Hatred of Jay Mariotti Gets PeteJayhawk on Front Page of Chicago Sun-Times

If you read the comments here at FanHouse or at a lot of other sports blogs, you probably know a guy who posts under the name PeteJayhawk. Now hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans know him as well.

That's him, at the top of the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times, being welcomed back to the paper after sending an e-mail saying he would start reading again now that Jay Mariotti no longer works there. His e-mail exchange with Sun-Times editor Michael Cooke is below:

[From Gaines to Cooke]
Sir:
I wish to inform you that due to recent developments on the Jay Mariotti front, I will now read your newspaper. In fact, I picked one up on the way to work this morning. Not a half-bad rag, I must say. Bully on you.

Regards,

Pete Gaines

[From Cooke to Gaines]
Every cloud has silver lining .. and this one is golden.

THANK YOU !

That note atop the front page is part of an informal PR campaign in which the Sun-Times is publicly saying "good riddance" to Mariotti. Some of it is funny, but I have to agree with A.J. Daulerio at Deadspin: It's rather gutless of the Sun-Times brass to rip Mariotti now that he's gone. If the bosses had a problem with Mariotti, why did they just sign him to a three-year contract?