Last summer, celebrity sports columnist Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote the latest in a series of articles denigrating the Chicago White Sox and its fiery manager, Ozzie Guillen. It was the sort of piece that Mariotti has written forever—when he first arrived in Chicago, the paper advertised their new hire on a billboard that read “Sports With An Attitude.”

Guillen’s response was rather atypical, however. He called Mariotti a “fucking fag” during a press conference. He was fined for the slur, but didn’t get much criticism for ripping Mariotti, who isn’t exactly popular among his peers. And in a move that showed little remorse, the official White Sox Web site now links to a blog written by Scott Reifert, one of the team’s media relations directors, who has taken it upon himself to monitor Mariotti’s work and blast him at every perceived slight.

This is not just a case of two notoriously volatile guys doing what they do, but rather part of a broader new reality in professional sports: the increasing willingness of leagues, franchises, and athletes to attack sports writers who write things they don’t like. This aggressive zig is complemented by a message-control zag: use technology to circumvent the press and communicate directly with fans.

Sound familiar? It’s the same strategy that the Bush administration has executed masterfully, going to unprecedented lengths to marginalize and attack the press. So it should come as no surprise to learn that several communications strategists with ties to the White House have gone on to work as consultants to various pro sports leagues and franchises.

Political P.R. firms first gained a toehold in sports in the mid-1990s, when the Pittsburgh Steelers hired a Republican consultant named John Brabender to help push public funding for a new stadium past...

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