Does Every City Have a Sports Columnist it Loves to Hate?

Is it just me or does every city seem to have at least one Sports Columnist it loves to hate? Well, see I live in Chicago and Jay Mariotti is the Columnist that all readers and even athletes just plain hate. He seems to have this fixation on writing about one team for about a month or even two. He singles out players, coaches, the manager and even the owners for why a team may be struggling or has hit a wall.

Another way Jay takes it upon himself to get under the skin of someone is by mentioning the name of the announcer of the respective team that he's covering. In the case of writing for the Chicago Sun-Times Jay loves to quote Ken the "Hawk" Harrellson on how he praises the Whitesox or he will throw in one of Hawk's catch phrases just to tick off Hawk. Hawk has come up with a nickname for Jay: he refers to him as a "heiney bird." He has used this nickname often since Jay has really been riding the Whitesox all season long.

You can say the crap really hit the fan when Ozzie Guillen took exception to all the constant writing from Jay about the Whitesox. He went as far as saying that Jay was a piece of shit...and a fag. Ozzie took a lot of heat for his comments - he was even fined and ordered to take sensitivity courses by Major League Baseball. Ozzie continued to say, "I will take the courses but I repeat I will not stop hating Jay. If he has something to say about me or my team be a man and come to the park to say it."

Even Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Whitesox and Bulls has taken criticism from Jay. Jay has called him cheap, disrespectful and has referred to him as a disgruntled owner. I think Jerry over the years has grown to hate Jay the most because Jay has been on him since the Bulls had Jerry Krause as their GM. When Jerry Reinsdorf had a long interview on a local station in Chicago he went as far as saying that he really hated Jay and that he had no place being a sportswriter in a city that has a rich history of excellent sportswriters.

Well, I guess after taking years of Jay's criticism and jabs, Reinsdorf got the last laugh last fall in October when the Whitesox captured the World Series Championship and once and for all Jay was finally put in his place. But when all was said and done, I guess once a heiney bird always a heiney bird. So Jay Mariotti will always be Jay: the columnist Chicago sports fans love to hate.