ESPN's Jay Mariotti May Be Done After Domestic Violence Arrest

Earlier it was reported that ESPN Personality Jay Marrioti was arrested early Saturday morning and charged with "suspicion of felony domestic assault" after an argument with his girlfriend that was said to have started at a nightclub and continued at Mariotti's apartment.

The 51-year old former Chicago Sun Times Sports Columnist was jailed and released on a $50,000 bond. That, after police reportedly found "cuts and bruises" on his girlfriend's body.

According to the LA Times, Mariotti allegedly got upset after he believed his girlfriend was flirting with another man at a club in Santa Monica. (To which, it must be said, Mariotti, who must have been drinking at the time, could have always just said "Ok. I'll dance with someone else," or something like that. The best option is always to keep options open, rather that what he allegedly did.)

The LA Times goes on to explain that once Mariotti and his girlfriend got into his apartment, he allegedly started pushing and shoving her.

Sources say Jay Mariotti done at ESPN

After this, and given the post-controversy history of recent ESPN personalities, a number of sources say Jay Mariotti is done at ESPN after this scandal. One is always innocent until proven guilty, so ESPN is reportedly taking a wait-and-see position, which is smart. But if the police report, as explained by the LA Times, holds, it's hard to see how Jay Mariotti keeps his job, let alone launch the planned NBA Basketball morning show with Jalen Rose.

SPORTSSbyBROOKS paints Mariotti as hypocrite

The weblog SPORTSbyBROOKS and its readers have been particularly hard on Jay Mariotti in the wake of the domestic abuse arrest.

The popular sports blog site has a post that lists the various times Jay has crawled all over athletes like Lawrence Phillips (who beat his girlfriend while a star Nebraska running back), and Baseball's Albert Belle (who was charged with domestic abuse in 1998).

In fact, SPORTSbyBROOKS went all the way back to 1996 in chronicling 15 years of comments by Jay Mariotti, throwing prominent athletes under the bus for domestic abuse charges.

It's a good read. Click here to see it.

ESPN Canned Steve Phillips, others

ESPN has a history of throwing out scandalous personalities, the most recent example being Steve Phillips in 2009 after his in-office and out affair with ESPN Associate Producer Brook Hundley. Before that it was ESPN Football Analyst Sean Salisbury, and after he admitted to sending a photo of his private via cellphone to co-workers in 2006. His contract was not renewed in 2008.

With that, and other examples, it's hard to see how Mariotti survives this scandal.

Stay tuned.