Sports Frog

You knew it was coming. Despite the insistence of many of Curt Schilling's supporters in the mainstream media (I'm looking at you, Tim Kurkijan) that Schilling wasn't mad about Gary Thorne's statements, he sure as hell was. He belted out a 1500 word response on his blog. Highlights follow.

Point #1: Jesus made me do it.

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 ... What I experienced in NY and again in game two of the world series was a deeply religious and deeply personal thing. I've never been one to hide how I feel and sharing what I went through was not something I had a problem with. I've forsaken my relationship with the Lord far too many times and wasted far too many opportunities to glorify him and what he's done for me in my life.

You know, this makes me want to look at that sock again and take a closer look. Wait, is that an image of Jesus in the blood? I think we need to reconsider whether or not this was an actual official miracle. Someone might want to get the Pope on the phone.

Point #2: Gary Thorne is part of the media plague.

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.

Hmmm. I don't follow your logic here Curt. But I'm on the anti-Paige/Mariotti bandwagon with you. Especially since you didn't throw the blogospere under the bus with the Around the Horn crowd. Mariotti gets his eyebrows done! Yeah!

Let's completely ignore the fact that almost everyone in the media, including most of the guys on Around the Horn, absolutely believe that it was real blood. But don't let the opportunity to play the victim pass you by.

Point #3: The media conspiracy.

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.

Well this is just silly. Media members are accountable to their bosses, who need to get their writers to cover topics of interest to the American people so they will pay money for the papers and advertisers will pay for space. Sorry Curt. A lot of people were interested in the bloody sock incident, and therefore the slightest possibility that it's fake is also of interest. If you're going to bask in the fame, deal with the fact that your dirty laundry will be aired both literally and figuratively. Otherwise, you end up coming off like Britney Spears.

And not to question your martyrdom, but if you haven't figured it out by now, being a major-league baseball player is a pretty nice gig. A heluva lot better than being a reporter, and the compensation ain't bad either. So try not to shout too loudly. You might break your glass house.

Point #4: Personal blog validation.

So for one of the first times this blog serves one of the purposes I'd hoped it would if the need arose. The media hacked and spewed their way to a day or two of stories that had zero basis in truth. A story fabricated by the media, for the media. The best part was that instead of having to sit through a litany of interviews to 'defend' myself, or my teammates, I got to do that here. As I said earlier, believe what you need to, whatever makes you sleep better at night is probably your best bet.

I agree 100% with Schilling here. I wholeheartedly endorse athletes writing their own blogs. They can clear the air, and provide immense unintentional comedy all in one place. In a very short time, Schilling has taken his blog and moved into the rarified blogair of Gilbert Arenas.

Point #5: Throwing down the gauntlet.

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?

Credit to Schilling for the money and awareness he raises on ALS. If a charity gets a million bucks out of this whole story, that would be a great outcome. But hey, Curt, instead of waiting for takers on a bet, why not just give a million bucks more to ALS? Or even better, ask yourself What Would Jesus Do? He might ask Gary Thorne who his favorite charity was, and give a million bucks to them.