Jay Mariotti is described as ``a lightning rod'' by his Sun-Times editors. He occasionally is called better things but usually much worse, a result of being at the commentary forefront of a thriving, passionate sports town that loves a feisty argument.

Mariotti is the longest-running featured sports columnist at a Chicago daily, having spun his timely, fearless opinions about the city's mercurial teams and colorful athletic figures since August of 1991. He is a nationally known commentator who appears daily on ESPN's highly charged ``Around The Horn,'' a TV roundtable program featuring columnists from major U.S. newspapers.

His job takes him to places as near as Wrigley Field and the United Center and as far away as Europe, Asia and Australia. He is a veteran chronicler of every major sporting event around the world, including the last 12 Summer and Winter Olympics, the Tour de France, soccer's World Cup, Wimbledon, the British Open and, of course, an annual American diet including the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Masters and Final Four. Nothing excites Mariotti and his audience more, though, than a Sox-Cubs game on a June afternoon. Or a visit to a high-school game, which serves as escapism from greed, egos and steroids.

Mariotti has won numerous column-writing awards on the national, state and local levels, including recognition among the nation's leading sports columnists by the Associated Press Sports Editors. He is going to write a book very soon, though he has no idea what the topic will be.

As for the bizarre myth that he's from Detroit, he's not. He grew up in Pittsburgh, not far from the hometown of Mike Ditka, Da Coach.