ESPN's Jay Mariotti Blasts Deadspin, Brett Farve and Randy Moss On Twitter

ESPN Personality Jay Mariotti's at it again, but this time using Twitter to do his column dirty
work...unpaid. The now former Chicago Sun Times and AOL Fanhouse columnist joined Twitter October 1st with an as yet unfulfilled promise to post his photograph. Apparently, Jay's so busy blasting people like Brett Farve and Randy Moss, and blogs like Deadspin, he never got around to it.

Or may be Mariotti's just technically challenged and doesn't know how to post his photo?

Mariotti After Domestic Violence

Jay Mariotti's resurfaces after being convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence against a female companion in Los Angeles, and after an argument at a Santa Monica night club that turned into a pushing, shoving, and hitting affair, with Jay allegedly doing all of that to the woman.  (And that must be noted, because in fairness to Jay, he explained he was just trying to get her home, apparently alcohol was involved.  The problem for Jay is the LAPD says there were cuts and bruises on her.)

Jay was jailed after the incident on August 21, 2010, and posted $50,000 bail to get out that day, Saturday. Mariotti escaped seven charges, including theft, and avoided jail time with a sentence of probation, and community service.

For a writer who made a good portion of his living skewering athletes who got into domestic violence disputes, it was a classic case of bad karma. Bloggers, writers, and twitterers, made fun of Jay Mariotti's situation and expressed joy that he was being jailed for the same crime he seemed to loath so much. AOL Fanhouse dropped him and ESPN, while not outright firing him, said it had "no plans to use him at this time," which implies they may use him at some time in the future. Even  ESPN's Around The Horn, Mariotti's television home for so many years, had a segment on him.


Jay Let's Loose On Twitter


Meanwhile, Jay discovers the joys of Twitter but has yet to be skewered for what he's tweeted, at least until now. When he's not professing his love for EastBound And Down, or explaining that he's rooting for the Reds and the Rangers in the MLB Playoffs, some of his tweets have a lot of nerve, considering he just missed being a convicted felon.

For example, Jay tweets...

Sherry Lansing being escorted to Table 2. We were banished to bar
6 Oct

Which apparently from his previous tweet happened at the Alley on the Grill in Beverly Hills for lunch. Perhaps it was because Jay's star status had dipped and they didn't want some celebrity who hit his girlfriend at their table? Just a guess.

Then Jay informs us that he uses the local Starbucks to write, and one can guess for Internet access, leaving this blogger to wonder if his home Internet service is working, he's lonely, or he just wants to scope out the ladies? Yikes!

Jay tweets that he loves Tom Petty, roots for Jim Thome, that the Twins are the "Great American Team," and that he bikes at sunrise toward Malibu. But what Jay doens't get is, because he's a celebrity with an unverified Twitter account, people are going to question if indeed he's him on Twitter:

Look, enough with the silliness. Of course, this is me. It's just odd to see more discourse about whether it's me or not, which creates a credibility problem for the entire Twitter experience.

Jay, the only credibility problem is your Twitter account's not verified - get it verified so we all know its you.

Jay Mariotti Blasts Deadspin, Brett Farve and Randy Moss

Here's where Jay's Twitter tweets get really interesting. On October 9th, when the Bret Favre and Jenn Starger "sexting" scandal broke thanks to the sports blog Deadspin and posting photos of what's said to be Bret's private, Mariotti blasted the blog on Twitter, going beyond the 140-character limit to do so:

Come on. Deadspin is not a sleazy blog? These jagoffs could take 10 showers a day and still not wipe off the grime. Bet their parents are real proud

Wow, that's some nerve considering what Jay's been convicted of, yeah? And that's not the only tweet on the matter. Because of Deadspin's actions in posting the photos of Bret Farve's private, Jay thinks the Internet should be regulated:

Sick media world when a Web site pays for pictures that it admits may not be Favre. The Internet must be regulated -- recklessly affecting too many lives.

"Recklessly affecting too many lives," is something Jay himself has been accused of doing with some of his columns, so he's the one who should know.

As if that's not enough, Mariotti then turns to Randy Moss and Bret Favre:

Randy Moss won't save Brett Favre. Brilliant purging by Belichick

In Jay's mind, Favre's done and Randy Moss was worth, eh, "purging"? Considering Jay was just "purged" by his girlfriend, that's the last thing he should tweet out in the open. But a man's got a right to his opinion.

Jay Mariotti's Back, Folks

What we can take from all of this is Jay Mariotti's back. Perhaps not bigger and better than ever, but he's back and using Twitter to blast his thoughts about people, places, and things. Fine, but Jay should learn to use his words a lot more carefully. Otherwise, he's going to become the Internet's whipping boy.

As for future opportunities, Jay should try for a spot on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills. For some reason, it seems he would be a good fit for the show. At the very least, it would give him a chance to explain why the steak at Mastro's isn't better than at BOA in Santa Monica.