Jay Mariotti (; born June 22, 1959) is an American

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

and commentator who currently hosts the sports-related podcast ''Unmuted''. He previously spent 17 years as a ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' columnist and eight years as a regular panelist on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

sports-talk program ''

Around the Horn ''Around the Horn'' (''ATH'') is an American sports Round table (discussion), roundtable discussion show, conducted in the style of a panel game, produced by ESPN. The show premiered on November 4, 2002, as a replacement for ''Unscripted with C ...

''.

Early life and education

Mariotti was born on June 22, 1959, in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He grew up in suburban Pittsburgh. After high school, he attended

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

, where he was the sports editor on the school's newspaper.

Career

After leaving Ohio University, Mariotti earned a job as a feature writer for ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Februa ...

''. He stayed at that newspaper for 4 years before taking a job as a sports columnist for ''

The Cincinnati Post ''The Cincinnati Post'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. In Northern Kentucky, it was bundled inside a local edition called ''The Kentucky Post''. The ''Post'' was a founding publication and onetime ...

'' in 1985. He later moved to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

where he was a columnist for both the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'' and ''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

''. While in Denver, he also hosted a sports talk radio show on KBX. In 1990, he joined ''

The National Sports Daily ''The National Sports Daily'', often referred to simply as ''The National'', was a sports-centered newspaper published in the United States beginning on January 31, 1990. The newspaper was based in New York City, was printed in a tabloid format, ...

'' as a columnist based in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and, later,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The publication folded in 1991, and Mariotti became a columnist for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' later that year. He would go on to spend 17 years as a columnist at the ''Sun-Times''. During his tenure there, he also hosted several radio shows including one in the late 1990s that was syndicated through the

One on One Sports SportsMap is a sports radio network that is distributed by Gow Media. The SportsMap Radio Network supplies its network affiliates with a 24-hour schedule of sports programming, including call-in shows and sports updates. Over its history, through ...

network and another in 2004 on Chicago's

WMVP WMVP (1000 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, carrying a sports format. Owned by Good Karma Brands, the station serves the Chicago metro area as the market affiliate of ESPN Radio, the flagship station of the Chica ...

. He left the latter position after 10 months after refusing to comply with the station's request that he minimize his criticism of the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

and the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

. Starting in 2002, he became a regular panelist on the

sports talk show, ''Around the Horn''. He also made occasional appearances on another ESPN program, ''

Pardon the Interruption ''Pardon the Interruption'' (abbreviated ''PTI'') is an American sports talk television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top storie ...

''. During his time in Chicago, Mariotti was occasionally the subject of controversy for his often highly critical language. One notable case occurred in 2006 when Chicago White Sox manager,

Ozzie Guillén Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios (; born January 20, 1964) is a former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for 16 seasons, primarily with the Chicago White Sox, from 1985 to 2000. During tha ...

, directed a "profanity-laced tirade" toward Mariotti after he had been critical of Guillén's management of

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

Sean Tracey Sean Patrick Tracey (born November 14, 1980) is a former American professional baseball right-handed pitcher. He appeared in seven games with the Chicago White Sox in 2006, all as a relief pitcher. College Tracey played both football and basebal ...

. In August 2008, Mariotti left the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', citing his belief that newspapers would soon become obsolete with news coverage primarily coming from websites. In January 2009, he joined

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

FanHouse FanHouse was a sports website owned by AOL. Launched in September 2006, FanHouse was considered the Internet's most linked sports blog by aggregator BallHype won Editor & Publisher's 2008 EPpy Award for "Best Sports Blog", and was named as a final ...

website as a columnist. On September 30, 2010, Mariotti pleaded

no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal Trial (law), trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the def ...

to a misdemeanor battery count connected to an August 21 arrest in Los Angeles for alleged domestic violence involving his girlfriend. In August 2010, Mariotti was suspended from AOL's FanHouse and stopped appearing on ''Around the Horn'' or any other ESPN properties. Mariotti has since maintained his innocence, stating that he pleaded no contest only to avoid the costs of a trial. Some charges against him were expunged in 2013. In March 2015, he was hired as the sports director for ''

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

''. In that position, he wrote 4 to 5 columns per week for the paper. Mariotti left the ''Examiner'' after a year in March 2016. In December 2016, Mariotti started a podcast called ''Unmuted'' with his former ''Around the Horn'' panelist,

Woody Paige Woodrow Wilson Paige, Jr. (born June 27, 1946) is a sports columnist for '' The Gazette'', author, and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports- talk program ''Around the Horn''. He was a columnist for the ''Denver Post'' for 35 years, and co-host ...

. Mariotti continues to host the show, although Paige is no longer a co-host.

References

External links

Official ESPN Bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mariotti, Jay 1959 births American podcasters Living people Journalists from Pennsylvania Writers from Pittsburgh Chicago Sun-Times people ESPN people The Detroit News people The Denver Post people Rocky Mountain News people Ohio University alumni Sportswriters from Pennsylvania