There was no in-between with Curt Schilling. He didn't take shortcuts and nothing ever came easy. That went for pretty much anything. Whether it was on the mound, his charity work for ALS, doing interviews or playing video games, Schilling went all out. So needless to say, sometimes Schilling had a way of rubbing folks the wrong way. For instance, there was a time in June of 2004 where I found myself sitting in the home team dugout at Fenway Park a few feet away from Schilling and Kevin Cooney of the Bucks County Courier Times.
Normally, I do my best not to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, but Schilling knew who we were and how us media types act when we get a good piece of gossip and decided that his conversation with Kevin was for everyone within earshot. That meant the security protecting the dugout, the early-arriving fans, fellow teammates and, of course, me.
Knowing his audience, Schilling dived in mouth first and just ripped away at the Daily News' Marcus Hayes for his 2003 Rookie of the Year ballot. Apparently Marcus didn't have Diamondbacks' pitcher Brandon Webb placed to Schilling's liking on his ballot or something like that.
Whatever it was, it gave Schilling an excuse to complain. Needless to say, Schilling was really good at that, too.
But here's the good part about Schilling's loud rant that day in Boston - he knew Marcus wasn't at the park because it was a Saturday. The Daily News doesn't print on Sunday (yet they still have a Web site) so Schilling knew that us scribes being as catty as a sewing circle would scamper back to the press box and replay the rant.
He was right. Continue reading this story ...