Last Mariotti post, I promise. I just thought I should point out that commenting is enabled for his columns, and they've been, um, interesting. And I think I saw a couple of Deadspin ringers. A sampling:

• Jay, you are hot garbage. Like a ripe diaper filled with Indian food.The same attacking style that you slam is the only style you know. Exhibit A: This article... and your point of view in May 2005 of the White Sox. Reeeaaally missed the boat on that one, huh? — doubledowne11 01:42:15 PM Jan 05 2009

• And - who wants to bet to see how long it takes before the ability to comment on Moron's articles gets disabled "due to bandwidth", which is code to hurting his feelings? — bjngnnss 11:09:42 AM Jan 05 2009

• Combining the irrelevance of Jay Mariotti with the irrelevance of America Online was a logical step for both parties. Regards,Pete Gaines. — petejayhawk 12:11:30 PM Jan 05 2009

• Wow — it's amazing the level of detail you can come up to spin your side of the story. That's the BS you can dream up in your head when you're off for 3 months. — bjngnnss 11:07:30 AM Jan 05 2009

• He is absolutely right, the wave of the newspapers future is online. Newspapers are dying, but not necessarily newspaper companies, if they're smart enough to push more to the web.And what is lost on those who criticize Jay is that just because they don't agree with what he writes, doesn't mean he's a bad writer. — danielr11 10:35:50 AM Jan 05 2009

• Welcome Jay.........I have always enjoyed you on Around the Horn, and look forward to reading what you have to offer on AOL. — minnie1pill 09:34:03 AM Jan 05 2009

• The tale of Jay the Joke is far more complicated and sickening than the pap printed here. Many of us are glad this flea has left Chicago sports-writing to classier, sharper journos. Bye-bye, ya meaningless jerk! — dutchmccool 03:49:37 AM Jan 05 2009

And the immortal ...

• first!! jay rulz — markot09 03:46:59 AM Jan 05 2009

Will the notoriously thin-skinned Mariotti allow this to continue? Hey, if you're going to be part of the new wave, Jay, you've gotta take the good with the bad.

Also, kudos to Sports by Brooks for this:

From a man who said the future of sports journalism “sadly is not in newspapers”is writing for … AOL. Have I showed you the mousetrap-powered car I made in high school? Wanna know what I made the wheels out of?

Sunnier Times In The New Mainstream Media [AOL Sports]

How did the initial effort go? I have to say, I've never before seen The Great Wall of China, Richard M. Daley and animal penis combined so seamlessly in an opening paragraph. But then I don't read as much as I should. I'll sum it up by saying this: Jay is still all class. He wastes no time in lobbing Holy Hand Grenades at his old employers, even taking a swipe at them with the name of his column: Sign of the Times.

Just what were the circumstances of Jay leaving the Chicago Sun-Times, you might ask? In his accounting of events, Jay of course plays the victim, like always. Let's get right to the most interesting portion.

A week into the Olympics, I was inside The Water Cube That Phelps Built when a voice-mail popped in. It was from the sports editor of the ailing Chicago Sun-Times, asking me to accommodate the newspaper's Paleozoic-era deadlines by doing something the readers wouldn't appreciate. He wanted me to write one column that had Michael Phelps winning that day's race and another column that had him losing. Both would be filed long before the event, which, in some quarters, would be considered an editorial directive to cook up fiction.

I would insert blanks for the finishing times, which a copy editor would fill in, and the bulk would be a lot of jibber-jabber that worked regardless of the result. The editors would decide which column ran based on the outcome. In other words, processed lunch meat for your 50 cents — and it wasn't the first time. I usually just dealt with these hideous requests. This time, I balked.

Jay, stop! I must shield my eyes ... I can barely see you through the reflection off your shining armor!

Also there's this; read into it what you will:

I'm working for a company, AOL, that attracted 54 million unique visitors to its programming content sites in November and ranks fourth in traffic among Internet news sites. As established writers keep moving Web-ward, it will cause consternation among a few members of the sports blogosphere, some of whom think they own the Internet when, as everyone knows, Bill Kurtis owns the Internet. I've never bought into this "mainstream media vs. bloggers" blood war because, in my mind, we're all writers. The best young writers provide compelling takes on sports. The losers wake up each day and attack (choose your ESPN target), an approach that can't attract much audience beyond a few neurotic souls in sports media. Now hear this: I'm a bit too busy to hate bloggers or, really, anyone but terrorists and certain Illinois politicians. I just think they should be writing about Steve Smith, not Stephen A. Smith.

Then, later, this horrifying graph:

Know how nutty it got? AOL rated me 14th on its Most Controversial Sports Figures list, between Chad Ocho Cinco and the Steinbrenners. If my eventual new bosses knew about my torrid fling with Madonna, I'd have cracked the top five, I betcha.

I can forgive you for a lot, Jay Mariotti. But for placing that mental image in my brain, may you rot in Hades.

Others mentioned in Jay's first column: Bill Plaschke, Woody Paige, bloggers, Mark Cuban, Glenn Close. Oh, it's a fun read, which includes nothing of the Rick Tealander-Barack Obama controversy. Come on Jay, shouldn't a reporter include all the facts?

Jay Mariotti Joins AOL Sports [Chicago Tribune]
Sunnier Times In The New Mainstream Media [AOL Sports]