not sure Belichick is paranoid about opposing teams knowing the depth chart more than he wants people to be aware the depth chart changes on a weekly basis at times. 

College Punting Follies. Hosting Florida State in a high-profile N.C.A.A. game, Boston College punted on fourth-and-2 at midfield, then punted again on fourth-and-2 at midfield. Just to prove it was no fluke, the Eagles also punted in Florida State territory. With five minutes remaining and the visitors up, 14-0, then Boston College went for it. This demonstrates a pattern in coaching decisions on fourth down. Early in the game, when going for it on fourth down might help a team win — but also would expose the coach to criticism if the conversion attempt fails — coaches do the safe thing and order punts.

Yes, it was a "high-profile" NCAA game. I don't know if I understand what "high-profile" means in this situation, other than Florida State is a highly ranked team, but I don't think even Gregg knows what he's talking about much of the time. 

Adventures in Officiating. In the closing seconds of Texans at Panthers, there was confusing over whether a throwing motion was a pass or fumble; whether if a pass, it was grounding; whether Houston could avoid a 10-second runoff by calling a timeout after the fact; and what the clock should be reset to. Zebras required 6 minutes 15 seconds to figure out the spot, down and time remaining.

The official did go to the review booth I believe, so there seems to have been four separate things that needed to be determined on this play. So it's not shocking that it took over six minutes to figure it out, given the fact the official went to the replay booth and had to determine four separate issues on this play. 

Many big-college football coaches, including Nick Saban, yell four-letter-words at players on the sideline, behaving in abusive ways that would get a college professor suspended. Many college football coaches seem to view themselves as little gods;

Probably because the school treats them like little gods and therefore they end up viewing themselves that way. When the coach is the highest paid person at a university and he gets almost anything he wants, then you can see how he would view himself as a god. 

St. Louis at Washington Note. Since the 2012 RG3 mega-trade, Les Mouflons and the Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons are a combined 38-61-1, with only one above-.500 season in the six between these two clubs. This suggests the transaction was lose-lose.

This is partly why Gregg wrote last year in TMQ that mega-trades don't work. Except for that mega-trade for Julio Jones, which Gregg doesn't talk about anymore because the ridiculous bullshit he asserts about Jones being responsible for the Falcons record is even now too ridiculous and bullshitty for even Gregg to keep asserting.

Rex Ryan Boast of the Week. Ryan is nothing if not entertaining — his news conferences should have an opening monologue. Before the New England game, he mocked the Steelers for a blown coverage that left Rob Gronkowski uncovered, then assured “we’ll have somebody on him.” When Gronkowski flanked wide left in a goal-to-go situation — usually he flanks wide right — the Buffalo defense was confused. Cornerbacks were gesturing and shouting at one another; Ryan did not call a timeout. 

Maybe Rex Ryan should have called a timeout. That's a possibility. The problem is a team only has so many timeouts per half and coaches really don't like burning these timeouts. There's no way for a head coach to predict that if he doesn't call timeout then the other team will score a touchdown. Maybe I'm being too kind to head coaches, but by the time he sees the confusion then it's possible the offense has snapped the ball or he can't the attention of an official to call timeout. Gregg's suggestion is always just "Call a timeout" when that's not always a reasonable solution that can take place. 

Clearly the Patriots have zero respect for Ryan’s boasting, and hoped to increase the victory margin. Ryan talks a great game, Belichick barely talks at all. Which approach works?

Probably the approach that has Tom Brady as his team's quarterback. That is the approach I would take. 

T.M.Q. Lexicon Note. Tampa is the name of the place where the Buccaneers perform. Tampa Bay is a body of water. Thus to T.M.Q. this franchise is the City of Tampa Bucs. Since Green Bay is the city name, Green Bay Packers is fine.

Congratulations, Packers! Your name is fine and Gregg won't rename you with some stupid nickname that is the Gregg Easterbrook version of Peter King's Adieu Haiku. 

The Washington franchise name is offensive. The Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons nicely captures the spirit of the team, plus it’s pleasing to see Dan Snyder’s name near the word “drainage.”

I don't know why Gregg insists on giving an origin story for why he calls NFL teams these ridiculous nicknames. I'm just thankful that we missed the TMQ NFL season preview that really isn't a preview because all it does is talk about what happened with these NFL teams last year.

2 comments Jay Mariotti Writes Another Introductory Column for a Media Outlet Which Will Soon Get Tired of His Bullshit

As I detailed previously, Jay Mariotti has somehow managed to get another job writing. That means there is another introductory column that must be written. At this point, there is a template for what Jay will write in his introductory column (which, of course, won't stop me from covering this introductory column on this site):

1. He's not changed. He's still a rebel and will always do things his way.

2. He then proceeds to bash previous employers.

3. He tells the truth (from his own delusional point of view). That's all he's ever done.

4. He'll say there were too many corporate interests at his previous job and that's why he did the morally correct thing and beat a woman quit the job.

5. He's independent and proud of it. Mostly he's independent because nobody fucking likes him and therefore nobody wants to be around him.

6. He pled no contest to hitting a woman but he totally didn't do it. He only pled no contest because the criminal justice system is against rich, white men and his name would have been dragged through the mud. He didn't want his family to hear the bad things (all lies of course) that would be said about him, so he pled no contest for their sake. Apparently his family doesn't have the Internet, because there's very little positive said about Jay from former co-workers and anyone else who has ever met him.

7. He'll the tickle the taint of the local professional sports market in the hopes of gaining some converts before everyone hates him again.

Here is Jay's semi-annual introductory column for the "San Francisco Examiner." I can't wait to read his new introductory column after the "Examiner" tires of his constant antagonism and bullshit. And they will tire of him, because Jay Mariotti is the absolute fucking worst.

In the lobby of the Twitter building, which is near the Uber building and the Dolby building and a residential tower where $5,500 a month will get you 969 square feet and a parking spot, I visit a gourmet market that makes Saison look like Burger King. I examine a $75 bottle of 2007 Fiorita Brunello, check out a $67 jug of French lavender shampoo, consider a $130 slab of Jamon Iberico Pata Negra ("pure acorn fed Iberian pigs")

ALL OF WHICH JAY MARIOTTI CAN AFFORD! (Jay Mariotti continues swinging his dick around in the lobby of the Twitter building to the horror of bystanders)

and settle for a $6 ice cream cone. 

I'll just assume "$6 ice cream cone" is code for "a hand job from a hooker with herpes on her upper lip and two broken fingers."

Then I stroll outside, absorb the glory of a blue-skies-and-71 afternoon, head across Ninth Street ... and have to weave and shake like Steph Curry to avoid a fresh puddle of bubbly urine.

Jay mentioned a local hero. He's just like YOU! Love him, please. Adore him, he begs of you. He understands your local sports teams and his name-dropping of Steph Curry proves this.

And Jay Mariotti trying to avoid stepping in a puddle of urine is very metaphorical and would only be more metaphorical if Mariotti put the urine in a bottle, threw it on passing pedestrians and then found a way to make it seem like they were in the wrong for being angry at him as he cowered in one of the restrooms in the Uber building. 

That shower, truth be told, is among many reasons San Francisco is the best place to write in our thrive-or-die republic. It was left by a shouting homeless man whose pants are undone, one of thousands whose blighted survivalism is juxtaposed against the backdrop of the city's new rich. For a writer, this social clash is literary gold.

This is Jay's feeble attempt at "real" writing. As usual, it fails.

I said as much to my new editor-in-chief at the Examiner — "You should have someone just walking up and down Market Street every day" — and, for a moment, I thought I should be the man for that beat.

Jay just wants to roam the streets all day looking for another hand job from a hooker with herpes on her upper lip and two broken fingers. He can't fool me. 

But I am not here to cover gentrification and other ongoing dramas in the most complex and compelling of American cities.

Which is something that Jay has said similar about Chicago and Los Angeles. I'm not saying he beat that woman, but he does have a habit of journalistically saying "You know I love you baby, because you are such a special city" and then journalistically punching that city in the mouth on his way out of town.

After a career intermission that had more to do with catching my breath — roughly 7,000 columns and 1,700 ESPN TV appearances, hundreds of radio shows, 14 Olympic Games, 24 Super Bowls, travel to five continents —

Here comes the justifications again. Jay Mariotti wasn't really fired from ESPN for his legal troubles. His Sports Talk Florida site didn't fail miserably while other sports journalists that Jay compares himself to being on par with had their site succeed, it's just that he WANTED to take some time off. Jay is glad he got fired from ESPN, because he was completely looking to take some time off from his career anyway. If Jay has to beat the shit out of someone to get another career break, then it will be totally worth it to him. It's not that his promised multi-media platform at Sports Talk Florida failed, it's that they didn't support him the way he needed to be supported. Not to mention, Jay really wanted to take a break from his career. You know, even though he stated he had just taken a break from his career in his introductory column at Sports Talk Florida.

than a recklessly reported legal case,

Haha...okay, Jay. Keep blaming the media you work for. Keep blaming those who jump to conclusions just like you have jumped to conclusions during your entire career. You are always the victim. There isn't a cross big enough for you to martyr yourself upon, as you have been done so wrong by the legal system and the media.

Last time I had the potential for this much fun, Snoop Dogg was staring me down before an "Around The Horn" taping, saying, "Who do you think you is?"

Last time Jay had this much fun he was working for the company that he tried to work for again but they wouldn't take him back. But it's okay, because Jay is delusional and has convinced himself a break was good for him.

Who do I think I is?

I'm the Diddy by the Bay.

God, you are the fucking worst.

San Francisco has been the place for flower children, poets, gold-rushers, tech dreamers, drifters, politicos, and reinventists. Now, I dare say, this is the place for sportswriters. In Chicago, a previous stop of 17 years, I often bemoaned lousy owners and bad teams who were in bed with corrupt media, including two baseball franchises that have won one World Series over a collective 203 seasons.

The Chicago baseball franchises weren't successful enough to support a sportswriter of Jay's vast abilities. He can't have the failures of the Chicago baseball teams drag him down like the big mean American legal system dragged him down.

Here, the Warriors play the most exciting basketball on the planet, led by the incomparable Curry, whose swag and splash on the court are matched by his decorum and charity work off it (as His Barackness quickly figured out and glommed onto). Here, the formerly regal 49ers are in a chaotic and cursed freefall, thanks to a front office that (1) allowed internal politics and professional resentment to subvert Jim Harbaugh's ultra-successful reign; (2) chose a curious successor in tongue-tied, unproven Jim Tomsula; (3) absorbed a mass exodus of high-character leaders; and (4) watched helplessly as Chris Borland, my early leader for Sportsman of the Year, prioritized his long-term wellness over his prowess as a 24-year-old linebacker.

Oh, Jay has a vote for Sportsman of the Year? Wait, no he doesn't have a vote. So whoever the fuck is his "early leader" for this award doesn't matter one damn bit because he doesn't get a vote. It's like if I stated who my early leader for an Academy Award was. No one gives a shit because I don't get a vote.

Here, you have David Shaw, the coach the 49ers should have hired, mixing football prominence with Stanford's cooler-than-Harvard academic boom.

The 49ers should have hired David Shaw, regardless of whether he wanted to be hired by the 49ers or not. David Shaw is Jay's early leader for Time Man of the Year, so it would have been smart for the 49ers to hire him.

And what is coming next winter? Did you say the Super Bowl? Imagine life as the first city to win a World Series, win an NBA Finals and host a Super Bowl in a 15-month period.

Imagine the Raiders building a new stadium and Jay Mariotti being buried beneath it. In 15 months, that will be the real dream for citizens of the San Francisco area.

Amid those possibilities, I arrive as the sports director and lead columnist at the Examiner, which makes me a management guy for the first time and probably sparks visions of Bart Simpson being handed keys to the corporate bathroom.

A Bart Simpson reference from Jay Mariotti. It's always 1998 in the delusional, ego-driven world that Jay Mariotti lives in.

Someone suggested I print Zuckerberg-like business cards — "I'm Sports Director, Bitch" — but a wiser idea is putting together smart, gritty, daily sports coverage

It looks like auto-correct changed "shitty, daily sports coverage" to "gritty, daily sports coverage." I think the "Examiner" readers will understand what Jay really meant after they read his columns.

My mission statement as a columnist, and as an editor by extension, is fierce independence.

Jay's message as an editor, columnist and part of the "Examiner" team is "Fuck you, he isn't a part of a team, because he's better than you (starts listing how many Super Bowls he's covered while leaving out how many bridges he's burned)."

We will be big on topicality, immediacy, and perspective. On my watch, we will not drive traffic with trash,

The only conclusion I can draw from Mariotti insisting the "Examiner" won't drive traffic with trash is that Jay Mariotti plans on firing himself. What's really funny is the "Examiner" hired Mariotti AS the trash that drives traffic. As usual, Mariotti isn't self-aware enough to realize traffic won't be driven with trash columns because he is the trash that drives traffic.

I'll repeat what I've placed on my personal site — jaymariotti.com — for some time:

The legal system is really mean and biased against white men, so you would rather plead guilty and be known as the guy who admitted to hitting a woman rather than spend all the money you most certainly have to fight the charges that you so strongly insist were false?

Translation: No one is telling me what to write or say.

Except for the voices in Jay's head that have convinced him he is a good person and his writing isn't the crap that drives traffic to sites. These voices are most certainly telling Jay what to write or say. It's either listen to them or face the reality that nobody fucking likes him and he only gets hired when a media outlet is so desperate for pageviews they have to dig to (ahem) the bottom of the sportswriting barrel.

It wasn't that way at ESPN — where the North Carolina academic-fraud scandal hasn't been attacked with nearly the energy of other sports investigations, perhaps because the company president is a Tar Heel. We were told to reserve comments on our TV show when the network was cutting a massive college football deal or doing urgent soccer business. In Chicago radio, I was ordered to sign a form promising I wouldn't criticize the White Sox and Bulls — the station was trying to do a rights-fee deal with the teams' insufferable owner, Jerry Reinsdorf — and when I refused, I was fired the day after Christmas.

Notice how Jay always paints himself as the guy standing up for the morally correct thing. Jay didn't plead no contest to hitting a woman, he plead no contest only because the court system is so corrupt and pleading this way was the only way to save his reputation by ruining it. Jay wasn't fired from this ESPN job due to bad performance or the fact nobody fucking likes him, but he was fired because he refused to have his strict moral compass pointing away from the journalistic integrity that he believes he stands for. There's always a reason why Jay has failed and it's always because he was doing the right thing when the world is inevitably conspiring against him.

At the Chicago Sun-Times, I was told to avoid certain Reinsdorf-related topics and rip the Cubs at will (they were owned then by the rival Tribune) when I wasn't being threatened in press boxes by wacko colleagues, forearm-shivered against a wall by an editor-in-chief, navigating through a cesspool where the paper's top two executives wound up in jail or dealing with a national firestorm after the White Sox manager, twice-since-fired Ozzie Guillen, called me a "(bleeping) fag."

Interesting that Mariotti won't write "fucking" but has no issue with writing "fag." I don't know, it seems like both are words that probably wouldn't need to be printed.

He did so while criticizing me for not going to his clubhouse, conveniently disregarding that too many visits had become setups in which someone would try to start an incident with me, creating news I did not wish to make.

The news that Jay wished to make at the time was threaten Ozzie Guillen in print and then stay tucked away safely in his office. But of course Jay was the one being threatened and his cowardice to back up his words with actions was only him taking the high road. Jay doesn't want to get in a fight with a man, he only fights women, and so he was just taking the high road by cowering behind the words written in his column.

No intimidation tactic stopped me from writing what the hell I wanted, until I realized in 2008 that a dysfunctional paper had no real future,

Actually, you indicated at the time that all newspapers don't have a future. Let's not revise history to cover up for the fact that you are, again, working at a newspaper in an industry that you once so confidently stated had no future. Upon leaving the "Sun-Times" you indicated newspapers were dying and that's why you were leaving. Yet, here you are seven years later suckling back at the newspaper teat until they get rid of your ass and you decide newspapers are dying again.

prompting me to hand back a million bucks in guaranteed money and resign peacefully. 

A million dollars? I've never seen a million dollars before. Boy, that sure is a lot of money for Jay to give back and must mean he was in the right! No one would give up that amount of money unless he/she had a really good reason!

Not dealing with it well, the paper had Roger Ebert, the legendary film critic, call me "a rat" in an open letter.

Let's revisit that letter, which puts in writing what many of Jay's co-workers and former co-workers think about him.

And notice in the introduction it's made perfectly clear that Jay said newspapers were dead, not that the "Sun-Times" specifically was dead. It's amazing to me how Jay can just ignore things that don't conveniently match his assertions. He's really a horrible person. It's why I don't believe he didn't hit that woman and I pretty much believe nothing he writes. He's a liar and bad person. Too many people have testified to this fact over the years.

And yes, I will always side with Roger Ebert on matters that involve Jay Mariotti.

I weighed offers and signed a deal as national columnist at America Online, one of those web initiatives that talked big, threw money at dozens of writers, then cut bait — as it struck a content deal with Arianna Huffington.

And again, as is the trend, Jay didn't do anything wrong and he was done wrong in some fashion. It's not that he failed at AOL or the job he was doing wasn't enough to financially satisfy AOL, it's that they cut a content deal with Arianna Huffington. Because most companies will ruin a successful business venture just for the sake of cutting a deal. Jay did nothing wrong and his performance was exemplary as always. Most writers of Jay's self-believed stature would be highly sought after, but Jay wasn't. One would think that the writing industry would know he got a raw deal at the "Sun-Times" and AOL, then sign him up to write for them. After all, it wasn't Jay's fault things didn't work out at those two media outlets, so the offers should come rolling in, right? Well, no...

I wrote a book, then tried a national writing-and-radio content site only to realize such "boutique" destinations need constant investment infusions from entrepreneurs.

They need constant investment infusions from entrepreneurs because Jay's radio show and columns weren't bringing in enough money. That's why Sports Talk Florida failed, because Jay has quickly become relevant only when it comes to hating him. Otherwise, he's not taken seriously and no one fucking likes him.

So Jay really didn't think that Sports Talk Florida would take constant infusions of money to become as big as Grantland? Really? He is that stupid as to think Grantland would succeed if ESPN money and the writing staff assembled for Grantland wasn't part of the project? Jay's ego is so big he thought he could build a Grantland-type site all by himself? It turns out that Jay is as smart of a businessman as he is a liar when it comes to explaining his past failures and actions.

The internet has enabled too much irresponsibility and ignorance. A business that is wilder and younger still must have professional standards, or it becomes an Alfred E. Neuman self-parody that no one takes seriously and has the believability of a seventh-grade bathroom wall.

I'm choking on irony here. It's like hearing Westboro Baptist preach about love and acceptance of others, no matter the differences we all have. Jay Mariotti's writing is a self-parody that nobody takes seriously and displays so much ignorance. Check the archives on this site for proof. He's good to hate and for pageviews, but even after a while those pageviews decrease because Jay has nothing to offer in terms of sportswriting abilities.

To recap, I was accused of domestic violence offenses I did not commit by a plaintiff who tried, without success, to win a financial reward in a civil suit. Not only did that suit fail quickly, the original case was dismissed and expunged ("Not guilty," read the court documents), which means there was no conviction. Expungements, as The New York Times recently noted, are issued rarely and with considerable diligence.

And yet, Jay pled no contest. The original case was dismissed and expunged, but he still pled no contest.

I've maintained my innocence from the start, never acknowledged guilt, and only pleaded no contest four years ago because coverage of the case was absurdly one-sided against me and littered with false allegations published as facts.

Who will stand up for the rich, white males of society?

Pleading no contest allowed me to save the half-million dollars (or more) in additional legal fees required in a Los Angeles court proceeding so I could keep my youngest daughter in college, important when ESPN played judge and jury from 3,000 miles away and removed me from its TV show without contacting me or my attorney.

Boy, the million dollars in guarantees Jay gave up from the "Sun-Times" really would have come in handy right about this point wouldn't it? I guess this is the price Jay pays for having such a strict moral compass.

Know this: Just because someone is accused doesn't mean he is guilty, and just because one pleads no contest doesn't mean he is acknowledging guilt. I did not hit anyone. I did not stalk anyone. I do not hit or stalk people.

Right, pleading no contest isn't acknowledging guilt, it's just acknowledging that you probably can't win the case. And of course, it's not because the evidence was against Jay that he couldn't win the case, but because the judicial system is conspiring against him that he couldn't win the case. He's ever the martyr.

No one abhors domestic violence more than I, as the father of two amazing grown daughters who never were exposed to it, and no one was more disgusted by the Ray Rice video last year — not only the sheer hideousness but the chilling reality that every public figure accused of this crime, whether that person is guilty or not, is bound to be associated with Rice.

Typical Jay Mariotti. Jay doesn't give a shit about Janay Rice, instead he's disgusted by the fact the video of Ray Rice striking his fiance (now wife) will make people recall he pled no contest to domestic violence and ponder hypothetically what happened in that situation which resulted in a no contest plea. Jay Mariotti only gives a shit about Jay Mariotti. The Ray Rice case was about him and Janay Rice getting hit was only relevant in how it reflected on Jay Mariotti.

Since the announcement of my appointment at the Examiner, how many news outlets have written about the expungement even after the Chronicle grudgingly reported it? None that I've seen.

Jay, you are reaping what you have sown. If you treat people like shit, then people are going to treat you like shit. No one in the media gives a shit about your expungement because nobody fucking likes you. This is all the bad shit you have done in your life coming right back at you. You can keep taking a piss on others while are at a job and after you have left that job, but at some point it's someone else's turn to take a piss on you. Hope you enjoyed it. You reap what you sow, you get treated as you treat others. If you want others to treat you fairly, try treating others fairly.

But the good news is this gives Jay another chance to play the martyr. It's not his fault he's treated his colleagues like shit through the years. Why won't the big, bad media do their job and correct the misconception? Why? Because nobody fucking likes him.

I'd suggest media outlets require all writers and editors to take law classes.

Since Jay is an editor now, he can force the "Examiner" staff to take law classes. Then he can not attend those classes himself because he's fiercely independent.

We will cover media, including ESPN, when necessary for our readers. We will be fair, but we won't tolerate amateurs and arrogance — such as, ESPN's sneaky habit of taking credit for stories first broken by other outlets. I cast a critical eye at the media behemoth long before I worked there,

Oh yes, Jay was working and collecting a paycheck for ESPN, but he ALWAYS HAD HIS EYE ON THEM! Thank God that Jay Mariotti is around to collect a huge paycheck from ESPN and make sure the company stays on their toes. He's the undercover ombudsman ESPN didn't even know it had.

wasn't allowed to when I did work there for eight years, and will continue to do so now, understanding the network's powerful, all-encompassing place in sports and how it impacts fans.

But let's be factual and out of fantasy land for a second. This "behemoth" that Jay talks about, he was in talks to work there again and doesn't mind doing freelance writing for ESPN. If ESPN called tomorrow and offered him a job then he would leave the "Examiner" in a heartbeat to work for ESPN. As I have shown previously, Jay will always bash previous employers or companies that won't hire him. Then he forgets he bashed these companies once they choose to hire him. Jay was casting a critical eye as the undercover ombudsman and was only trying to write freelance for ESPN (I guess that's what it was, he only wrote one column) just to get closer to the behemoth he didn't trust.

It has been fun getting away from this psycho media swirl and discovering new peeps in California

You should be dragged behind a team of wild horses for writing "discovering new peeps."

The Chronicle reporter asked me if I understood the "political atmosphere in San Francisco." All I know about the atmosphere is that the Warriors have an easier path to the NBA Finals by avoiding Kevin Durant in the first round, the Giants already are down Hunter Pence in a dreaded odd-numbered year, and the 49ers are looking dumb and doomed.

Oh man, Jay is REALLY going to bash the 49ers. Pretty soon Jay will be hiding behind his desk as Jim Tomsula threatens his physical well-being.

Recently, I spoke to a media class at Northwestern University. Most questions were about how to find a job in today's tight market.

Be sure everyone hates you, ensure your writing serves as a temporary fix for what ails the paper, then take a huge shit on all your co-workers as you walk out the door for what you will insist is a better job.

I told the students to practice their writing, video, and audio crafts every day, on their own websites and blogs, and that if they can withstand rejection and pain, the business remains very satisfying and worthwhile. I said I've had good reasons to try other life options, but that I'd decided to accept a terrific job in a spectacular city after a few challenging moments.

Oh, a terrific newspaper job! A job with the newspaper industry that Jay described as dying a short seven years ago. Weird how that works.

Sometimes, you just have to step around some pee to appreciate the $6 ice cream cone.

And sometimes you have to hire a guy who will pee on you and your paper's reputation in order to get short-term pageviews. Welcome back Jay! Now go away.

2 comments Don't Worry Roger Goodell, Lanny Davis Has Your Back

Roger Goodell has taken a beating lately. I think rightfully so. He was too lenient on domestic violence accusations against NFL players, lied about what he knew in a specific domestic violence situation and then while NFL teams were trying to figure out how to handle their own players accused of domestic violence, Goodell was absent seemingly giving no direction. Maybe he gave direction behind the scenes, but it seems awfully convenient that Goodell gets super-serious about hammering out a drug policy with the NFLPA when NFL teams are floundering around trying to figure out the best way to separate themselves from players and not get sued by the NFLPA. Regardless, Lanny Davis thinks Roger Goodell deserves a chance. Apparently the public has too high of expectations for a person making $44 million per year. The owners of the Panthers, Ravens, and Vikings should have been more present, but Goodell works for the owners and takes great pride in punishing players in order to protect the Shield. Yet, he's been one of the ones hurting the reputation of the Shield. Still, he just needs a chance. Let him have a few more chances to get this right.

Editor's note: Lanny Davis, a Washington attorney and former special counsel to President Clinton, specializes in legal crisis management. He is executive vice president of Levick Communications and the author of "Crisis Tales: Five Rules for Coping with Crises in Business, Politics, and Life" (Simon and Schuster/Threshold, 2014). He represented the Washington Redskins on matters including the controversy over the team's name until January; he has not represented the NFL or Roger Goodell. The opinions in this commentary are those of Lanny Davis. 

Yes, Lanny Davis has not represented Goodell or the NFL. He has just represented an NFL team regarding a potential name change of that team and Roger Goodell is the commissioner of the NFL and agrees with Davis's position on the issue. So other than representing one of the NFL owners Roger Goodell works for and furthering a position Goodell agrees with, Lanny Davis has nothing to do with the NFL.

Is there any way to ... well ... 

To use too many ellipsis in one sentence? Yes, there is. And that's strong coming from me, a person who uses and misuses ellipsis way too often because I have no regard for traditional grammar rules.

defend Roger Goodell?

Well, yes.

Lanny Davis defended Bill Clinton, helped birth Seth Davis, has helped out to defend the Redskins name, and has worked for overseas presidents who are dictators and commit human rights violations. Defending Roger Goodell? Piece of cake. 

When everyone is piling on, it's time to take a breath and say: We need more facts, less reliance on media reports based on anonymous sources and over-heated pundits who are too ready to rush to judgment.

So here is an opinion from an over-heated pundit who isn't rushing to judgment at all, and in fact is making no judgment, just pointing out no one should worry about facts or opinions right now and just give Roger Goodell another chance. 

As I said on CNN's Michael Smerconish show on Saturday morning, of course Commissioner Goodell made a huge mistake in his decision to give Ravens running back Ray Rice only a two-game suspension after seeing the videotape of Rice dragging his then-girlfriend, Janay Palmer, unconscious, with apparent indifference, out of an Atlantic City casino elevator on February 15.

By the way, the guy who wants more facts and is totally up-to-date on the situation, and isn't just writing this column because he wants to defend Goodell due to his previous affiliation with the NFL, feels so strongly about this situation he HAD to write about it...well, he called Ray Rice the Ravens "free safety" in this column until it was corrected. 

Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Ray Rice's football position. He is a running back.

I agree. We need more facts and less uneducated opinions on this topic. That's why Lanny Davis thinks Ray Rice should not be signed by another NHL team until he has undergone counseling and should not be under consideration for the Cy Young Award this year. Lanny feels strongly about this. 

(Roger Goodell leans over and whispers something in Lanny Davis's ear, but Davis waves him off)

A month later Goodell realized he had made a terrible mistake, 

(Goodell leans in again and Davis waves him off again saying he'll get to that)

sending a wrong message that domestic violence by NFL players was not all that serious and, thus, putting his own professional reputation and the NFL brand at risk.

Wow, these sound like some really heartfelt comments from Davis. Goodell is so sorry he almost fucked up the NFL's brand by not taking domestic violence seriously. The most important things to Goodell in his situation are his professional reputation and the NFL brand---wait, that's not right. I mean, Goodell cares about women and the fact they spend money on NFL apparel, but it would hurt the women too if Roger Goodell's reputation got hurt or the NFL brand was at risk. So Goodell is looking out for the women by looking out for himself and the NFL. I'm sure they understand.

So Roger knows he let everyone down by hurting the NFL bra---by not taking domestic violence seriously enough and hurting his professiona---Goodell understands he ruined some of the trust women had in him to make the right decisions. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? WHY IS THIS ALWAYS ABOUT YOU WOMEN? JESUS, WE LET YOU VOTE AND DRIVE. WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO YOU NEED? ROGER AIN'T ABOUT TO GROVEL. ROGER MAKES $44 MILLION PER YEAR AND HE DON'T GROVEL FOR NO BITCHES. 

But then he turned in the right direction, following the three basic rules of crisis management, whether in business, politics, or life.

This is brilliant isn't it? The public should forgive Roger Goodell because he's really fucking good at crisis management. Apparently Roger wants to be treated like a four year old who isn't totally potty-trained yet. Sure, he shits his pants sometimes, but then he apologizes, makes cute faces and promises he'll tell you when he has to go to the potty again. Forgive Roger Goodell because he's really good at following the rules of crisis management. I am sure this makes sense to Lanny Davis. 

First, he acknowledged that he made a mistake and took personal responsibility.

So repeatedly setting up friendly interviews, probably lying in those interviews, ducking the public when he can't answer questions in a controlled setting and then hiding while NFL teams struggle with how to punish their players who have been accused of violence against women or children, is taking personal responsibility. In that case, kudos to Roger Goodell for taking personal responsibility. 

He showed that he understood, albeit belatedly, how serious male violence against women is. In his August 28 letter to all NFL owners, Goodell wrote: "I didn't get it right. Simply put, we have to do better."

Oh yes, you can tell by the "we" in that sentence Roger Goodell is taking personal responsibility. Just like Ray Rice's wife took personal responsibility for her part in getting herself knocked the fuck out. 

I'm not a smart man, but when writing an official statement on a topic I don't think using the term "we" is taking personal responsibility necessarily. It's what is called "the proverbial we" which basically means "I am not taking personal responsibility, but will take some responsibility along with other unnamed people." 

In an accompanying memorandum that would be distributed to all personnel in the NFL, he wrote, in bold-faced dark letters, the following:

He used bold-faced dark letters! This indicates super-seriousness. He must be forgiven. If the letters are bold, no grudge must you hold. 

"Domestic violence and sexual assault are wrong. They are illegal. They are never acceptable and have no place in the NFL under any circumstances."

"Which I know now. Please don't hurt my reputation because I didn't take domestic violence seriously enough in the beginning. I had no idea, until recently, that punching a woman was even illegal. Usually I have my assistant punch my wife for me, so I had no idea that an arrest could result. We are taking personal responsibility and we are sorry." 

Second, he laid out a detailed forward-looking mandatory education and training program to implement this policy. 

I'm loving that Lanny Davis thinks Roger Goodell should be forgiven, not for any other reason than he is very good at crisis management. This sounds like the typical out-of-touch bullshit that politicians try to shovel down the throat of Americans. If I were mad at Goodell, I should forgive him because he's good at public relations. 

The third rule is to authorize an independent investigation to answer all the questions and verify the facts. And that is exactly what happened. Of course the emphasis is on the word "independent."

Which is why two NFL owners are overseeing this "independent" investigation. I'm pretty sure Lanny Davis doesn't understand the concept of the term "independent" if he thinks two NFL owners overseeing an investigation makes that investigation independent. Not only that, two of Goodell's most loyal owners are overseeing this investigation. I'm surprised Goodell didn't put his wife, Jerry Richardson, and himself to oversee the investigation. That's pretty much the only way this investigation couldn't feel less independent. 

Two owners, John Mara of the New York Giants and Art Rooney II of the Pittsburgh Steelers, both of whom are attorneys,

Lanny, I don't think stating someone is an attorney holds quite the trust factor you think it holds. Especially since these two attorneys are incredibly wealthy people who also happen to be the owners of two NFL teams and Goodell works for them. 

appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller III to conduct the investigation of how Goodell and the NFL headquarters handled the Rice matter.

Two attorneys who are also NFL owners and the former FBI Director who now has a law firm which just helped the NFL negotiate a contract with DirectTV in 2009. See, it's independent!

Mara and Rooney publicly guaranteed that Mueller will have full access to all information and all individuals. They have committed in advance to make the report public. It is safe to assume that anyone who refuses to cooperate with Mueller will be out.

Except Roger Goodell. No matter what happens, he's in. 

I have read about doubts about Mueller's objectivity because he comes from a large law firm that has ties to the NFL. My response: Nonsense.

Lanny Davis can read you know. Lanny didn't want to mention this, but he's also an attorney. Yeah, he has a law degree. He's read the doubts about whether Mueller will be objective because he has worked alongside the NFL and NFL teams in the past. But his response is that he doesn't want this to be true, so in his mind, it won't be. Take that. In your face. 

Robert Mueller is a former United States attorney, senior U.S. Justice Department official, and one of the most respected FBI directors in history.

Oh, Mueller is an attorney AND bureaucrat? Well, why didn't you say so? More importantly, does Mueller follow the three rules of crisis management? That is really the most important sign of what kind of man he is. 

Washington is a tough town. I don't know of a single person in DC who knows Mueller who doesn't regard him as "untouchable" -- a modern-day Eliot Ness, tough with the highest level of integrity.

I don't know. I would maybe talk to Andrew Card or Alberto Gonzales. They may be wrong to feel this way, but I think Lanny Davis probably is using hyperbole here. 

If Mueller finds that Roger Goodell lied about not seeing the second videotape or about what he was told by Ray Rice on July 16 when they met behind closed doors, Goodell will no longer be NFL commissioner. And Goodell knows that.

So Roger Goodell should get another chance because: 

1. He's good at crisis management. He follows all three rules required to manage a crisis. 

2. He didn't know domestic violence was so serious and corrected the two game suspension of Ray Rice after finding out domestic violence is indeed serious. 

3. Goodell really did hire an independent investigator to find out if he lied or not. Sure, two of his loyal supporters who are NFL owners are the ones choosing the independent investigator, but see #1. That's how to manage a crisis. 

4. The independent investigator probably isn't on the take and will be serious about trying to find out what was told to Goodell behind closed doors. He'll do the job he was hired to do! 

So while Commissioner Goodell made some serious mistakes and dug himself and the NFL into a deep hole, he did a pretty good job of crisis management,

That's true, but the issue here isn't how well Goodell managed the crisis, but about whether he lied and deceived the public about what he was told by Rice and when. That is the issue at hand and why some people think Goodell should be fired. It goes to show how out-of-touch Lanny Davis is that he believes anyone gives a shit whether Goodell managed the crisis well or not. It's about what created the crisis. That is the issue. In Washington, maybe people get credit for following a crisis management handbook, but in the real world it is the actions behind what created the crisis that determines whether a person should keep his job or not. 

Now after all the media and pundit frenzy, it is up to all of us to take a breath and wait for Mr. Mueller to complete his work -- and to let proven, verified facts speak louder and more persuasively than innuendo and anonymous sources.

It sounds great. Lanny Davis is assuming that everyone gets their day in court to prove what facts are correct and what innuendo and anonymous sources are incorrect. That's not how it works though. Ask Ben Roethlisberger if Roger Goodell cares about proven, verified facts more than he cares about innuendo, anonymous sources and the mere perception that some wrong was done. 

If only we could do that.

Oh, if "we" could do that? Does that mean "we" are taking personal responsibility for this to happen? 

I think Roger Goodell is going to get out of this Ray Rice crisis unscathed and with his job as NFL Commissioner still intact. Maybe it's right, maybe it isn't, but Roger Goodell doesn't deserve another chance because he's good at crisis management. 

Don't worry Roger, Lanny Davis has your back on this one. Things change, but the good ol' boy system still works.

5 comments The Idea of Derek Jeter Not Being in the Playoffs During His Final Season Sends Kevin Kernan Into an Emo-Depression

There has been a lot of gritting of teeth and overall sadness among sportswriters that the 2014 season is Derek Jeter's last season. There has been a lot of commenting about how the game won't find another anti-PED face of baseball, the Yankee dynasty is over, and various other complaints about how baseball will never be the same again until it is the same again. Kevin Kernan takes a different approach. He tries a little emo-whining about how it JUST CAN'T end like this for Derek Jeter. It's not possible (kicks a wall), it's not fair (grits his teeth while fighting back tears) and this just can't be the end (puts on a Cure shirt and lights up a cheap cigarette while smoking silently on the curb).

IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!

It can’t end like this for Derek Jeter.

IT CAN'T! This isn't right.

Why God, why???????

The way the Yankees are playing, there will be no October in Jeter’s final season.

Cancel the upcoming MLB season. It's bad enough Jeter isn't playing baseball for the Yankees anymore after this season, but for Jeter to not make the playoffs in his last season? It's like God has punched Kevin Kernan in the balls and then torn up all the Derek Jeter posters that line the poorly-lit room that no one knows about behind Kernan's study, which has a bookcase sitting in front of it in order to block anyone from seeing there is a false wall there. It feels not good, like all of Kernan's dreams have been cruelly mocked.

The Yankees have lost four straight heading into Friday night’s game against the Rays at Tropicana Field. In those losses, they’ve managed to score seven runs.

Derek Jeter was 2 for 16 in those four games with two strikeouts and zero walks. I can't imagine how it could be partly his fault the Yankees had lost four straight games. It can't end like this. Jeter's teammates need to pick him up and help him make one last postseason. How can they let Jeter down like this while he's out there grinding and having the worst statistical year of his career? IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS! Kevin Kernan craves more Jeter mediocrity.

They are the world’s most expensive mediocre baseball team.

Led by their mediocre hitting shortstop who Kernan is bemoaning won't get an opportunity to play in one last postseason. Of course, through this entire article where Kernan bemoans how the Yankees won't make one last playoffs with Jeter as the starting shortstop, at no point does he point to Jeter's own performance as a possible reason for this. The Jeter is to be praised, not criticized.

They are eight games back of the Orioles in the AL East, that race is over. In the watered-down wild card, the Yankees are 4 behind and must jump three teams to make it to the “survivor’’ version of playoff baseball.

And of course, where does the blame lie? With Jeter's teammates who aren't doing a good job of playing well enough to get Jeter into the postseason one last time. If this article were about the unfortunate nature of Jeter's career ending like it is ending statistically, it would make sense. Unfortunately, it's an article of emo-whining about what a great player Jeter is in the playoffs and how he needs one last chance to be the ultimate October (and November, don't forget November!) hero.

Jeter has played 16 Octobers and knows something about November baseball as well. October is his time. In his first five Octobers the Yankees won four World Series championships, and Jeter was the MVP of the 2000 World Series win over the Mets.

Much like a pro-Jack Morris for the Hall of Fame article, a "Derek Jeter is retiring" article has to have the same key elements every time. It must mention The Flip, it must mention how super-clutchy great he was in the World Series, it must mention what a great guy he is, must bemoan he is leaving as if his performance hasn't declined, and it must completely ignore saying anything negative about Jeter in any fashion.

Not that I expect an article about Jeter retiring to be negative throughout it's entire contents. Any "Chipper Jones is retiring" article left out his rendezvous with a Hooters waitress in Michigan, but at least that's an off-the-field thing, while any article on Jeter doesn't seem to contain the truth that it's probably good he's leaving after this year if his on-the-field performance is any indication.

The Captain is at his best in October, where he carries a lifetime .308 postseason batting average.

Yes, but unfortunately The Captain and his team have to play well enough during the regular season to be in the postseason.

The Flip was made on Oct. 13, 2001. No play better exemplifies Jeter’s winning approach, his creativeness and his ability to be in the right place at the right time.

What if Jeter was planning on creating The Flip 2 in the 2014 playoffs? THIS CAN'T BE ALL THERE IS!

Instead of The Flip, here in 2014, the Yankees are giving us The Flop.

They can’t stand up to the challenge.

The challenge of what? Making the playoffs? The challenge of supporting a shortstop who may have made a great baseball play 13 years ago, but is now just a singles hitter who doesn't hit as many singles as he used to? The Yankees didn't make the playoffs during Mariano Rivera's last season either. Somehow, the world continued turning.

At the age of 40, Jeter was supposed to go out the right way, playing October baseball and letting the chips fall where they may.

So many emotions. That's how Kevin Kernan feels right now. It's turning him into a sad little Derek Jeter fan-boy. Jeter was supposed to go out the right way, with his team being eliminated by a superior team in the Wild Card playoff (which I still hate) or during the ALDS. No other legend, unless you want to count the majority of Hall of Famers, went out not being at the top of their game and winning a World Series. Derek Jeter deserves better than the fate he laid out for himself by choosing to play one more season for the Yankees.

Yankees fans dreamed of him going out the way he came in — his first full season in 1996 — a champion.

Very astute observation by Kernan. Yankees fans dreamed of winning the World Series this year. This is very different from past seasons when they didn't care if the Yankees won the World Series or not.

The Steinbrenners put a fortune on the table this past offseason to try to bring the Yankees and Jeter one more October after the lost season of 2013.

DEREK JETER WOULD NEVER HAVE HAD TO RETIRE WITHOUT ANOTHER WORLD SERIES VICTORY THIS YEAR IF GEORGE STEINBRENNER WERE STILL ALIVE!

Jeter has played in 158 postseason games, essentially another entire season, and has accumulated 650 at-bats and a nice round Jeterian number of hits, 200, and a .374 on-base percentage in the biggest games of them all.

I've never seen Jeter's statistics recited before. How come no other sportswriter has ever done this? But wait, there's more! Jeter isn't just about tangibles, he's also completely about intangibles. Those things you can't measure that he has more of than other baseball players. Those immeasurable attributes the sportswriters find a way to measure and explain Jeter has more of than others.

His game, though, always has been about heart and hustle and finding ways to win, not cold numbers. As he said last week, it’s not about “formula baseball,” it’s about winning.

Except, maybe not ironically, Jeter is all about winning and this entire column is written about how Jeter can't win enough to make the playoffs in his final year. So maybe Jeter is about the statistics he has put up and his team as a whole is about winning. But that's right, sportswriters manage to give Jeter credit for the Yankees winning games, but dismiss the idea any credit should be taken away from Jeter when the Yankees lose games. He's a winner, but this whole column is based on him not being enough of a winner this year to make the playoffs one last time.

It can’t end like this for Derek Jeter.

IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!

Jeter has been at his best in the ALDS, where he has a lifetime .343 average over 66 games. In seven World Series, he has hit .321.

Boy, for someone who doesn't think Jeter has always been about cold numbers, Kevin Kernan sure is reciting a lot of cold numbers that Jeter has accumulated through the years.

Will Jeter suffer the same fate as Mariano Rivera, who did not have one final October last season, when the Yankees finished third in the AL East?

If there is a God or any spiritual being watching over the world, then no, it will not end that way. By the way, Chipper Jones' career ended (partly) on an infield fly that was a routine Texas Leaguer to left field in a one game Wild Card playoff after the Braves had a better record over 162 games than the Cardinals (the team they were playing). I guess Jones was such a piece of shit and wasn't enough about winning that this doesn't really matter nor does it serve as evidence Hall of Famers don't always have their career end in fairly tale fashion.

Rivera had his long goodbye that night. He did not bother to pick up a baseball that final series in Houston.
 
It was over for Mo.

Exactly, Derek Jeter isn't above Mariano Rivera and there is no grand law that says Derek Jeter must be granted one last playoff appearance before he retires.

After Jeter played in just 17 games last season, this year was supposed to be different — with the addition of expensive bats of Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran, plus the monster signing of Masahiro Tanaka and the re-signing of Hiroki Kuroda. Brian Cashman spent $465 million on those parts.

Tanaka went down with an elbow injury and the punchless Yankees have managed to win just three more games than they have lost.

Tanaka was really, really good when he was healthy. Ellsbury hasn't been terrible. Otherwise, I think there is plenty of information that says signing players on the wrong side of 30 to long-term contracts isn't the most brilliant idea (McCann) and Carlos Beltran is 37 years old. Three years and $45 million for a 36 year old, how could that not work out?

I would also add once again that Derek Jeter isn't exactly hitting the cover off the ball and he's making $12 million this year.

The last October memory of Jeter is a painful one, his left ankle breaking as he screamed out on the infield dirt at Yankee Stadium. Jeter had to be carried off the field that night by trainer Steve Donohue and manager Joe Girardi in the 12th inning of Game 1 of the ALCS, a 6-4 loss to the Tigers.

Well, then don't remember Jeter's postseason career that way. Remember him as the guy who helped (and that's the key word, "helped") his team win five World Series. It's not hard, you just have to be less of a fan-boy about it.

That was Oct. 13, 2012. Exactly 11 years to the day of The Flip.

What symmetry! This must mean something! If not, let's make it mean something.

As Jeter was helped off, fans began to chant his name, making it the saddest of chants.

That is the final memory of Jeter and October baseball.

Would Kevin Kernan rather the final memory of Derek Jeter be him sitting in his dugout or standing on the edge of the railing in the dugout as the Yankees lose their final game in the playoffs? Would it better for that to be the final memory of Jeter in the postseason? I'm betting Kevin Kernan doesn't want Jeter's career to end, no matter what...well, unless Jeter's career ended with the Yankees winning the World Series.

It can’t end like this for Derek Jeter.

IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS! It isn't fair!

This article just felt like it was worthy of a gif-heavy post to me. A sportswriter acting like a fan-boy throwing a tantrum that Derek Jeter may end up retiring without making one last playoff appearance. One would think a professional writer would be above this, but Kevin Kernan proves me wrong. He states multiple times that "it can't end like this" referencing Derek Jeter. There has to be more to this article than some whiny fan-boy writing. This article can't end like this.

3 comments Jay Mariotti Bemoans the Loss of Sports Journalism as He Stands Over It's Corpse with a Bloody Knife

Jay Mariotti has attempted to reinvent himself with the Sports Talk Florida site as the man who is going to come in and save journalism from itself. I'm not sure he's preaching to a very large audience, or at least an audience that leaves comments, because most of his columns don't have any comments under them. I'm sure Jay would say that's because everyone agrees with him. Jay is one of the reasons for the decline of sports journalism though. He's never been a very good writer and mostly he exists for pageviews from people who don't like him or want to read his latest attack on a certain person/place/thing. That's what Jay is good for. He's a mercenary who in the past (though possibly not now) gets eyes on his columns. Somehow this has led Jay to believe he is in a position to talk about the decline of sports journalism as if he isn't partially responsible for the ESPN-ification of the profession. So Jay bemoans that Rick Reilly will no longer be writing for ESPN.com and thinks this is another death-knell for the sportswriting profession. It is not. Sportswriting will still be around 20 years from now and Jay only says the profession is declining because no one will hire him to write columns anymore for a major sports news organization. This is typical Jay Mariotti. He hates what he can't be. He pimped his radio show out to ESPN, FoxSports, and other major news organizations who declined to work with him (he admits this in his introductory column to this Sports Talk Florida site), so naturally because these major sports news organizations won't allow Jay to write sports journalism then he takes the position the profession is dying. If Rick Reilly not writing columns anymore is a sign the profession is dying, then sports journalism never had a shot to begin with.

On Rick Reilly’s final day at ESPN.com, his two March efforts were the highest-read pieces on the site.

Being well-read is a good thing. Being well-read doesn't mean quality though, it just means people read what you write. Danielle Steel has sold a ton of books, but I'm not sure anyone would argue she is one of the best writers on the planet. The same goes for music. The best quality music isn't always the highest quality music. Sometimes being popular doesn't guarantee high quality.

As he ends the most accomplished sportswriting career of his generation,

I'm sorry, I think Jay meant "As he ends what no one would argue is the most accomplished..." Let's read that again just to be sure.

As he ends the most accomplished sportswriting career of his generation,

Oh. Well, this sentence is how Jay can lose credibility with me immediately. The only thing Reilly has accomplished in the last 5 years is plagiarizing himself repeatedly.
  
he embarrasses the industry traffic whores who’ve mocked him as their cheap way of attracting eyeballs.

(Jay glances at himself in the mirror subconsciously, not understanding why)

So Jay says that Reilly had the most-read piece on ESPN.com during his final day, then says that Reilly embarrasses traffic whores who mock him as a way of attracting eyeballs. Couldn't it be possible that some of those pageviews were redirected from sites mocking him? And also, Reilly is terrible. Those people mocking Rick Reilly are not about attracting eyeballs, but about pointing out terrible writing.

A gifted paragon in an increasingly wayward, soulless, Beavis-and-Butthead profession,

Hey Jay, the 90's called and they want their pop culture reference back.

Reilly has had to absorb cheap shots from hopeless hacks who can’t draw readers with their own dreck and rely on ripping a master to make a few nickels.

Much like Rick Reilly has to rely on ripping his own past work off in order to churn out a weekly column? Or like how Jay has to write columns ripping on fellow sportswriters, athletes/coaches and generic Internet bloggers in order to gain attention for himself?

His piece last week on Jim Kelly and his horrific obstacles in life, including cancer, stirred tears. His recent commentary on why Tony La Russa, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox were voted immediately into baseball’s Hall of Fame — though all managed teams with stars immersed in performance-enhancing drugs — provoked widespread debate.

His columns where he plagiarized his own work and misquoted his fucking father-in-law of all people also provoked widespread debate. How about the column where he basically called Jonathan Martin a wimp? That provoked some debate, yet Jay conveniently leaves out these columns that provoked debate because they are a part of the Reilly legacy over the past five years that doesn't make him look so good.

Reilly made you think, made you cry, made you LOL, made you get to know a subject, made you love sports and hate sports and love him and hate him.

Maybe he did a decade ago, but in the last 10 years he has mostly made people hate him for writing about sports.

He is leaving the writing game to concentrate exclusively on television. Anyone who knows Reilly knows this is ass-backwards, that his flowing prose doesn’t come across so well on TV.

I absolutely agree. Reilly has the presence of a creepy uncle on television, but the problem is his writing (no matter what Jay says...and remember, Jay thinks his own personal writing is good so I'm not sure he's capable of understanding what good sportswriting is) hasn't been up to par for a while now. It's so bad that Reilly has been copying his old work at least once a year. But yes, Rick Reilly's skill set doesn't really translate well anywhere except for in his writing, and his writing isn't very good anymore.

But ESPN president John Skipper, who has a bizarre hard-on for a comparatively inane Bill Simmons and has overpromoted a glorified Boston sports fan at Reilly’s expense,

This ESPN president John Skipper is also the guy who brought Jay Mariotti's name to the national conscience by hiring him to be on "Around the Horn" and giving him a forum to be the Jay Mariotti that I have come to know and dislike. One would think that Jay wouldn't take cheap shots at Skipper, but Jay is still bitter that he was fired from ESPN and of course has to take a shit on Skipper due to this. It's Jay's M.O. He bashes his ex-fellow employees on his way out the door.

is ignoring Reilly’s robust readership and turning him strictly into a talking head who will create stories for “Monday Night Football” and SportsCenter. This is a forced move, with Skipper conveniently playing to Reilly’s social-media critics — and playing to his pal Simmons, too — rather than protecting Reilly and having his back.

You only have to search the archives of this blog to see I'm not the biggest Bill Simmons fan in the world. If I'm the head of a major sports network and having to choose between Rick Reilly and Bill Simmons, then I am choosing Bill Simmons every time. The bottom line is Rick Reilly doesn't fit in with ESPN because Reilly is a one-trick pony. He's good at writing a weekly column at the end of a magazine and he was good at that when working for "Sports Illustrated," but at ESPN he simply isn't able to create stories or contribute anything to a discussion about sports. Rick Reilly doesn't do sports. He does human interest stories about people involved with sports. I don't understand what Skipper would have had to do to have Reilly's back other than to ask him to not continue to write in a shitty fashion.

“Life’s 2 short 2 work full-time. Letting my column go + will just do features 4 MNC + SC. Thx 2 John Skipper 4 this!,” Reilly tweeted.

Thank John Skipper? For what, ruining sportswriting?

The idea Jay Mariotti is accusing someone else of ruining sportswriting is delicious. Jay Mariotti is a man responsible for picking fights with athletes and managers, re-writing an entire column because within 6 hours of posting the original column he looked like an asshole based on the premise of his original article, and just generally writing in the manner of a troll to gain attention.

Also, didn't ESPN hire Jay Mariotti to do some freelance writing recently? Last year in fact. Unfortunately this wasn't Mariotti's big triumphant return to writing he wanted it to be because ESPN didn't publish anything else after that one column about Kobe Bryant. Not that Jay is bitter of course, but he was doing freelance work for the guy he now claims ruined sportswriting.

Not to mention, I have seen this Mariotti column all across the Internet with people commenting on it. It's a little ironic that in the column where Mariotti complains says:

he embarrasses the industry traffic whores who’ve mocked him as their cheap way of attracting eyeballs.

That Jay himself is using Reilly's name to increase his traffic and get his name back out on the keyboards of those who follow sports. It's just typical Jay. He complains about traffic whores while being jealous he doesn't have the traffic he wants, so he takes steps towards being a traffic whore himself. Jay accuses someone of stealing bread while he has a loaf hidden under his shirt.

When I started this multi-media sports site,

I'm sorry, this is funny. This is like old bands starting their own label because, "We want to produce and control the content of our music and how it's distributed." This means: "No major label will sign us right now." Yeah, this is a multi-media sports site, but the relevance of this sports site Jay runs pales in comparison to the relevance Jay believes it carries. Jay thinks he's winning the marathon when he's just so far behind everyone else he can't see his nearest competitor.

I wrote that the best writers are the most versatile — strike a romantic nerve, break a scandal, rip an owner, question a strategic move, profile a great athlete, rejoice after a marvelous performance or human triumph. You must do it all.

Interesting, because Jay is incapable of doing at least half of these things the best writers do. Rick Reilly was capable of doing these things at one time until the sportswriting landscape shifted from under him and readers requested more from a writer than a few bad jokes and a generic look at a sports event. Rick isn't relevant anymore because there are writers who can be funny while also taking a more in-depth look at a sports topic. Rick has struggled to find his place in the new sportswriting landscape. I love to blame John Skipper for things, but this one isn't his fault...outside of hiring Reilly in the first place...and giving him a new contract. Okay, so maybe the whole "hiring of Reilly" is John Skipper's fault.

Sportswriting should be less about analytics and fandom and more about passion, debate, raw energy, feel, criticism.

Not true. Sportswriting should be about analytics and fandom, along with passion, debate, raw energy, feel and criticism.

The problem that Jay doesn't seem to understand is that Rick Reilly didn't provide any passion in his columns at ESPN. Many of them were mailed in. The next time Rick Reilly provides any debate or raw energy in his columns will be the first time he does so. Rick provides criticism sometimes, but it's more of a "casual sports fan" criticism (as seen from his comments about Notre Dame football two years ago) where you can tell Rick is providing an uninformed opinion.

I’ve yet to see Simmons evoke an emotion other than “Who is that guy, why is Doug Collins looking at him funny on an NBA pre-game show, why is he writing 20,000-word monstrosities that say nothing and why is he championing `smart writing’ when he and his offshoot site, Grantland, are comprised of pretend intellects who also write way too long and say nothing?” When a writer has to tell someone he’s a smart sportswriter, he probably is not a smart sportswriter and is more a self-promoting, write-for-his-peers charlatan.

“Smart writing,” Skipper says, repeating whatever Simmons says.

 Blowhard masturbation, I say.

There's a certain amount of truth in these statements. There's also a hell of a lot of jealousy to go along with the truth in these statements. Jay was discarded by ESPN twice and he's not happy about it.

And I’m afraid ESPN is further suppressing and marginalizing what once made sportswriting great — passion, fun, controversy — by forbidding anyone but Simmons to stand out from the rest.

If Jay is complaining that ESPN isn't allowing ESPN.com to turn into one big "First Take" episode then I'm very glad for this. I think it would also be effective if Jay gave specific examples of this phenomenon he claims to see, because I'm sure they exist. Without these specific examples it seems like sour grapes to me.

Also on tap are sites targeted specifically for niches — Skipper has hired Nate Silver to operate a metrics/ geek platform (again, smart sportswriting)

I HATE smart sportswriting. I prefer emotional, unintelligent ranting in my sportswriting. Because you know, as a reader I don't deserve smart sportswriting. I deserve the writing that's best used for lining the inside of a litter box, writing that is emotional, overly-critical without thinking the criticism through, and writing with a bias. I deserve Jay Mariotti's writing.

that is capitalizing on Silver’s ability to accurately predict all 50 states in a presidential race for the New York Times, though I’m not certain how that relates to whether Tiger Woods should keep playing or rest his bad back for the Masters.

I think Jay has a fundamental misunderstanding of what Nate Silver's site will be doing. They won't be determining if Tiger Woods should keep playing (how the hell would they even do that?) or rest his back for the Masters. Jay may want to bone up on what the Nate Silver site will be doing before criticizing it.

Also coming is a site promoting African-American content, which is fine as long as ESPN also adds a site promoting Asian-American content, Italian-American content and Icelandic-American content.

Hilarious. I see Jay has the same amount of respect for minorities as he has for women. Wait, I'm sorry, that's right. Jay was framed by a she-devil and he would never hurt another woman.

Seems the thinkers are overthinking. And wrecking the business.

So a site promoting African-American content is "overthinking" sporstwriting? Jay was never good at the whole "thinking" thing, so I can see how he's intimidated by a move to more cerebral-oriented sportswriting that doesn't involve taking cheap shots at the local MLB manager.

Reilly’s departure means sportswriting officially is dead.

No, it doesn't. If sportswriting didn't die from Jay's repeated efforts to kill it, then the departure of a writer who was good at his craft a decade ago isn't going to make a difference.

ESPN now will trot out megadoses of Simmons, whose popularity stems from “reader letters” he actually is writing to himself — a practice he lifted from a brilliant sports columnist named Mike Downey. 

It disturbs me a little bit that Jay and I have noticed the same thing about Bill's mailbags.

Once, the business was flowing with big money, and the best sportswriters made millions.

Or, in the case of Jay Mariotti, who was that industry whore trolling for eyeballs on his columns, even the worst sportswriters made a million or so. Jay is mad he isn't rolling in the money like he used to be. If you notice, I think many of Jay's complaints about others center around rejections Jay has experienced during his professional career. He hates FoxSports and ESPN because they don't want to hire him. He's mad that the sportswriting industry is moving away from his shitty writing towards a more thinking-man's writing because it affects Jay's paycheck. Jay isn't capable of thought-provoking writing.
 
Now, irresponsible entrepreneurs hire writers on the cheap to write lies and drive traffic.

Jay misses the days when irresponsible newspapers hired him to write cheap lies and drive traffic. Those were the good old days.

The clown who started the trashy Deadspin site once wrote he had it on 80 percent authority that Albert Pujols used steroids — Pujols should sue him, as he sued former major-league slugger Jack Clark for making the same claims — and the writer since has devolved into another humdrum no-read for a site co-owned by (ready to howl?) MLB.

Gosh, I'm howling.

Deadspin is among the sites that like to think they took down Reilly because he recycled some old lines.

I don't think those sites think they took Reilly down. I would like Jay's take on how Reilly recycled some old lines from a 500 page column isn't basically recycling the same column and how this matches up with Jay's insistence that Rick Reilly has had the most accomplished sportswriting career of his generation. Is Rick such a great writer even he wants to copy himself? It's hilarious that Jay accuses Deadspin of printing lies, but everything they wrote about Rick Reilly was true. Jay skips over this little fact, that he calls Deadspin liars while refusing to acknowledge the subject of this column (Rick Reilly) was a target of Deadspin only peddling the truth. 

Not only do those stoners struggle to match Reilly’s worst sentences on their best writing days, they have as much right to assess integrity as Pinocchio and Dick Nixon.

What? I don't even understand this, other than Jay throws two dated pop culture references at his readers. Jay can't fight Deadspin with an intelligent retort on the facts of what Deadspin wrote regarding Reilly because he knows Reilly recycled his own columns, so being Jay Mariotti, he takes the low road and starts making the discussion personal. Jay can't argue on the merits, so he tries to drag people down into the mud with him.

Maybe Jay likes Rick Reilly so much because Jay likes to recycle jokes too. Look for the "Pinocchio/Richard Nixon" joke in the first paragraph of that Mariotti column. 

In the 21st century, as always, the essence of sportswriting is telling the reader what he doesn’t know and giving him a reason to chew on what is so compelling about sports. Rick Reilly did it better than anyone I’ve read.

You should have read more over the last decade, because while at ESPN Reilly has been nothing but a bust and disappointment. He was given a forum and a chance to write, with every column posted on ESPN.com's front page and he never repaid ESPN's faith in him. In fact, Reilly spit in ESPN's face by recycling old columns while they handed him a paycheck worth millions.

“Thanks to everybody who liked the column and even those who hated it. You fired me up. It was a privilege,” he tweeted.

Rick Reilly tweeted. Consider those three words.

Yes, the dichotomy of Rick Reilly using new media Tweeting his departure from sportswriting while part of the reason he is departing is because he couldn't adjust his writing to new media is interesting.

It’s all you need to know about the death of sportswriting.

That sportswriting isn't dying at all, it's just some older sportswriters who have failed to adjust to sportswriting in the 21st century are being left behind? Sportswriting can't be dying. Rick Reilly hasn't been a good writer for almost a decade now and sportswriting has somehow survived Jay Mariotti's repeated attempts to kill it. If sportswriting can survive this and this then I think the profession will be able to survive pretty much anything.

On Rick Reilly’s final day at ESPN.com, his two March efforts were the highest-read pieces on the site.
Read more at http://www.sportstalkflorida.com/rick-reilly-way-too-good-for-a-bad-business/#J1YFTUUQVa68oCdO.99