TNF: I love Curt Schilling
I love this guy. I will admit this. I first became a fan of him when he pitched his heart out back in 1993 against the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. I went to Game 1 to watch the Jays tee off on him - only to watch him stone them on television in Game 5. The other thing he was famous for was putting a towel over his head whenever Mitch Williams came in to close the game. Obviously, he knew what he was doing. Just like his interview with Bob Costas.
As a competitor he should gain the respect of every baseball purist. In his prime he was one guy you would want to take the game ball if your life depended on it. Because of people’s short-sided view on this man, people will not admit that his heroics and greatness in October and his great career has propelled him to Hall of Fame status. He has done enough to make the Hall of Fame - alongside his bloody sock.
Oh by the way, he said he’d allow his sock to be examined to see if the blood is his. He stands by it because he is a man of integrity - something that is missing in several athletes today.
What has everyone’s underwear feeling less than snug are his comments made on Costas’s show. Though we may not know this for sure, Schilling did not tell Costas to stay away from certain questions as Bonds has. Schilling was asked a question and he answered it. Whether or not you like the answers given Schilling was right.
As a member of the media, and a blogger, if I were to write a book on someone famous and made false claims I would be slapped with a lawsuit. Some of you think athletes wouldn’t go after the person and you could not be more wrong. These athletes don’t just worry about defamation of their character, but it goes much deeper than that; his kids get bombarded with insults from other kids saying their father is a cheater and a liar, his wife is embarrassed because her husband had been unfaithful and she didn’t know about it for years and the picture that has been painted is even worse than anyone could imagine for one athlete. This book, if false, could severly destroy a family. The only way to rectify the situation is to prove this book is a total lie.
And yet here I am looking around and people are telling Schilling to "shut his mouth". Again, he was asked a question and he answered it. I cannot be more clear than that. The best line may have been left for Mark McGwire as he was absolutely dead-on with his answer. Otherwise, McGwire would be in the Hall of Fame if people did not feel the same way as Schilling.
We cannot imagine suing someone because we aren’t in the same position as Barry Bonds, or even Gary Sheffield for that matter. We do not have an 8-figure bank account (most of us don’t). But if we did, and we were dragged through the mud by the media on claims that were 100% inaccurate we would set an example and go right after these people so they wouldn’t write another piece of trash ever again. We would set the precedence and never allow anyone to write another article, let alone book, that has no evidence of prior drug use.
Face the facts - Curt Schilling was right. He tells it how it is, and that’s why I love Curt Schilling.
