I feel bad for the guy, but he has dug his own grave. I don’t know what the truth is about this incident where his girlfriend has cuts on her arms, but something went very wrong at the house. Mariotti and his girlfriend had been out at a bar and, apparently, she was flirting with some other guy. Who knows how ballistic Mariotti went? She may have provoked him, but you don’t hit a woman unless you are protecting yourself from harm by her.
I’ve always enjoyed Mariotti’s opinions. He comes across as intelligent and irreverent which are good qualities for a sportswriter. I did detect some arrogance about him on Around The Horn, the ESPN show he has been appearing on for the last several years. He’s very sure of himself no doubt, but I did find myself agreeing with a lot of his positions. He was hard on athletes for behaving badly, which I liked. I get sick of commentators making excuses for people who assault other people, steal or even do steroids. There are too many apologists for athletes today.

I liked him calling it like it was. But if what he did is true, he’s in a lot of trouble. ESPN and AOL Fanhouse are waiting for the results of the investigation. It doesn’t look good for Jay.

I’m sorry to see a good columnist screw up his life over a jealousy issue. I admit, sometimes I get jealous if a guy is talking to my wife, but I can control it and I trust my wife. Mariotti is 51 and this is his girlfriend. Not sure if he had a wife and kids but surely he’s been married before. He lives in California and this could be a hot, wild California girl who was probably not right for him, but he liked her looks and liked her physically. Could be off base here, but there has to be some explanation for a successful guy losing control. It was four or four thirty in the morning, so they had been out carousing.

This will be a sad end to his career. I know a lot of people didn’t like him, but I did. If he is found guilty of committing this felony though, he should lose his jobs at ESPN and Fanhouse. May have some jail time, too.