People hear what they wanna hear, and people blow things out of proportion when they wanna make news... whether it's newsworthy or not. On Tuesday, January 7, 2015, Curt Schilling got into it a bit with the Twitter-verse after making a comment on WEEI, a Boston AM radio station. Before we get to the comment that Schilling haters (and, objectively speaking, probably a lot of Republican haters) decided to focus on, here's the first thing that Curt Schilling said on the Dennis and Callahan Morning Show: Host: "The Hall of Fame voting process - the Hall of Fame voters themselves - take a lot of grief for a flawed process and a flawed vote. Generally speaking, from where you sit, Curt, did they get it right yesterday?" |
Curt Schilling: "Yeah, oh absolutely. Um... Yeah, they - the process isn't flawed - stupid people do stupid things... I've seen so many in the past... people making - voters making their vote into a news article, protesting this, protesting that - except just voting the player on his playing merits. And, you know, that's normal, I guess. We're human and, you know, we all have bias, we all have prejudice, and, you know... when Pedro (Martinez) gets 91-percent of the vote, that tells you something's wrong."
I want you to realize something here: Curt Schilling is on the Hall of Fame ballot, too, but he didn't get voted in. Despite that, he said that the voters "absolutely" got it right this year. Curt Schilling was not elected into the Hall of Fame, yet he said that the voters got it absolutely right. Furthermore, he even lamented that Pedro Martinez didn't get enough votes with 91% - and Pedro and Curt were not all that chummy in Boston together.
I want you to realize something here: Curt Schilling is on the Hall of Fame ballot, too, but he didn't get voted in. Despite that, he said that the voters "absolutely" got it right this year. Curt Schilling was not elected into the Hall of Fame, yet he said that the voters got it absolutely right. Furthermore, he even lamented that Pedro Martinez didn't get enough votes with 91% - and Pedro and Curt were not all that chummy in Boston together.
Did Being a Republican Cost Curt Schilling Votes? Stop it...
Look, people, quit making news out of horseshit that isn't news. You're the same people that focus your attention on a missing girl in Aruba as being national news. You're the same people who focus on a house-fire in Chicago and make it national news. You're the same ones who focus on a cold spell in the middle of winter in Iowa being national news... as if it's newsworthy at all that it's freaking cold in the middle of winter in Iowa, for God's sake..
"Oh my God! Did you hear it's cold in Iowa right now?!... In fucking January??!!!"
"NO WAY!!! Quick!! We've got our news lead!! Top of the hour!! GO GO GO!!"
Go back and listen to the interview. Schilling was clearly joking about Smoltz being a Democrat, then Schilling played on the joke (along with the hosts) that he's a Republican and, therefore, he lost some votes. Curt Schilling, as you can clearly hear throughout the rest of the interview, is completely fine with not getting into the Hall of Fame. Listen to the entire interview and remain objective. It's really not hard to understand. It's also pretty entertaining for true baseball fans, I must say... but you gotta get past your inherent hatred for Curt Schilling and/or Republicans.
Also remember something even more important: I'm not asking you to like Curt Schilling; I'm just asking you to listen to what he says, objectively.
"Oh my God! Did you hear it's cold in Iowa right now?!... In fucking January??!!!"
"NO WAY!!! Quick!! We've got our news lead!! Top of the hour!! GO GO GO!!"
Go back and listen to the interview. Schilling was clearly joking about Smoltz being a Democrat, then Schilling played on the joke (along with the hosts) that he's a Republican and, therefore, he lost some votes. Curt Schilling, as you can clearly hear throughout the rest of the interview, is completely fine with not getting into the Hall of Fame. Listen to the entire interview and remain objective. It's really not hard to understand. It's also pretty entertaining for true baseball fans, I must say... but you gotta get past your inherent hatred for Curt Schilling and/or Republicans.
Also remember something even more important: I'm not asking you to like Curt Schilling; I'm just asking you to listen to what he says, objectively.
The Worst Part of this Whole "Situation"
The fact that, out of all the things that Curt Schilling said in his interview with the Dennis and Callahan Morning Show, the fact that this one comment about him being a Republican is going to be the focus, speaks volumes of the attackers on Twitter today. Because of this, there will be memes, there will be endless punch-lines, there will be caricature drawings of Curt Schilling crying about the Hall of Fame every year while wearing an elephant lapel pin... I'll bet someone even throws in an, "If Sarah Palin was allowed to vote for Curt Schilling, he'd make it in the Hall of Fame" joke. Wait a minute - that's actually a pretty good one. I'll keep the Palin joke for myself. "DIBS!"
Anyway, the fact that this one comment is going to overshadow all the great insight throughout the interview is a damned shame. Curt Schilling shared, among other things:
All this is good stuff. Great stuff, even, if you're the host of a sports talk radio show. Unfortunately, though, Curt Schilling is now going to have to face this bullshit (non-)issue every year when the Hall of Fame balloting comes around, and it's going to take time away from the real issues at hand, like his stats and actual merit on the field for (potentially) earning his spot in the Hall of Fame.
FINAL NOTE
The fact that certain people are choosing to blast Curt Schilling for the "Republican" remark proves exactly what he said in the interview when he addressed not getting votes.They simply don't like him for being as opinionated as he is:
"I do know that there are guys who probably will never vote for me because of the things that I said or did... y'know... that's the way it works."
Just like in the Twitter-verse, there are people in the media who simply don't like Curt Schilling. I mean, radio hosts seem to love the fact that he's opinionated, of course, but some guys in the media dislike him for that exact same reason. Go figure.
Again, no one's asking you to like Curt Schilling - you don't have to like him or the Republicans to understand this. By choosing this one, off-handed joking remark and focus all of your attention on it, yet totally ignore all of the other interesting insights that Schilling gave during the interview, it just shows that you are incapable of shaking your own bias. You are incapable of being tolerant of this guy because he's a Republican. Again, you don't have to like Republicans, nor do you have to like Curt Schilling, but can you just focus on the actual news, here? Curt Schilling said in this very same interview that Randy Johnson was a "miserable, miserable guy." Shouldn't that get some attention? He also said that Todd Helton was one of his least-favorite guys to face. He also said that he has no problem with Craig Biggio being a "compiler" (a guy who gets a bunch of hits because he plays forever). He also said that the media simply doesn't like certain guys... oh wait... we've been over that.
The point is: be honest. This is actually a really insightful interview if you can just get over your immediate, knee-jerk reaction to hating all things Republican or anything that comes out of Schilling's mouth. And if you're a true baseball fan, you can listen to everything that Curt Schilling has to say in this interview and come away saying, "Wow... that was some pretty good stuff" because, objectively speaking, it really was.
Anyway, the fact that this one comment is going to overshadow all the great insight throughout the interview is a damned shame. Curt Schilling shared, among other things:
- Thoughts on DHs making it into the Hall of Fame
- Who did Curt Schilling fear the most at the plate, and why and when
- Was Randy Johnson a miserable person on an doff the field...
All this is good stuff. Great stuff, even, if you're the host of a sports talk radio show. Unfortunately, though, Curt Schilling is now going to have to face this bullshit (non-)issue every year when the Hall of Fame balloting comes around, and it's going to take time away from the real issues at hand, like his stats and actual merit on the field for (potentially) earning his spot in the Hall of Fame.
FINAL NOTE
The fact that certain people are choosing to blast Curt Schilling for the "Republican" remark proves exactly what he said in the interview when he addressed not getting votes.They simply don't like him for being as opinionated as he is:
"I do know that there are guys who probably will never vote for me because of the things that I said or did... y'know... that's the way it works."
Just like in the Twitter-verse, there are people in the media who simply don't like Curt Schilling. I mean, radio hosts seem to love the fact that he's opinionated, of course, but some guys in the media dislike him for that exact same reason. Go figure.
Again, no one's asking you to like Curt Schilling - you don't have to like him or the Republicans to understand this. By choosing this one, off-handed joking remark and focus all of your attention on it, yet totally ignore all of the other interesting insights that Schilling gave during the interview, it just shows that you are incapable of shaking your own bias. You are incapable of being tolerant of this guy because he's a Republican. Again, you don't have to like Republicans, nor do you have to like Curt Schilling, but can you just focus on the actual news, here? Curt Schilling said in this very same interview that Randy Johnson was a "miserable, miserable guy." Shouldn't that get some attention? He also said that Todd Helton was one of his least-favorite guys to face. He also said that he has no problem with Craig Biggio being a "compiler" (a guy who gets a bunch of hits because he plays forever). He also said that the media simply doesn't like certain guys... oh wait... we've been over that.
The point is: be honest. This is actually a really insightful interview if you can just get over your immediate, knee-jerk reaction to hating all things Republican or anything that comes out of Schilling's mouth. And if you're a true baseball fan, you can listen to everything that Curt Schilling has to say in this interview and come away saying, "Wow... that was some pretty good stuff" because, objectively speaking, it really was.