If you don’t read the Sun-Times regularly, you might not have heard that sports columnist, frequent headline and White Sox arch-rival Jay Mariotti has gone “24/7″ with his new blog over at Sun-Times.com. While Hawk and DJ have (allegedly) been at this some time – one wonders if the frequent posting was even Hawkeroo’s idea, let alone his work, let alone how to handle the Sox’ broadcasts being divided up among three different TV stations – it’ll be interesting to see if the two will let their long-running and highly entertaining feud spill over into the digital arena.
It’s worth noting there’s also a good chance that adopting the additional format was probably not Mariotti’s idea, either. The Sun-Times News Group has been walking a fine line between adopting new technologies and gee-whiz gimmickry for some time to some degree of success, and if a slow slimming/phasing out of the print edition is really underway this seems like a logical step.
Keep in mind this is also the same Mariotti who said on the February 8, 2007 airing of ESPN’s “Around the Horn” that blogging in and of itself was a medium for unfounded and excessively negative ideas spewed forth by uninformed “vampires” chained to their computers.
For sake of comparison, here are the last three items credited to each of Hawk and Mariotti:
HAWK:
- Detroit, Minnesota and Cleveland simultaneously have three of the best bullpens he’s seen in 40 years in baseball, and that’s why the Sox’ 2007 struggles are such a shock
- The American League Central is a really tough division, and that’s why it’s alright if the Sox are awful
- Buehrle’s no-hitter was awesome
JAY:
- Potshots at Bears linebacker Lance Briggs
- Potshots at WSCR radio host Dan Bernstein barbed with potshots at Ken Harrelson
- Potshots at Bears QB Rex Grossman
So there’s your fight card: in one corner of the web-o-sphere we have a company man covering for the boss, and in the other we have a guy making corny puns on such fresh topics as the CTA and the power of celebrity in America. Meet the new talking heads, same as the old talking heads.