Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown?

As an aside, good luck to Curt Schilling, who's undergoing what may be career-ending surgery. While I've taken my shots at the guy here and elsewhere for being, shall we say, a bit of a blowhard, he's certainly a hell of a pitcher, and never less than an eminently entertaining character. In the end I'd much rather have someone shoot their mouth off from time to time than become a dull sound-bite drone in public, as a lot of athletes feel compelled to.

I was at Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS, as a fan, and I won't be forgetting Schilling's performance that night anytime soon -- though of course, sitting in the far reaches of the upper deck, I had no clue there was bloodied hosiery involved at the time. (I also couldn't see the A-Rod slap play from up there, and so I'm afraid I may have had some harsh words for the first base umpire, specifically regarding his parentage and mental acuity, which in retrospect may have been a bit unjust). Schilling was a great focal point for the Boston/New York rivalry, stirring up a dozen mini-controversies over the years -- deliberately or not, he definitely had a knack for getting a rise out of people. If this is the end for him in Boston, which sounds likely, Sox-Yanks games won't quite be the same.

Of course, every time I start to work up some real fondness for the guy, I remember this:


Sigh.

(Yeah, I usually try to stay away from politics on here, and for good reason, but fuck it -- I have my limits).

Karma's Payment Plan

Careful, Yankee fans, this is a dangerous time.

I understand that Curt Schilling's shoulder injury, and its timing, provide a golden opportunity for schadenfreude. I really do. But remember: it is terrible baseball karma to wish for, or celebrate, injuries. By all means hope for Curt Schilling to be absolutely horrendous in 2008 -- but not because of significant surgical procedures, or pain. It's unseemly, but more to the point, it'll make the baseball gods just that much more inclined to give potential Sox starter Jon Lester a spectacular season for the ages... or to reach down and loosen one of Phil Hughes' ligaments.

So get well soon, Curt. Get well soon, and then suck.


UPDATE: That said... this is pretty funny.

Okay But Seriously, It IS Kind Of Weird That The Stain Didn't Spread, Right?

I never seriously believed that Curt Schilling's bloody sock was faked. I mean, it's technically possible I suppose, but it's pretty damn far-fetched. I do love mentioning this theory to Red Sox fans, though, because it drives them absolutely insane -- and in the dark years since October 2004, anything you can find like that, you use. I suppose I'd react similarly if Sox fans swore that Derek Jeter's bat was corked in the 2001 World Series.

Anyway, Orioles announcer Gary Thorne is finding out how seriously the Red Sox themselves take these accusations. It certainly does sound like Thorne either misquoted or misunderstood Doug Mirabelli, but really, it's not like he's accusing Schilling of raping and slaughtering puppies here. Seems like the sort of thing it'd be wiser to laugh off, but, on his blog, Schilling... well, not so much.

Highlights:

Take Gary Thorne, John, Jack Joe or whatever his first name is, Heyman, Karen Vescey, Woody Paige, CHB, Jay Marriotti, Bill Plaschke, and a host of other people that litter the media landscape, and put them all on an island somewhere.

Does anyone stop reading their newspapers? Watching the shows they appear on? The answer to that is no. Instead of using the forums they participate in to do something truly different, change lives, inspire people, you have an entire subset of media whose sole purpose in life is to actually be the news, instead of report it. They have little to no talent at what they do and other than a mastery of the English language their skill sets are non-existent.

Watching Woody Paige or the plastered made up face of Jay Marriotti spew absolutely nothing of merit on sports, day after day, makes it easy to understand how Gary Thorne could say something as stupid, ignorant, and uninformed as he did the other night.

Goodness. There are going to be some fun columns written on Curt Schilling this season, aren't there? But then:

People have asked and I have answered, but the mileage the media got from the incident is all of their own making. When I walked into the room for the post game interviews and offered up my first response to the questions about the game I basically said that the night was a revelation for me. That my faith in God that evening showed me things I’d never believed.

As I uttered those words I could see pretty much every person in that room roll their eyes and smirk. That’s not what any of them wanted to hear, truth or not. That was not good copy...

Fuck, now I feel bad, because I totally just rolled my eyes when I read that (though I don't believe I smirked). Anyway, lest he leave any reporters unoffended:

If you haven’t figured it out by now, working in the media is a pretty nice gig. Barring outright plagiarism or committing a crime, you don’t have to be accountable if you don’t want to. You can say what you want when you want and you don’t really have to answer to anyone. You can always tell the bigger culprits by the fact you never see their faces in the clubhouse. Most of them are afraid to show themselves to the subjects they rail on everyday...

And:

The saddest part in all of this is the following. Yesterday, as I was warming up for the game, I got to see a young kid, could not have been more than 20, who had served in Iraq. He was being honored by the Orioles and threw out the first pitch. He was a double amputee who’d lost the lower portion of both of his legs serving his country. He refused to use his cane and getting to see him do that was incredible.

Instead of finding this kid and writing a story that truly matters, something that would and could truly inspire people, the media chose to focus on a story that was over two years old and a completely fabricated lie. What a job.

Someone gave me a great idea to end this once and for all. No one will ever need to bring it up again. I’ll wager 1 million dollars to the charity of anyones choice, versus the same amount to ALS. If the blood on the sock is fake, I’ll donate a million dollars to that persons charity, if not they donate that amount to ALS.

Any takers?

Well, no argument here that Iraq and its victims are more important that Schilling's sock, but you know, these are sports writers. As for the wager... darn, I know I had a million dollars lying around here somewhere. Where could I have put it? Hang on... let me check under the sofa cushions...

Game Over Man, Game Over!

As some of you may know, Johnny Damon started an organization called the Professional Baseball Gaming League, or PBGL, of which he is Commissioner. (Typing that just made me fantasize about a world in which Damon is the actual Commissioner of Baseball; god that would be beautiful).

He recently lost a big match to Snoop Dogg, but there’s no shame in that -- it’s an honor to lose a video game contest to Snoop. Much more alarming, however, is his first-round loss, in the first-ever PBGL finals, to Prince Fielder. Oh, Johnny. You're so much better than that. The best part of the article, however, concerns Seth McClung, who got up hours early to practice, and did not take his ensuing loss at all well:

“…McClung seemed surprised and disappointed when he found that collisions had become a necessary part of the race strategy for the finals -- that he couldn't just fly through his opponent, like in the regular season…

…McClung was not a happy camper after he found himself eliminated.

‘You changed the rules,’ he said to one official. ‘Most of the points I lost, I felt there was a lot of contact. I can honestly say I'm disappointed. I'm upset.’”

I should probably point out here that McClung lost this video game contest to Steve Robison, an injured war veteran who lost most of his left leg in Iraq, and was playing as a representative of Damon's Wounded Warriors charity.

Man -- you do not want to umpire a Devil Rays game this season.

In other, actually more disturbing baseball gaming news (via Baseball Musings), Curt Schilling plays EverQuest.

“'People would find it unbelievable how much I play EverQuest when I travel,’ Schilling says as he works his way through his umpteenth dungeon in EQ2."

Nope... can't say I saw that one coming.

Say what you want about Schilling (and his recent political musings), but hey, at least he’s not spouting the same old ESPN-speak, and he’s not what you'd expect from a big power pitcher: I will bet any amount of money that Roger Clemens does not play EverQuest. And I’m pretty sure if you asked Nolan Ryan about it -- once you explained to him what it was – he would punch you in the face. Anyway, Schilling prefers to remain anonymous online:

“We can’t give away the details, but rest assured, he doesn’t play a female. In fact, Schilling said he never considered playing as a female character. "Never," he says. "The Lord made me the way he made me, and I’m OK with that."

Huh. Does this mean I violated God’s plan by playing MVP Baseball? Whoops.