I forgot to put this in the links this morning, but honestly the story deserves it’s own post. Here’s Kelly Dwyer’s take on Mariotti, and I don’t think any assessment of his life, work and departure has been better than this one. Just a quick excerpt, but I recommend you read the whole article:

He took what was the opposite of “sane” (not sure if they have a word for that), celebrated it, and passed it off as going against conventional wisdom. Well, going against conventional wisdom helps, if it means dismissing “wins” as a good stat for pitchers, or thinking that Jason Kidd is still working at an MVP level, or that Sgt. Pepper is a better album that Revolver; but in Jay’s case, it only meant railing against the right take as a way to draw attention to himself.

Which is why he wanted to be on the radio.
Which is why he loved being on TV.
Which is why …

Anyways, read the whole article. it’s really well-written and spot-on.