Comeuppance a Chicago Sportswriting Tradition

And before you complain or point out Pinella's contract, I would argue that a sportswriter like Jay Mariotti is even more privileged than any MLB player or manager.

"It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the Strong Man stumbled or where the Doer of Deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither defeat nor victory."

This Theodore Roosevelt quote is framed and hanging above our oven in the kitchen.

Read a Mariotti article -- any Mariotti article -- and you will envision his ravaged prostate gland and his constipated constitution and you will know the dying breath of this "cold and timid soul" will be full of regret.

Source: http://mgspandg.blogspot.com/2007/06/comeuppance-chicago-sportswriting.html