Wednesday, May 02, 2007

That Bloody Sock

Sports journalist Gary Thorne alleges that Curt Schilling's bloody socks in 2004 during game 6 of the ALCS and game 2 of the World Series were fake, meaning the blood was painted on.

I never took this report seriously, and totally forgot about it after hearing it. Who knew that people took it so seriously? I check the websites and journalists actually spent column space on it. Unbelievable.

I was not surprised to see Curt defend his integrity on his blog. If someone said slanderous things about me and it was important to me, I would hit back too. What surprised me, was the response Curt got from readers/fans. A lot of people thought Curt went overboard, and that he overreacted while criticizing Thorne and other journalists. I'm pretty shocked. Curt has been kind and brutally honest on his blog. I don't see why he should hold back when defending himself against idiot sports journalists, who have given him shit since the day he stepped into Fenway as a Sock.

Athletes, especially those in a place like Boston are under constant scrutiny and pressure to win. Furthermore, the media base their reports on rumors of rumors, and make false accusations. Take Manny Ramirez for example. Last few seasons he was the best hitter and hardest working player on the team. Yet the media still labeled him as lazy and unmotivated, hence the phrase "Manny being Manny". It is no surprise that he wanted to be traded away from Boston when you get that kind of criticism.

When constantly bombarded with that kind of crap, I would be pissed too. Those playoff games meant a lot to the Sox, and I'm sure they were life defining moments for Curt. To be accused of something as stupid as painting blood on a sock during such an important moment is moronic and disrespectful. Besides that, I hardly see the logic here. The media took a momentous moment and had to try and add negativity to it. The event took place three years ago. Why even bother to bring it up, especially when the topic concerned is so meaningless.

I'm with Curt. He has the right to be pissed. People who don't understand his rage just haven't been insulted day in day out like he has.

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