It really should not come as a major surprise that Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock has brutally ripped on former co-worker Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski in a very personal and mean-spirited attack.

A reporter at the Star once noted that “Jason Whitlock has all the attributes of a dog, except loyalty.” He has again proved it.

Since leaving the Star a few years ago Whitlock has virtually ripped apart every editor and co-worker he ever worked with.  He was fired from both sports talk stations in Kansas City. ESPN fired him. He went on an afternoon sports talk show in KC and discussed an affair by a former editor.  It was cringeworthy. It was unprofessional.

At the Kansas City Star there were two sports columnists.  One was Joe Posnanski, who won just about every sportswriting honor ever given.  He left after nearly 13 years for Sports Illustrated, which is considered Mecca for sportswriters.  In April he took an even bigger job at a new joint venture between USA Today and Major League Baseball Advanced Media.

The other Star columnist was Whitlock, who during his 16 years at the McClatchy-owned paper tried to parlay race into virtually column, was suspended for making a gay slur during an NFL game, and had the reputation of being lazy and sloppy. Earlier this year he was forced to publicly apologize for a racial slur aimed at basketball’s Jeremy Lin.

According to blogger Greg Hall, who worked with Whitlock at the Star, “Whitlock resented that JoPo was presented as the polished writer while he felt he was thought of as the lucky black guy.”

Posnanski, who was named the Best Sportswriter in America in 2012 by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame, was with Paterno and his family as a the horrific national scandal unfolded at Penn State and Paterno was fired. Within three months, Paterno died of lung cancer.

When writing a book about Paterno Posnanski had the easy option of following the lynch mob who wanted to demonize the legendary coach for not doing enough to stop child molestations by a coach on his staff.  Or Posnanski could try to do an honest assessment of Paterno’s life and also examine the horrific ending where he was fired and buried a short time later.

In a review of Posnanski’s book Whitlock’s lede pretty much summarizes his feelings:

“One thing is obvious after reading “Paterno,” the much-anticipated biography chronicling disgraced Penn State coach Joe Paterno: The biographer doesn’t know his subject,” wrote Whitlock.

That may have been the most positive thing Whitlock wrote about his former co-worker as Whitlock managed to even bring race into the picture.

“(the book) expose(s) how a coach and a writer can sacrifice their integrity over time, one compromised decision at a time.”

“Seriously, most puddles are deeper than “Paterno.”’

“Paterno” reveals far more about the biographer than the subject.”

“The book had one other discernible goal — distancing Posnanski from his journalistic cowardice and fraudulence.”

Now Whitlock can add Posnanski to the list of folks he has stabbed throughout his career.  In this case, it is obvious jealousy is an ugly vice.