It officially can be declared now that The Rex Era was a monumental error in Chicago sports history, as some of us have known for some time. This means Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith need to move on to Plan Q—or is it R or S?—as the Bears enter a tense transition period following their one-and-done Super Bowl loss and rapid demise as a pro football operation. - Jay Mariotti

Is there anyone more ecstatic over Rex Grossman’s knee injury than the back page pundit?

It must be a real joy to be employed by a trash tabloid (also known as the Chicago Sun-Times) which permits a certain alleged columnist to scribble incestuous rants without any conscience or accountability to previous thoughts expressed.

How was Rex Grossman “an error”? Because the Bears drafted him? Sorry Jay, but even you once discredited that notion:

In what might be the ultimate validation of his talent eye, Angelo also can say Rex Grossman was the right quarterback to take in the 2003 draft. Holding the No. 4 pick, he could have tabbed the more heralded Byron Leftwich but elected for a heavily debated 2- for-1 trade-down—drafting Michael Haynes with the 14th pick and Grossman with the 22nd pick. For years, we’ve pointed out Troy Polamalu was taken after Haynes and Larry Johnson after Grossman, but Angelo asked that we withhold judgment until Rex was healthy. While Grossman still must prove he can play well on the road, he’s now established as an NFL keeper who has shown signs of brilliance and dartboard accuracy. As for Leftwich, he has been benched in Jacksonville, making the flop of Haynes seem moot.

Flip-flop.  Hey Jay, have you completed your opus condemning Halas Hall’s decision to part ways with Tank Johnson yet?

Some within the media appeared rather celebratory while witnessing Grossman writhe in pain on the field. Hell, Gumbel and Collingsworth were practically tripping over each other with hyperventilating proclamations that the quarterback’s career in Chicago was all but over while meekly toting a condescending “hope the guy gets better” mentality.  Lost in translation was how hard Grossman worked to get back on the football field after his previous two serious injuries which have done nothing but hamper his development into a bona fide quality starting quarterback. In his first full season, he helped his team reach the Super Bowl only to collapse on a global stage against Peyton Manning’s Colts. Ever since, Grossman has been the recipient of every possible form of mockery within the NFL community except in the Bears locker room. Curiously, that has been rather ignored by the media, especially Mariotti.

Unquestionably, this season has been a major disappointment. However to demand that Rex Grossman shoulder more blame than any other Chicago Bear is inexcusable and flat out unfair.  Despite losing his starting position earlier this season, Grossman remained dignified. When asked to rescue the Bears season, he did what could be done with a deteriorating offensive line, ineffective running game and wide receivers that drop balls with alarming frequency. And how many interceptions were thrown during these last three and a half games? Answer - One.

Folks, Rex Grossman is hardly the principal problem to this team. Would any other starting quarterback really do that much better with this offense devised by Ron Turner?

The fallout from last night’s bewildering defeat to the injury riddled Washington Redskins will be plentiful. Now with the 2007 Bears season all but kaput and Grossman once again back on the shelf with another serious injury and an uncertain future to his NFL career, Jerry Angelo has a difficult task at hand rebuilding this team.

In the meantime, Mariotti will undoubtedly campaign in typical circle jerk mode for Angelo to bring aboard Donovan McNabb.

It is going to be a long off-season indeed.

And more importantly, get well Rex. Hope to see you back in a NFL uniform next season.

Before the blood had dried in Taylor’s south Florida home two Mondays ago, some of my media colleagues—people I’ve known and respected for years—lost their friggin’ minds. Rather than wait for the investigative process, they jumped to immediate conclusions about the perpetrators and their motives without having any answers to two important questions: (1) Who? and (2) Why? Columnist Jason Whitlock, writing for FoxSports.com, said Taylor was a victim of ``the Black KKK.’’ The nationally prominent Michael Wilbon, of the Washington Post and ESPN, conveyed in an Internet chat room that he wasn’t surprised by the shooting, connecting it to a troubled reputation that Taylor—by most accounts—was successfully changing in recent years. ``Whether this incident is or isn’t random, Taylor grew up in a violent world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce himself from it,’’ Wilbon wrote. They weren’t alone, with talk hosts taking the same stereotypical path without any solid foundation on which to comment. - Jay Mariotti

And exactly why were only Whitlock and Wilbon singled out?

You know. And I know. As does Jay and his editor.

More later. Out of respect for Jay the Joke, its founders and admins, along with the entire community, I will reserve further comment. I might be just an Internet Creature, but am aware that writing out of anger and haste would only contribute to the desecration towards the memory of Sean Taylor. However, I will conclude this post with Jay’s own hypocritical words concerning ethics in journalism. Flip-flop indeed.

When someone asked what I thought about columnists who criticize other columnists, I said I could criticize columnists and their flaws every day of the year if I didn’t have better things to do with newsprint and cyberspace.

Rest in peace Sean.

There are times I believe that Kenny and Ozzie wake up, share a pot of espresso and come up with new ways to give Mariotti something to talk about. That is the only logic I can see behind their handling of the Hunter and Cabrera deals. Speaking as someone who handles a lot of negotiations, I know how fast things can go south. Hell, they can go so fast that they are speaking Spanish and sipping tequila before you know what happened. That is why you don’t announce things until the ink is dry and, when possible, DNA evidence has been logged.

Had Mariotti limited himself to that, and maybe looked at the facts surrounding the Cabrera to Detroit deal, he might have had an interesting article. Of course, if he was even remotely capable of a work ethic like that, this site wouldn’t exist.

Detroit gave up a lot of players to make this happen. They got a great third baseman and a young pitcher who may turn it around, but they had to stock Florida mightily to make it happen. And, while the Sox do have holes, third base isn’t really one of them. Neither Joe Crede nor Josh Fields are an embarrassment at the position. Had the Sox given into Florida’s demands, they would have been very thin around home plate. You know, that part of the park where people catch the ball the pitcher throws? So, while this fish did get away, it isn’t the fish the Sox really needed to stock the pond.

But, this is all silliness. Here I am stating facts, looking at things logically and trying to make some sense of it all. I’ll stop that now and look at what Mariotti wrote, instead.

Two years ago, they were soaked with bubbly. Today, the White Sox are stuffed with baloney and b.s. I really wish they’d just PLEASE STOP TALKING—Ken Williams, the Blizzard of Oz, the hillbilly broadcaster…

Ahh, much better, a non sequitur involving a barnyard epithet, text message level outrage (see, he wrote in caps, that means he’s serious) and a personal insult all in one little paragraph. All that’s missing is a reference to Britney Spears. Well, you can’t have everything. Let’s move on shall we?

With Sox fans in various states of outrage about Williams’ whiffing, isn’t it time they swallow their institutional stubborness, acknowledge their public-relations mess and give 35th Street cult hero Aaron Rowand his desired five-year contract?

I love this paragraph. A perfect example of Mariotti’s linguistic prowess. Stubbornness is misspelled, common grammar usage is mauled and somehow he now speaks for fans he has never, ever, met. While we all do love Crash, is there really a conga line of suitors lined up to give him a 5 year deal? No, there isn’t. Could something realistically be worked out to bring him back? I’d say yes, but I wouldn’t give up A-Rod money to make it happen.

Of course, as I have noted before, I live in that pesky real world.

The rest you have read before, many times. The Sox aren’t as popular as the Cubs. Gosh, that kind of keen insight never occurred to any Sox fan before. The Sox don’t spend as much as the Cubs. Well, last year the Cubs did everything Mariotti asked. They got the manager he wanted, the fielder he wanted, spent the money he demanded. And they went down faster than a five dollar hooker on Lake Street. So, clearly, following any grand plan he scribbles in the sand is probably not your best business decision.

Do I have concerns about the Sox? Of course. Right now, anyone with an I.Q. level higher than a carpet would. But, do they deserve the spittle enhanced vitriol heaped upon them every time they don’t spend money exactly the way Mariotti demands? No, they don’t.

Legendary poster, Hino, has already started a thread on this, so Click Here to Join the Fun!

Mark Cuban would be interested in owning the Cubs. I know this because he said so, by e-mail, responding quicker to my questions than it takes Andy MacPhail to remove his tinted sunglasses and Dusty Baker to make a pitching change. Tired of writing every week that baseball-inept Tribune Co. should sell the club and set Cubdom free, I chose to seek solutions this time and gauge the self-made billionaire’s level of curiosity. – Jay Mariotti, May 30, 2006

And to the dismay of Chicago, it began. “It” of course being Jay Mariotti’s incessant temper tantrum rambling for Mark Cuban to be approved as the new Chicago Cubs owner. This endorsement of Cuban’s ownership bid is peculiar. Perhaps Mariotti’s grandstanding on this topic is more about embarrassing the Chicago Tribune rather than any sincere and shameless campaigning for the Internet tycoon. It is also worthy to mention that the back page pundit has been anything but negative towards Cuban as a NBA franchise owner over the years.  Somehow in the universe occupied by self-loathing hatred scribbling hacks, only Mark Cuban can save the Chicago Cubs from another hundred years of World Series futility.

Memo to Cuban: Chicago grows to hate your ownership bid more and more after every published Mariotti column gushing over your suspected purchase the Cubs. Doesn’t it seem odd receiving all these assuredly unwanted nonsensical text messages from inbox at Sun-Times.com? Isn’t it irritating to being routinely corralled by a creepy Napoleon complex infected dwarf every time you come to Chicago to watch the Cubs at Wrigley or your Mavericks play against the Bulls?

Yeah Mark, it has gotta be weird indeed. We thought so.

Now next time Mariotti peppers you with more condescending praise and irritating badgering over the Cubs, remember these following pot shots previously blathered:

True, there aren’t as many Mark Cuban types around as there were five years ago. Just as true, baseball isn’t a wise investment for a young billionaire. – Jay Mariotti, Sept 23, 2003

Waiting as a savior was new Mavs owner Mark Cuban, an example of what’s all wrong with people getting rich on the Internet. – Jay Mariotti, Feb 10, 2000

It’s one thing for Cuban to criticize referees and the way the league does business, a habit that has landed him more than $1 million in fines since he purchased the Mavs in January 2000. It’s quite another to cross the line of corporate responsibility and not think of the alleged victim. This is the problem when Internet-age moguls such as Cuban cash out in a big way, fulfill an adolescent dream and buy a sports team. They expose themselves as social buffoons. – Jay Mariotti, Aug 6, 2003

Ozzie? He makes Mark Cuban seem like Virginia McCaskey. – Jay Mariotti, June 22, 2006

Apparently, Cuban doesn’t care much about the quality of human beings in his league. He just cares about the money, which explains why he described the Mavs’ season opener Oct. 28 against Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers as must-see TV.” Said Cuban: Take away the personal aspect, and the reality is there will be more people watching our game against the Lakers. Who do you know who won’t watch the Lakers game with Kobe? - Jay Mariotti, Aug 6, 2003

I am not a fan of Mark Cuban, the relentless referee-basher. – Jay Mariotti, May 30, 2006

Other naysayers have ranged from Hall of Famers (Red Auerbach, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to attention hogs (Mark Cuban) to has-beens (former NBA player Mychal Thompson) to modern-day nobodies (Knicks reserve Shandon Anderson). – Jay Mariotti, Oct 2, 2001

But then came the brick in the head Tuesday, when buzz circulated about the gross insensitivity and naked greed of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Needless to say, nothing good can come of a case that might leave a bigger smudge on the American condition than any criminal saga since O.J. Simpson. That sobering reality didn’t stop Cuban, the frat boy who never grew up, from delivering an appalling commentary that makes him sound like an ignorant, money-grubbing stooge. – Jay Mariotti, Aug 6, 2003

If I were the commish, I would have thrown Cuban out of the arena for Game 6 and fined him $1 million. The integrity of the game and its officiating is that sacred, and anyone who bludgeons it should be punished accordingly. As refreshing as Cuban has been in turning around a dead franchise, caring about fans and lathering his players with luxury—and as great as he would be as a Cubs owner for similar reasons—his finest ownership attributes are lost when he runs around like a loon. – Jay Mariotti, June 21, 2006

Admirably, the commissioner is living up to his name by protecting the NBA’s pummeled image with behaviorial crackdowns on and off the court. He is removing players from the guns-and-weapons culture, a long overdue ban. He wants owners to act like grown men and not frat boys, known as the Mark Cuban Rule. – Jay Mariotti, Nov 9, 2006

Hey Mark, still think of Jay as your ally? Go ahead and ask the pundit about these quotes and his rather suspect sincerity towards your bid to buy the Cubs. Listen to Mariotti yammer some lame excuse that “he is just doing his job, blah, blah, blah”.  And then ask yourself, at who’s expense?

Don’t say you have not been warned.

(Jay the Joke invites you to help spare Mark Cuban further unnecessary deception. Feel free to email the link to this article to mark.cuban at dallasmavs.com. After all, Cuban seems to find the time to reply back to Mariotti’s text rants. Seems like a safe bet that he would appreciate a “head’s up” before potentially “heading down” unsuspectingly to a certain bunker.)

It has been recently confirmed by an alleged source (requesting anonymity) close to the Chicago Bears that OSU Head Coach Mike Gundy (MG) has been hired to critique the latest “column” by Chicago Sun-Times “sports journalist” Jay Mariotti (JM).

MG - I’m not going to talk about football today.

JM - Some seasons deserve to last, others warrant at least a final flicker or gasp.

MG - I’m not going to take a question about the game.

JM - This Bears season?

MG - I’m going to talk about this article right here.

JM - It immediately should be put out of its misery and chucked into the nearest great lake, waste dump or junkyard, hopefully buried beyond recognition Sunday evening in chilled, stony silence.

MG - Anybody hasn’t read this article — I don’t read it, but it was brought to me by a mother with children.

JM - What started with a succession of offseason screwups — trading Thomas Jones, angering Lance Briggs, prolonging Tank Johnson’s agony, not acquiring a reliable quarterback, ignoring our warnings about the recent fate of Super Bowl losers — ended with a complete, ignominious breakdown in a very winnable game.

MG - I want to talk about this article. Three-fourths of this is inaccurate. It’s fiction and this article embarrasses me to be involved with athletics tremendously.

JM - How in creation did the Bears lose to the New York Giants, a team with a quarterback so awful that we actually began a press-box appreciation society for Rex Grossman?

MG - That article had to have been written by a person that doesn’t have a child and has never had a child that’s had their heart broken and come home upset!

JM - They lost because their one hope on this day, the resuscitated Grossman, reverted to Bad Rexness in the final minutes and failed to piece together the same winning drive that Brian Griese did in Philadelphia, missing five of his final six passes inside Giants territory.

MG - And had to deal with the child when he is upset!

JM - They lost because some of his better throws mysteriously weren’t caught.

MG - And kick a person when he’s down!

JM - And they lost because their one effective method of moving the ball — a quick, no-huddle offense suited to Grossman’s gunslinging ways — was abandoned.

MG - Here’s all that kid did! He is respectful to the media! He’s respectful to the public!

JM - Why, Lovie Smith, did you and playcaller Ron Turner eschew the no-huddle attack when it was so dynamic during an opening 79-yard touchdown blur and periodically in drives that resulted in field goals?

MG - If you have a child someday, you’ll understand how it feels.

JM – Not to rub poison in the wound, but how do you think the pathetic Eli Manning sprung out of his coma in the fourth quarter?

MG - But you obviously don’t have a child. I do.

JM - And what’s with the wideouts? Bernard Berrian made a rubber-band-man catch to spark an overtime victory last week, but he failed to dive for deep balls — lunge, reach, anything — on a couple of occasions.

MG - If your child goes down the street and somebody makes fun of him because he dropped a pass in a pickup game, or says he’s fat, and he comes home crying to his mom, you’d understand. But you haven’t had that.

JM - He will be the designated scapegoat this week, though any fair analysis will include consideration of a lack of talent.

MG - Someday you will and when your child comes home, you’ll understand.

JM - The Other Adrian Peterson had a few impressive moments at running back, but he is as much an NFL backup as the injured Cedric Benson is an NFL bust.

MG - If you want to go after an athlete — one of my athletes — you go after one who doesn’t do the right things!

JM - And when the Bears needed their defense to make a late stop, the result was just as futile.

MG - That’s why I don’t read the newspaper! Because it’s garbage!

JM - Smith was hired for his defensive mastery, but after giving up 356 more yards — 5.4 yards per play — his defense continues to rank in the NFL’s bottom five.

MG - And the editor who let it come out is garbage!

JM - If a defensive era hasn’t ended quite yet in Chicago, what happens if Brian Urlacher’s back injury is a permanent issue and Briggs signs elsewhere in the offseason?

MG – . Don’t write a kid that does everything right, that’s heart is broken, and then say the coaches say he was scared! That ain’t true! That’s not true!

JM – Well, they lost because one of the all-time elite defenses — isn’t that what the now-benched Adam Archuleta said in September? — collapsed against the run and allowed two long touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

MG - And I hope someday you have a child and somebody downgrades them and belittles them and you have to look them in the eye and say, “You know what? It’s OK. They are supposed to be mature adults but they’re really not.”

JM - And for all our worship of Devin Hester, our hyperventilating cries to feed him the ball every play on offense, we needed blooper sound effects when he blew past safety James Butler, turned around for a perfectly placed Grossman strike and ... let it smack off his left shoulder pad.

MG - And then you want to write articles about guys who don’t do things right and downgrade them, the ones that do make plays.

JM - The Bears do not have a head coach who knows how to go for the jugular.

MG - Are you kidding me? Where are we at in society today?

JM – And what good is Lovie Smith if his defense isn’t proficient, if the Tampa-2 scheme has been unmasked?

MG - Come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40! I’m not a kid! Write something about me!

JM – He sounded like a man who knows winter is upon him, that his Super Bowl run was a one-and-done hiccup.

MG - Who’s the kid here? Who’s the kid here? Are you kidding me?

JM - December can’t end soon enough.

MG - It makes me want to puke.