Schilling Has The Right to Be Upset
Can't say I blame Curt Schilling one bit for his ranting at the collected media after Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne made the ludicrous statements that he did Wednesday night, during the broadcast between Baltimore and Boston. In case you have been in another dimension over the last couple of days here is the story.Thorne, on Wednesday night told his audience that Curt Schilling's bloody sock that got so much attention during the 2004 ALCS, was actually a public relations move, to make Schilling seem more heroic. Thorne claimed that he was told this by Red Sox backup catcher Doug Mirabelli. Now on Thursday, Thorne takes to the airwaves, and says it was all just a misunderstanding.
He says he did not realize that Mirabelli was being sarcastic, when he "allegedly" made the comments. But the damage had all ready been done, Thorne had needlessly sullied two players reputations. Schilling on his website released a blog entry, here in part is what he said " 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."
Curt is absolutely correct, I covered the Cleveland Indians for 11 years, and during that time period, there were numerous cases where newspaper columnists, or talk show hosts, made inflammatory statements, and then would not show up in the clubhouse for days, or even weeks. Meanwhile, we beat reporters who were in the locker room on a daily basis had to deal with the ramifications of cleaning up the mess, that our peers had made. To many athletes, "The Media" is just this faceless blob and they lump us all together. So if a reporter or columnist from a Northeast Ohio newspaper, made an asinine statement about a player, many players would stop dealing with the media in general. As someone who has been proud of my craft, and believes that without my integrity and reputation, I am nothing I resent being put in that position by others.
Broadcasters like Gary Thorne must be taken to task. If "The Media" has no credibility, than we can not properly do our job, which is to be a conduit, or a pipeline for you the sports fan. Every time I am in a locker room, I feel that I am Your eyes, Your ears, and Your voice in that facility. I try to ask the questions that I think you the sports fan want to know the answers to. As long there are broadcasters like Gary Thorne and others, who pollute the airwaves without properly checking their facts, all of the media will be looked at with a jaundiced eye. No wonder according to public opinion polls, we as a profession have less credibility than used car salesman. This is because of the Gary Thornes of the world, on days like this I am not so proud to be a member of "The Media".
(c) Copyright thesackattack.com 2007
Post a Comment