Let’s face it: there haven’t been a ton of great decisions made at FANHOUSE lately. Their site portal was a disaster, with tech issues that lasted for weeks, their fantasy football ads were kind of prostitute-y, and then there’s the Fantasy Sports Girls fiasco. That’s where those girls - who, shall we say, weren’t quite SbB material - squeezed into kid-sized jerseys and (poorly) read fantasy sports information off of cue cards. Fanhouse got just drilled by Blogfrica and took the feature down after just one installment (you can still watch it here if you’re in need of a laugh). So you’d imagine that Fanhouse and their AOL overlords would be looking to ring in 2009 with, y’know, a good decision.

(Also a bad decision: making this Photoshop)

The worst decision, however, is the one they made by hiring Jay Mariotti. Yes, that Jay Mariotti. Recall that we last heard from the “outspoken” (read: blowhard) columnist when he was setting fire to every bridge in sight at the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, resigning and declaring sports journalism in newspapers dead. We’re sure the Sun-Times would have loved to know about Mariotti’s wanderlust before they paid for him to cover the Olympics in Beijing, but eh, details.

So now, four and a half months later, Mariotti joins Fanhouse. According to DEADSPIN, Mariotti’s debut is Monday, and we just can’t wait. Seriously, we’re overjoyed. If ever there was a writer and an audience that were just meant for each other, it’s Jay Mariotti and Fanhouse commenters. While AOL might think it’s a good move in that everyone’s talking about Fanhouse again, they’re neglecting to mention that everyone’s following “Fanhouse” with “is retarded.” That’s not a wise business plan.

One question remains, however: how will AOL and Fanhouse top this new standard of idiocy? Cancelling the Chris Bosh videos? Deleting the MMA wing and replacing it with a scarf-knitting blog? Renaming themselves Farthouse? Actually, I would be more inclined to read a site called “Farthouse” than one that just hired Jay Mariotti. Never mind.