Mariotti Returns

Former Chicago Sun-Times reporter and ESPN Around the Horn contributor Jay Mariotti has virtually disappeared from the sports media since his arrest last year on chargers related to an alleged domestic abuse incident with his girlfriend. Marriotti either quit or was fired from the Sun-Times, and was also quickly dropped by ESPN.

But Mariotti resurfaced last week with an in-depth interview with fellow sportswriter Jason Whitlock. In the first part, Mariotti talks about the incident. From a sports media perspective, the second part has some interesting analysis about the state of sports journalism today, including the pressures of multi-media sports reporting and the growth of the 'celebrity' sports journalist. You can find links to both parts here, as well as Whitlock's currert podcast interview with Buzz Bissinger. Regardless of what you think about Mariotti or what he did, it's an interesting insight to many of the issues and changes going on in sports journalism.

Also, a reminder that the deadline for early registration for the upcoming College Sports Research Conference is March 4. The conference is April 20-22 in Chapel Hill, NC, and you can find more information here.