MY BEST DAYS ON “REAL SPORTS” ARE GONE, AS ANOTHER GREAT MEDIA SHOW DIES

I declared the end of newspapers near 2010, which continued a crackling move of writers to Internet sites and TV shows, and at some point, I’ll be given credit for a tour de force now suddenly ending

     So here we are again, as life has demanded since my freshman college year, another column running through my head and eyes and fingers. We’re edging toward the 9,000 era, making me remember what I told Frank Deford when we chatted on a Wrigleyville rooftop. He wanted to know why I’d handed back a load of money and left the Chicago Sun-Times, reminding the enemy newspaper that I wouldn’t go down with a dying ship.

     I said the print business was dead, late in 2009, and I had no more interest in fool’s work when the clowns in charge knew nothing about the Internet’s thundering arrival. We were dastardly behind, to the point I was asked to author two absurdly separate stories at the Beijing Olympics — Michael Phelps wins and Michael Phelps loses, so they could meet deadlines one night. A heart issue made me ponder my well-being, and now, I wanted a newer life away from the grime and slime. Smarter operations would adjust to a better path and use corporate money to become digital craftsmen, with the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal surviving. Others took on far lesser roles. Others died. And others, like my boat, quickly fell into bankruptcy and was owned by various bad actors including a local plumbers union.

     Hey, I needed a paper that would kick the Tribune’s ass. I couldn’t watch the years pass as circulation dropped toward 50,000 from our 350,000 role. I left the paper, leaving behind a group of angry people who didn’t understand I only spoke the truth. Not once has anyone ever thanked me. Matter of fact, I’m thinking a lot of people hate me forever, never believing a paper would be replaced by something called Substack in 2023. But what I write here is what I always had in mind, while the Sun-Times is supported by a non-profit company with support from the family of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. They used to win Pulitzers by chasing down politicians. Now they hope the final unemployment call doesn’t come next year.

     I write today knowing the media world we left behind, not long ago, has shrunk altogether. My ESPN program for eight years, “Around The Horn,” has lost most of its audience and must deliver streaming prattle to a mess with fading hope. The Sun-Times tries to survive around the neck of radio station WBEZ. I couldn’t work in either environment. I’m glad I had 30 years of great life. I like this now.

     And the reason it’s here is because the words were delivered on “Real Sports,” with the grandmaster Deford delivering a chilling piece about the demise of newspapers. He knew himself, having tried to gear up The National Sports Daily, which lost $150 million in brief time. Now he was jumping on the end of sports pages as a joy of life. Not long ago, I wondered how in the hell that show was still buzzing as it approached 29 years, the last bastion of the industry, with Bryant Gumbel rolling out new furniture and rugs in Manhattan.

     But now, “Real Sports” also is gone. Social issues have become nothing in the age of Pat McAfee making $85 million-plus for five years — what if he fails? — and media have turned into fanboys in the greedy age of gambling and debauchery. No Gumbel? Who’s left, Jim Nantz or Scott Van Pelt? Can’t wait to see them break down a betting story … oh, ESPN is cutting back “Sports Center” so McAfee can run in daily prime time from noon to 2 p.m. ET. Imagine if he’s involved in a wagering tale and talks about it.

     “We’ve had the opportunity to tell complex stories about race, gender, class, opportunity and so much more,” Gumbel said. “Being able to do so at HBO for almost three decades has been very gratifying. I’m proud of the imprint we’ve made, so I’m ready to turn the page. Although goodbyes are never easy, I’ve decided that now’s the time to move on.”

     It’s not just him. “The series will continue to resonate in the realm of sports journalism, and we are so proud to have been part of such a remarkable odyssey,” said Casey Bloys, HBO’s chair and CEO.

     So I brought back the show Wednesday after a few years.

     Say goodbye to sports journalism, Chicago. You think the Jerry Reinsdorf coverage was desultory back there? Check out mine the last two years.

     “Sports is immediate. Sports is made for the Internet,” I told Deford, before saying, “Print is dead. Sportswriting is not dead. Sportswriting is moving to the Internet. It’s how it’s disseminated.”

     I told him about a nitwit at the Sun-Times, top editor Michael Cooke, the all-time dick of dickdom. I said: “It was before a Phelps race in Beijing, and the editor of the paper apparently had early deadlines: ‘You’re gonna have to write a Phelps wins and a Phelps loses column. You’re gonna have to write fiction. We’ll fill in the blanks of the times.’ ’’

     I looked at a site, Yahoo Sports, sitting nearby and prepared to handle history properly. I wished I’d been with them, saying, “Wait until the race. Go report it. Go talk to people. And these guys want me beforehand to try to guess what might happen. We had these extraordinary finishes. How would I know we didn’t have something else? How could I give readers a generic ‘Michael Phelps won his fifth gold medal.’ You are cheating the reader. You’re cheating me. Why am I in this business if I’m doing guesswork before a race?”

     As the show ended, with Deford noting I’d joined an HBO sister called AOL, he holds a copy of that day’s Sun-Times. He says he has read the paper each morning since he was a child. “Keep that around for Frank Deford then,” I say. “But 80 to 90 percent of your mission has to be the Internet. Keep this around for auxiliary people on the train. People in the john. People at the ballgame. There’s always going to be a place for that.

     “But it has to be minimal in the future.”

     Were truer words ever spoken?

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.