jaymariottisportscaster-blog

[jaymariottisportscaster-blog]

About Jay Mariotti Sportscaster

Jay sat down for a podcast interview conducted by Jason Barrett, an industry leader in sports media, and spoke candidly about his multimedia career and the state of the profession.

Jay Mariotti Sportscaster is one of America’s prominent sports commentators, known for his award-winning journalism, challenging opinions and passionate approach to sportscasting and sportswriting on all media platforms.

He has covered every major sports event nationally and worldwide on numerous occasions, including 14 Olympic Games and 26 Super Bowls, and has closely chronicled all the major newsmakers and issues of his time.

In its September 2014 edition, GQ magazine all but accused me of extortion in an absurdly false report — claiming I used a camera-phone video of an ESPN executive to coerce the network into giving me assignments. It is a lie that would be laughable if not so damaging and such a reckless disregard of the truth. The author of the GQ story, from the trashy Deadspin site, never bothered to contact me or my representatives about this allegation and apparently didn’t bother to check a Deadspin story about the matter that never connected me to a camera-phone video.

In the lobby of the Twitter building, which is near the Uber building and the Dolby building and a residential tower where $5,500 a month will get you 969 square feet and a parking spot, I visit a gourmet market that makes Saison look like Burger King. I examine a $75 bottle of 2007 Fiorita Brunello, check out a $67 jug of French lavender shampoo, consider a $130 slab of Jamon Iberico Pata Negra (“pure acorn fed Iberian pigs”) and settle for a $6 ice cream cone. Then I stroll outside, absorb the glory of a blue-skies-and-71 afternoon, head across Ninth Street … and have to weave and shake like Steph Curry to avoid a fresh puddle of bubbly urine.

He could be commenting one minute on the NFL’s morality crises, the next on why greedy sports leagues and TV networks are gouging viewers and jeopardizing the industry long-term, the next on why Lambeau Field is the best venue in American sports, the next on why Steph Curry and J.J. Watt are the new American dreams, the next on why we should pay more attention to the Iditarod. It’s vital to have independent voices who aren’t stifled by institutional filters.