While the Sun Times is coming perilously close to being accused of piling on, I guess it is understandable that the staff there is pleased with recent developments. I am sure that each of us, at one time or another, has been in a work environment that contained a coddled bully. The excuses for keeping him or her are universally the same (he/she makes us money or famous or ...) And the end result is universally the same. One day, one time, the bully pushes once too hard and, ooops, the proverbial door is greeting the rear end.

Jay has demoted himself* from “Chicago Sports Columnist” to “Vernon Hills Blogger” in spectacular fashion. Gone is the cool newsroom on ATH. It has been replaced by a faux basement set which features generic sports memorabilia and, for no meaningful reason I can discern, a framed magazine cover laid on its side.

Even more bizarre was Jay’s little “come hither” line for Tribune Management that he* dropped in Phil Rosenthal’s column today.

“It’s a new world,” Mariotti said. “When I was criticizing the Tribsters all through time, you’re not those Tribsters anymore. Dennis FitzSimons and that whole crew is gone. Nothing would shock me. I could go to work in Australia. I could go to work down the street. It’s a wacky media world. Anything is possible.”

Really Jay? What were all those articles* about Sam Zell being a heartless bastard, closet pornographer and misogynist? Some form of resume’ enhancement that I missed? Suffice it to say that I am not concerned that he* will end up at the Tribune in my lifetime.

Nevertheless, as Jay continues his slide into becoming a Liza Minelli impersonator and Internet Creature, I thought I would take a moment to talk about the future of Jay the Joke. As I told the admins in a private meeting this morning, I want to take a few days to allow us to cleanse our palette. Let the members have some fun and enjoy this moment. They, more than anyone else, deserve it. It is they who have kept this site alive and their efforts that have kept us to the fore of the public eye. They are the ones who have been going to other blogs, posting on other sites and, as has been written by smarter minds than mine, “doing the Lord’s work.” All I have done is pay some bills and stay the hell out of the way.

We also have to be honest with ourselves about our little niche in the internet universe. No one is really all that curious about what I think of the Bears and their Ginger Rodgers defense. Just because they can do what the offense is doing, only backwards and in heels, does not make for scintillating reading. Just a long and painful season.

We have tried, and will again, to write about the positive things that go on in Chicago’s sports media. Plus, there are more than enough examples of clueless journalists that we will not suffer for content the rest of the time.

Simply put, we will alter our mission statement to take in the new reality of the Chicago sports’ landscape and continue to keep you entertained. Well, that’s the plan, we’ll see how it all works out. I sincerely hope you’ll stick around to see.

In the meantime, CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE FUN!