More On Mariotti

When I first told you about Jay Mariotti stealing my joke over the weekend I was angry and promised you all war. I was going to write a long, vitriolic diatribe directed at Chicago's most hated columnist.

Now, here I sit here before you a few days later, and guess what? I'm not really that mad about it anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I still hate Mariotti. I mean, I fucking really really hate Jay Mariotti. I hate him so much that even Hawk Harrelson has sent me emails telling me to tone it down a bit. And when Hawk talks, DADGUMMIT, I listen.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that I no longer care that Mariotti stole my joke. But for those of you who think that this incident was just a crazy coincidence, I can assure you, it wasn't. I've long noticed Jay's words often sounding quite similiar to things written here and what others have written elsewhere. There's also a source from inside the Chicago Sun-Times (who I shall not name, but they're very awesome for contacting me) who has assured me that Mariotti does, in fact, read this site occasionally along with FanHouse. This source says they all do so, in a way, actual columnists are no different than bloggers such as myself.

Well, except for the fact they make more money and bloggers actually aren't afraid of giving credit where credit is due.

Another thing that calmed me down about this whole incident was the realization of just how much reach my words have over at FanHouse. It's one thing to hear the monthly numbers from Fanhouse bosses Jamie or John. It's another thing entirely when your jokes are being stolen from well-known columnists. It actually feels good.

It also felt good to see all the other bloggers out there who picked up on this story and wrote about it. Thank you.

So, I'm going to let this new grudge with Mariotti go. As for now I'll just go back to writing the same stupid crap as always and wait for Mariotti to steal another zinger from me. When he does, I'll be there to call him out on it. And I'll be around to let him know when he writes or says something even dumber than usual.

Like I said, I still hate the guy.

To be honest, what bothers me most about all of this now is that Mariotti actually removed the reference to this incident from his Wikipedia page.

But all in all, I should thank Jay. Since this whole thing happened, sales of Muck Fariotti t-shirts have picked up again. I think I'm going to have to come out with a new t-shirt in Cubs colors soon.