The column touches on the recent arrest of New York Mets reliever Francisco Rodriguez, who is accused of beating up the father of his girlfriend. Mr. Mariotti slams Major League Baseball for allowing Mr. Rodriguez to return to the team just two days after the incident.

Mr. Mariotti writes: "In the world of Bud Selig and the union he allows to rule his domain — the Major League Baseball Players Association — this somehow qualifies as tough justice. How typically pathetic and sad, huh?"

Later in the column he writes: "This was a frightening physical attack that will haunt Rodriguez, his girlfriend and her family as long as they live."

Now just try to imagine Mr. Mariotti writing the same column after what happened last weekend.

The former Sun-Times columnist was arrested early Saturday morning in Los Angeles after what was described as a "domestic disturbance" with his girlfriend. He was released from jail on $50,000 bond.

The Los Angeles Times reports police sources said Mr. Mariotti's girlfriend, who wasn't named, had "cuts and bruises." He has a court appearance Sept. 17.

The news sparked immediate speculation that Mr. Mariotti will lose his high-profile jobs as a panelist for ESPN's "Around the Horn" and as columnist for AOL Fanhouse. According to SportsbyBrooks, Mr. Mariotti moved to Los Angeles two months ago in advance of co-hosting a morning radio show with former Bull Jalen Rose on the ESPN-owned station in town.

AOL Fanhouse did post a story on Mr. Mariotti's arrest on its site. It included a quote from Editor Scott Ridge: "We are in the process of gathering the facts, and we have no further comment at this time,"

ESPN did not have any comment. "Around the Horn" isn't on this week because the network is covering the Little League World Series.

However, ESPN insiders believe Mr. Mariotti is done at the network. ESPN has instituted a no-tolerance policy after being rocked by several transgressions by high-profile employees. Last year, baseball analyst Steve Phillips was fired after having an affair with a young production assistant.

ESPN's top executives, including President George Bodenheimer, conducted a mandatory series of meetings that dealt with sexual harassment and acceptable behavior by employees.

Just how quickly ESPN and AOL react to Mr. Mariotti will be determined in the coming days. However, clearly his credibility is in question until this matter is resolved.

Mr. Mariotti has made a nice living judging athletes, usually harshly. Now he is in the same boat as Mr. Rodriguez: accused of a violent crime.

Even though Mr. Rodriguez hasn't been convicted, Mr. Mariotti wanted MLB to put the hammer down on him.

Now I wonder if Mr. Mariotti would want people to judge him the same way.