As I alluded to earlier today, the other side of the Jay Mariotti resignation was out there somewhere. (Even though the Sun-Times‘ press release didn’t say anything disputing Jay’s claims, they did get in a zinger about how they wouldn’t “personally” miss him. Burn.)

Deadspin’s Rick Chandler is citing two sources saying this had much more to do with yet another Rick Telander-Mariotti spat than it had to do with the Internet swallowing print whole :

Details are beginning to trickle in on Jay Mariotti’s sudden resignation from the Land of Newsprint, and it’s pretty much what you would expect: Jay quitting in a hissy fit over a perceived slight. According to two reliable sources, Mariotti, just back from Beijing, wanted to write a column on Barack Obama. But it wasn’t Jay’s turn to write — it was Rick Telander’s — and Telander also wanted to write on Obama. And we know how Mariotti feels about Rick. Sun-Times says no, Jay, wait your turn.

…

Then this bit of greatness: Mariotti resigned, and then headed to the Sun-Times office to tape his Around the Horn segment, only to find that his security pass had been deactivated while the paper was deciding whether or not to accept the resignation. They finally accepted it.

To be fair: this is Deadspin picking up on two anonymous sources, but given all Mariotti’s previous transgressions and how leaked stories like these about the man have turned out to be true in the past, it seems rather probable in my eyes. (Here is Telander’s rather meh column, if you’re interested.)

No matter what the story, somewhere Hawk Harrelson, Ozzie Guillen, Kenny Williams and Jerry Reinsdorf are raising their glasses in celebration.