Jay Mariotti is desperate for attention, enjoys repeating the same insult


Jay Mariotti, the former Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Around the Horn contributor who ended up here as Sports Director editor at The San Francisco Examiner, decided to take a minor shot at me over the weekend. His attempt at an insult (which he deleted) led to a fun little back-and-forth yesterday morning, which concluded with Mariotti deleting every one of his tweets on the matter.
I’m surprised it took so long for him to lash out. He seems like a pretty volatile person (just ask his ex-girlfriend), and I wrote some unflattering things about him seven months ago. However, for whatever reason, he decided to post this tweet early Sunday morning.
I don’t follow @MariottiSports, and I fell asleep before midnight because my Halloween involved dressing up an 11-month-old and carrying her from door to door to trick-or-treat (and yes, I will be eating whatever candy my wife doesn’t take first). By the time I woke up (6:45 am), his tweet was gone. But two people on Twitter looped me in, so I posted this:
.@gururamp30@MariottiSports is a tough guy, tweeting & deleting insults. Pretty much what one would expect from a man who assaults women.
— Bay Area Sports Guy (@BASportsGuy) November 1, 2015
Yeah, I probably should’ve left him alone. His intent was obvious — he needs to boost his “brand” in the Bay Area and get people reading his columns, because no one has said a word about him since late-March. But after he made the same piercing joke three times, I couldn’t resist. As he did before, Mariotti deleted his witty barbs shortly after clicking “Tweet,” so here are some screenshots I saved once I realized he’s a serial insult-deleter.
Apparently he liked the attention he received yesterday. This seems odd, since several Twitter users brought up his legal troubles. But apparently the slight bump in Twitter followers was worth the scorn because he was back at it today, tapping into the part of his brain where originality goes to die.
I’m not his only target today, either. He posted this about 15 minutes before attempting to hurt my feelings:
Traffic numbers must be low at The San Francisco Examiner.