Today’s world of sports is greatly enhanced by its media coverage. No doubt about it.
The hundreds of media outlets in today’s sports landscape, along with its thousands of sports media reporters and pundits, have transformed pro and major college sports into the multi-billion dollar entertainment mega-force it is today.
To have a voice in that mega-force is a powerful thing. When thoughts and opinions about the day-to-day activities in sports, whether written or spoken, are followed by tens of thousands to millions of people, egos tend to become very large. That’s only natural.
But from time to time those voices in sports need to step back from their roles in their extremely competitive industry and get a grip. They have to remind themselves that what they do, in the bigger picture, is really not that important and just another form of entertainment.
One of those times occurred this past week when the news was released that ESPN commentator and Fanhouse.com writer Jay Mariotti was arrested Saturday, Aug. 21, and booked on suspicion of a felony after a domestic altercation with his girlfriend.
Now most people who are immersed in sports – the type who watch and read most of the popular sports media personalities in America – are aware that Mariotti is not a very popular guy with other colleagues in his industry.
Breaking into the business as a columnist for the Detroit News in the early 1980’s and becoming a national name after moving to the Chicago Sun-Times and then also ESPN’s Around the Horn in the nineties, Mariotti has had dozens of feuds and run-ins over the years with athletes and other media colleagues.
His style is brash and confrontational and as a result Mariotti has developed a reputation as a sometime mean-spirited and vindictive sports media personality.
Perhaps his actions that have created this reputation have been a deliberate attempt to standout in the cluttered sports media world and create a unique image, separating himself from his competitors. Or maybe the reputation is an accurate reflection of him personally and thus fair and well deserved.
Either way, the gleeful and revenge-type reactions of Mariotti’s arrest by many of his detractors have been disgraceful.
Various writers, commentators and executives in the sports industry (who shall remain nameless in this post) have used Mariotti’s arrest as an opportunity to take shots at him on a public stage and attempt to cause him further pain and embarrassment.
I’m not suggesting it’s wrong or even unprofessional to possess ill will towards someone in your industry. But to use a serious and extremely personal situation, like an arrest for domestic violence, as a platform to voice your abhorrence for another person is very classless and not a reflection of someone with solid character.
Along with facing serious criminal charges, Mariotti will most likely lose his job at ESPN and suffer other career setbacks and financial hardships as a result. Not to mention the fact that a woman may have been hurt or even beaten up during a domestic dispute. Clearly not a situation to make light of.
So if there ever was a time to take the high road, this was it.
The industry feuding and fighting with Mariotti always made for good entertainment and interesting debate. But as a media personality you must know where to draw the line and not allow your own
personal feelings to blur it.
