Schilling is a JERK-of-all-trades

With respect to T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times, I stole the title of this post. Simers wrote an article this morning condemning Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for comments made in his blog following Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday. Schilling was in attendance and sitting in seats ridiculously close to the Los Angeles Lakers bench and shared his criticisms on Kobe Bryant in his blog, 38 Pitches.

"From the first tip until about four minutes left in the game I saw and heard this guy (Bryant) bitch at his teammates. Every TO he came to the bench pissed, and a few of them he went to other guys and yelled about something they weren't doing, or something they did wrong. No dialogue about 'hey let's go, let's get after it' or whatever.

"He spent the better part of 3.5 quarters pissed off and ranting at the non-execution or lack of, of his team . . . as a fan I was watching the whole thing, Kobe, his teammates and then the after-effects of conversations. He'd yell at someone, make a point, or send a message, turn and walk away, and more than once the person on the other end would roll eyes or give a 'whatever dude' look."

Aside from the fact that I think blogging by athletes in general is a bad idea for a number of reasons, Schilling is already known as the blow hard of all blow hards, the asshole of all assholes, a jerk-of-all-trades if you will. He created his blog as a way to refute press reports about him and tell his side of the story. That is fair and acceptable enough. However, he has instead used it as a public forum to start conflicts with the media, management and even other players like Barry Bonds, making comments on issues that are none of his business.

I know you could turn this around and say I am being hypocritical because, well, isn't that what I am doing? The difference is that Schilling is a public figure and knows the media reads his blog solely to find tidbits of information to publicize.

Now he wants to comment on team chemistry and make insinuations on certain looks and comments on a sport he knows absolutely nothing about? Do you know how insanely crazy Schilling would get if Gilbert Arenas made comments on his demeanor inside the Boston Red Sox dugout in his blog the next day after being given tickets right next to it? While Simers' article comes off as a bit biased because he is a columnist in L.A., the general concept of his anger and justification for it are spot-on.

Schilling should keep his mouth shut. He is not a news reporter or basketball player, he is a baseball player--one that throws fits when the media makes false accusations or insinuations about him. How does he think the Lakers or Bryant feel about his comments?

And while taking his dump on Bryant and Pau Gasol ("saw a seven-footer who grabbed like four rebounds and spent the entire game whining about getting fouled"), he gives props to his Boston Celtics pals Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. How purely biased is he going to get? I wonder who got him the seats? Why was he next to the Lakers bench anyway? Bill Beli-cheat got the seats right behind Doc Rivers. Wait a minute...Boston athletes by each bench, all of whom love and support each other...are all of these teams in cahoots? I mean, Schilling has nothing better to do anyway...