Mariotti Talks Tough, Threatens Hawk's Beak



Not that I am any fan of Ken Harrelson, a homer so shameless he makes John Sterling sound credible, but the Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti surely must know there is such a thing as "fighting words". If you keep provoking someone over and over again, sooner or later they'll hit you with a chair. The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein gets us caught up with the latest episode in the Mariotti/White Sox slagfest.

The Sun-Times sports columnist and regular on ESPN's "Around the Horn" went nose-to-nose Wednesday with White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson in the the press box at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

At one point, witnesses say, Mariotti told Harrelson: "I ought to clock you right now."

Harrelson's response: "Go ahead. Do what you've got to do, Jay."

The two have been feuding in print and on air since SoxFest, when Harrelson called Mariotti "the biggest sports fraud" and added: "Mariotti wouldn't know a good or bad team if he saw one . . . In six or seven years, I've never seen him in the clubhouse."

Days later Mariotti wrote: "Now that official team puppet Hawk Harrelson has targeted me as Osama Sox Laden--the one and only reason why the ballmall is obsolete, the fan base is shrinking and bad drunks rush the field and attack people--allow me to use my almighty powers in a more productive manner."

Since then, Mariotti has written about Harrelson four times, describing him as "[Chairman Jerry] Reinsdorf's shameless mouthpiece," "whiny . . . bitter" and sounding "like he's constipated."

Harrelson has struck back on his telecasts, most recently after Mariotti likened U.S. Cellular Field to a "state penitentiary" after describing a fight in the stands. But the two men didn't cross paths until about an hour before Wednesday's Sox-Twins game.

Harrelson was walking to the TV booth, taking the required route past the back row of the press box. There's not much room to maneuver, and Mariotti, talking on his cell phone to ESPN program director Len Weiner, was leaning back in his chair.

Harrelson said he "brushed" past the chair, unaware of who was sitting in it.

Mariotti said Harrelson "rammed into him," prompting Mariotti to tell him: "Watch where you're going."

The incident grew heated, with Harrelson and Mariotti yelling insults at each other.

Witnesses say Mariotti, after rising from his chair, came within three to four inches of Harrelson and said: "I ought to clock you right now."

After more name-calling, witnesses say Mariotti told Harrelson: "You want a lawsuit? I can make you a poor man."

Mariotti denied that he threatened to sue Harrelson.

"No," he said. "There was an exchange. He was yelling silly things that are beneath me. He needs to be a professional. Am I going up to his [TV] booth and yelling at him? If I did, would that be a violation? Yes. End of story."

Not quite. After the game, Harrelson said he and analyst Darrin Jackson saw Mariotti working alone in the press box while other writers were in the clubhouses.

Harrelson said he told Mariotti: "`Now, Jay, have a nice evening.' And he muttered something I couldn't make out."

Mariotti said the incident occurred while he and others were on deadline. "You don't come into a press box after a game and start yelling at a guy when writers are on deadline," Mariotti said. "He's thoroughly unprofessional."

But not even that marked the end of the dispute.

A friend of Harrelson's called him Friday morning to report that Mariotti had said on his radio show, "I can pinch his beak off any time I want to," referring to Harrelson.



(beak on the brain, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson)

That prompted Harrelson to call the station and ask producer Shaun Witt to put him on the air. Witt declined, telling Harrelson: "Jay said he'd take a pass."

Harrelson called Mariotti "gutless" and told Witt: "Just tell Jay that next time he comes to U.S. Cellular Field, I'll give him a chance to pinch my beak off."

Mariotti denied having referred to Harrelson on his Friday morning show.

Witt said late Friday morning that he would review a tape of the show. But he never reported its contents and didn't return phone messages left for him.

Mariotti said he declined to put Harrelson on the air because "I have no interest in these silly little things. I am above that. I'm trying to do a radio show. The White Sox just need to play baseball and stop worrying about the media. That goes for him too."

Mariotti attributes his dispute with Harrelson to a "10-year war" between him and the Sox.

Mariotti said he is "appalled" that so many people want to confront him.

"These people need to get me off the brain," he said. "I'm not worth it. I'm just a guy in the media. I'm trying to lay low."

Guys who are trying to lay low usually don't host radio programs, write columns for daily papers or appear on regularly on TV chat shows.

Posted: Sun - July 4, 2004 at 07:27 AM      

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