So we’re the sports blog that got Jason Whitlock fired from ESPN. This is a fact we are not proud of. If you’re a first-timer to the site, here is our Q&A with him last week that started the shitstorm.

As we’ve stated before, Whitlock was a joy to watch on the network when filling in on PTI or Jim Rome, and we enjoyed his sparring with the panelists on The Sports Reporters. Along with Bill Simmons, Whitlock was one of the few reasons we bothered visiting ESPN.com’s dying-a-slow-death Page 2.

We kind of got the impression the overweight lova was in trouble when a new minority face turned up on The Sports Reporters Sunday, and then on Monday, one of our moles in Bristol sent us this email:

i agreed with most of what he wrote. but it was far too vicious … plus, he’s done at ESPN on air now I’m guessing, they don’t tolerate that stuff.

If you read some of the comments here and here, you get the sense that ESPN.com may miss Whitlock more than he misses ESPN.com (paycheck notwithstanding). We’re eagerly awaiting his initial column at AOL Sports.

When we began interviewing sports journalists last month, the intention was for us to pull back the curtain and have writers reveal some of the cool, behind-the-scenes shit that readers aren’t privy to. TJ Simers of the Los Angeles Times gave us some of that. Tomorrow, we will post an interview with a writer from Sports Illustrated.com that you hopefully will enjoy. Now if Jay Mariotti would only return our blasted emails …

Independent thought more important than working for ESPN (McClatchy Newspapers)
EARLIER: A Q&A with Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star