Remember over the summer when Jay took two months off from the Sun-Times? Does anybody remember reading anything about how it affected the paper's overall sales? Me either. People always like to make the argument that despite the hatred, Jay Mariotti sells papers. I have always given Chicagoans a little more credit than this. Sure, people buy the Sun-Times, but it isn't for Jay. The following is from an article posted on chicagobusiness.com:

Mr. Ebert, who is recuperating from surgery for salivary-gland cancer, took a leave of absence at the end of June. Since then the number of visitors to the Sun-Times' RogerEbert.com has fallen 65%, to 378,000 in August from 1.1 million in June. That's a problem for the Chicago tabloid and its parent, Sun-Times Media Group Inc. After Mr. Ebert's last column, in June, the Sun-Times' overall visitors fell 25%, to 1.9 million in August.

Now that's a columnist who makes money for his company.