Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
-Curt Schilling isn’t yet ready to say he’s retiring, but the talkative right-hander has already transitioned into his future role: that of sports media personality.
“Curt on the Car Phone” is now a weekly contributor on sports radio, not to mention tying his 38Pitches blog into WEEI.com. If Schilling’s early work is any indication, he’s going to be very popular with the fans, and not-so popular with many players and management types.
In a recent blog posting arguing in favor of the Red Sox re-signing Jason Varitek, Schilling advocates trading Clay Buchholz and a pair of minor leaguers for Texas catching prospect Taylor Teagarden. Without getting into the merits of the trade, how do you think young Mr. Buchholz feels about his former, if not future, teammate openly pushing for him to be shipped out of town? Such speculation and open rooting for trades about guys you’ve shared a locker room with is considered taboo for athletes.
It says here that if Schilling is going to take up media roots in Boston, then he’s likely done as an athlete in this town. Such brutal honesty won’t win him many favors in the clubhouse. However, it’s going to make his blogging and radio appearances “must stop shopping” for sports fans.
-For those who believe the NBA regular season is meaningless, I call attention to the league standings as of Monday:
In the Eastern conference, the Celtics are 37-9, percentage points behind Cleveland at 34-8, with Orlando close by at 33-10. Out West, it’s the Lakers running away from the pack with a 35-8 mark. As we found out last spring (and as those of us who remember the 3-way battles with the Lakers and 76ers in the 80’s can tell you), home court advantage in the playoffs is HUGE when teams are so evenly matched.
I’m not overly concerned with the Magic, but I can tell you right now the Celtics will not beat LeBron James and the Cavs in a seven game series where the deciding game is played in Cleveland. And judging by what I saw Christmas Day, I’d have to give the Lakers the edge if they earn home court advantage.
-By the way, save me a seat on the Stephon Marbury bandwagon. Forget the position listing, we all know “Starbury” is a shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body, and if there’s one thing the Celtics need, it’s another gunner off the bench not named Tony Allen.
However, let’s not be so quick to anoint this as exactly the type of move Red Auerbach used to make in bringing a malcontent onto a winning roster filled with veterans who’ll whip him into shape. Red made these types of transactions in the off-season, when the team had training camp and a full regular season to integrate the new blood into the system. While the C’s are saying all the right things about welcoming the troubled Knicks player into the club, there’s a very good possibility the adjustment to Marbury and might not be as smooth.
Comments (2)
Schilling is full of an awful lot of hot air so I'm sure he'll fit in to the Boston sports talk scene just fine. I used to be able to listen to the clowns on WEEI but haven't felt the urge to turn them on in years and doubt having Curt on the scene would change my opinion. Great that he'd be willing to throw guys under the bus but I'm not sure what I think of his opinions...
C's are playing some good ball right now. Keep playing like this and even King James in Cleveland isn't all that scary regardless of where the majority of the games are played. Sure it would be great to get homecourt but if not I don't think I'd pack it in because of a fear of the Cavs and Lebron.
Count me as "off" of the Marbury bandwagon. If the rhetoric coming out of the Knicks is even 25% true the guy sounds like a basket case and would not be a help no matter how good his skills may be. Besides the dude hasn't played in MONTHS - you can't just step off a bench and play like you never missed a beat... To do a deal with this guy you'd have to believe that he truly wants to win and not be a disruption and I just don't think he's talented enough that it's a risk worth taking. Had all of the garbage that's gone on since D'Antoni took over in NY not happened, sure.
Posted by dboisver | January 27, 2009 11:39 AM
Posted on January 27, 2009 11:39
Except, as Starbury said the other day: if he's such a cancer, why don't they just get rid of him? Why are they paying him a ton of money, counting a ton of money against the cap, just to sit at home? Why not send him to the Celtics and weaken them by his mere presence?
Or could it be that there's an early February game coming up against the C's and they don't want to get torched by him? Or worse, they don't want to be the team to contribute to the next banner?
Don't be so quick to discount the Cavs....barely beat them last year, and that was WITH Posey.
Posted by Teddy P. | January 28, 2009 7:06 AM
Posted on January 28, 2009 07:06