Curt Schilling has a better, blowhardier way

March 6th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Curt Schilling has made no secret of his affection for video games. One of the most entertaining things I’ve ever posted at FanHouse — besides this photo of Ryan Braun fielding pop flies — was the story that revealed Schilling as Scythehands Voxslayer, Everquest junkie. Even in a jock-ridden, macho culture like baseball, it’s kind of cool that Schilling is so proudly nerdy. Because if one thing bloggers like about their athletes, it’s everymanishness. (Not Brett Farve everymanishness, though. Especially not from Plaschke.)

After he finishes collecting free money from the Red Sox this year, Schilling’s next adventure is his video game company, 38 Studios. In an interview with Venture Beat, Schilling talked about why his company will be different from EA Sports (hint: they won’t force you to work 70 hours a week) and revealed the inner blowhard he can repress for only so long:

Q: What is your World of Warcraft character?
A: A 70 Hunter and a 68 Shaman.Q: How many hours of playing have you put into it?
A: I will not publicly admit that.

[…]

Q: So it’s not out until 2010?
A: It will be interesting after this season is over and it becomes a full-year thing. I think the hard stuff of getting it up and running is done. There is a leadership aspect. We have a Monday morning all hands every week for 15 minutes. We say where we are at and boom, let’s go. Don’t come in at 9 and then get charged up by noon. Let’s go. Remember, I stitched up my frigging ankle and kept playing. So let’s go.

The lessons: If you want to have a 70 Hunter and a 68 Shaman in the World … of Warcraft, you’ve got to be tough like Baseball Legend Curt Schilling. You can’t just walk into any old game like Bioshock and start hunting Big Daddies without dedication. You can’t waltz onto XBOX Live and expect to be a 35 Halo 3 player. It takes work! You’ve got to stitch up those thumbs and dab some fake blood on them so people really know you’re giving it everything you’ve got. That’s the only way, junior.

Curt Schilling is Monday Morning Gloaterback

October 22nd, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

There’s plenty to gloat about today. Fellow Bears fans get to gloat about their crazy last-minute win yesterday. I get to gloat about my Dumbledore call — knew it all along! And, of course, the Red Sox and their fans get to gloat about their second trip to the World Series in four years.

Guess who’s jumping on the boastwagon? I know, it doesn’t sound like Curt Schilling to gloat, but … oh, right:

Congratulations to Terry Francona as well. In a city that features armchair QB’ing and media second guessing as legitimate paid professions, he stayed true to himself and true to us as players and managed his ass off. I still think he’s the most underrated manager in baseball. Sticking to your guns is hard enough, but in a town where the home team is pretty much second only to catholicism doing so is even harder. We won because he made the moves he had to make, and because he trusts us to do what we’re supposed to do when it matters most.

Terry Francona is a genius since he arrived in Boston? Having been on his team the first day he managed in the big leagues through today I’ll tell you up front that he is not much different. He does suck much more at cribbage now than he ever did and his fantasy teams continue to suck as well, but as a manager he’s not really different. I think the interim jobs he had in Cleveland and Oakland showed him the inner workings of baseball front offices more and helped him in some areas but in the clubhouse, dugout, and on the field he’s pretty much the same non-jersey wearing guy he was in Philly, he just has a front office comprised entirely of people that understand winning games on the field matters more than anything else. The ‘know it alls’ in Philadelphia, from Conlin to Cataldi to Macnow, aren’t really know it alls are they? Their people who’s life it is, who’s entire job description, revolves around creating news or stories where there is none, to make you think their ‘in’ and you’re not, and if you want to truly know or get smarter, listen to them. Pretty cool when you can be wrong pretty much 90% of the time and still be considered an expert.

Wonder how smart Tito looks to the guys that hacked him in Philly now? 3 post seasons, 2 world series appearances in 4 years here. Nice to know he gets that last laugh.

I like that Schilling’s down with the kids and the blogs and the Everquest and all, but it would sure be nice if he just sat a few plays like this out. We get it, you like Tito. You’re also all rich and famous and will never have to pay for alcohol in Boston again, so there’s no reason to construct a phony persecution scenario. You are among the richest of the rich, and the most popular of the popular. You are the cool kids at the cafeteria table of life. Just relax.

And Boston fans wonder why we’re all not suddenly rooting for them.