The Chicago Sun-Times is going to love this: In a revealing radio interview with 670 the Score in Chicago this morning (hat tip: Our hockey scribe, Lee Diekemper), Jay Mariotti blasted his former paper’s internet ineptness, going as far to say that it had a “rickety” website and his USA-Spain gold medal basketball game column “sat in a bin for three and a half hours” because nobody was at the paper to read it.

Here’s the real kicker: All of Mariotti’s points regarding the internet and newspapers are accurate. None of it is groundbreaking stuff that hasn’t been covered here and elsewhere in the last two years, but it is quite jarring for a wealthy sports columnist to leave big bucks on the table because of the paper’s snail-like response to the internet. When he says “we” below, he’s referring to the Sun-Times:

* “The print product is dead. It all has to be fed into the internet product now. The internet is going to save the written word. We’re not positioned for anything. These aren’t sour grapes - these are the facts.”

* “Yahoo got something like 30 million hits during the Olympics. These places are for real. They’re legit. It’s just something we’re all going to have to come to grips with. Our fathers may read a newspaper over coffee, but I don’t know anyone under 40 who is picking up a newspaper and reading it.”

* “I think newspapers that aren’t competing on the internet are dead in the water. The [Sun-Times] has made some strides … but it’s maddening trying to compete against [the Chicago Tribune] that is well-established and well-read.”

So what will his next stop be? One tipster claims that he’ll strongly be considered for Mike North’s old radio job in Chicago. A source claims he’ll land a writing gig at ESPN; two others sources say that will never happen because they’ve already got enough national voices in Pat Forde, Gene Woj and Rick Reilly (plus, Bill Simmons would never let it happen). Yahoo? It seems to make news-driven hires, not shit-stirrers. Fox Sports? Sure, if Whitlock gives the OK (judging on his public digs at Mariotti, that’s not happening). Forget about Sports Illustrated. Which leaves CBS Sports. But would it pay him the big bucks he’s going to want?

We’ll leave you with one final quote from Mariotti’s radio interview: “I believe the essence of sports is debate, and that’s what a columnist should do. There’s no write or wrong way to write a column, and I’ll be dammed if anybody’s going to tell me my way is the wrong way. I’m pretty proud of my career.

We’re also told Mariotti will be on ESPN radio IN CHICAGO at 10:25 (central time) this morning.