Red Sox notebook - Boston Dirt Dogs - Barks and Bites 1.4.03

The Schilling Fields

11.30.03: It's a whole new ballgame. And that's not a Nomar Garciaparra forced post-game cliché. Red Sox Nation has been transformed into The Sons of Curt Schilling overnight. And the mainstream media is swimming upstream as the internet killed the radio, newspaper, and television story on the signing of Curt Schilling over this Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Thanks to CyberCurt himself.

'EEI hosts like Yankee fan Craig Mustard "I don't do that chat thing" and out of touch Mike Adams sounded like buffoons trying to explain what happened over the weekend. A writer for the Boston Herald in today's edition thinks the Sons of Sam Horn is actually about Sam Horn, making their paper look like a lost soul in the hot space.

Let the record show the apocalypse came upon us at 2:41am EST on Friday morning when Curt Schilling, more than curious to get a take on what Sox fans were saying, went online at the redsox.com fan forum looking for some action. He got it and then some. Curt's first thread on the MLB board was entitled "Will be hard to believe I am sure." As the online universe is filled with everything from moles, to trolls, to a-holes, it was nearly impossible to believe, especially on that unmoderated forum filled mostly with AOL kids.

But Curt's entry into the Wired Nation was legit as he wanted to clear up some gross inaccuracies reported in the "legit" media about his demands and desires. He asked that "this information remain here"... umm Curt, you were posting on the internet, it's an email world (sincerely, Paris Hilton), the Red Sox have the biggest following and most intense media coverage of any professional sports team on the planet, this is the biggest story of the offseason to date.... so surprise! ESPN.com posts the entire letter verbatim in a matter of hours.

Next, Curt the night owl found his way into the SoSH chatroom where "GodSamGod" was asking "chonce" the burning question: "Think they (Yankees) want to do the Claussen deal over again?" Curt then tries to join in the conversation in an effort to get his letter to the fans posted on SoSH. Again asking this hardcore crowd to believe that it's Curt Schilling, posting in their chatroom, with 15 hours to go in his negotiating widow with the Red Sox. So they gave him a little rope to run with, and run he did, talking anything and everything under the Red Sox sun with the caveat that it remain private and out of the hands of the credentialed media. The partial excerpt provided here on the amusing exchange between the posters and Curt quoting our 110pt. type "DONE DEAL" breaking news headline OK'd to post (hey, and as soon as Theo got on that plane, failure was not an option).

In the chat with the then Arizona Diamondback pitcher, Curt provided many anecdotes relating to his career and was quick to reply with little known facts like "I pitched my first game against Bruce Hurst." He soon convinced the diehard chatters that he was the real deal. But there were still doubters. Once Curt left around 4:30am (2:30am in Paradise Valley, AZ), "Butch Hobson's Elbow Chips" was vehemently unconvinced and chimed in with "I saw nothing I couldn't pull off retro sheet site or know from following his career in Philly... there could be 1,000 places to buy cheesesteaks but to not even mention FAMOUS Pats or Ginos is absurd... a pro athlete who has been burned hundreds of times in his life by reporters is not popping into a chat room to casually discuss the status of his on-going negotiations and hang out for 2 hours... BOTH J Henry & the Dentist will give him clearance before Curt Schilling ever comes to SoSH."

Well, it now appears obvious Curt Schilling is not a "clearance" kind of guy. He'll never ask for permission... or forgiveness. And we love it.

At 5:48pm, John Henry breaks the official news that Curt is coming to Boston (shortly after Jason Stark broke the news on ESPN).... online, at SoSH. And naturally Curt came back Saturday to do another online chat. He even comes up on the right side of the great Bear vs. Shark debate, he's clearly a genius not to take the shark bait. His generous donation to the Jimmy Fund, and work with ALS and The Shade Foundation (see link in right border) are beyond commendable. The next stop on the Schilling online tour was Royal Rooters where he clarified deferral payment questions today. He's exchanged a couple of emails with us. He is the king of all online media, surpassing even John W. Henry.

Sunday night? Still talking to Sox fans about anything from potential Yankee trades to Koufax comparisons. He loves to talk baseball. And you know what? He already knows more about the people who make up Red Sox Nation than Pedro, Manny, and Nomar combined. He's unscripted, unedited, unbound, and it's all unprecedented. It's 38 degrees in Boston tonight. Coincidence?

Move over Tom Brady, Paul Pierce, Joe Thornton, Nomar Garciaparra, and you too Pedro Martinez, there really is a new sheriff in town. And Red Sox Nation will never be the same.

11.20.03 - Here's hoping Terry Francona really is the second coming of Joe Torre. But no need for concern that Terry's not a household name right now. As Jackie McMullen said on NESN's SportsPlus tonight "don't worry about how big the name is, worry about who the guy is." Sincerely, Rick Pitino.