Curt Schilling vs ESPN, Part II

Jennifer Warner
Contributing Writer 
Photo courtesy of the Boston Red Sox 


I feel the need to preface this article by making sure you are all aware that not now, nor have I ever been a fan of Curt Schilling. I couldn't even bring myself to post a picture of Curt Schilling on this article, which is why there is a picture of the Red Sox logo instead; that's how much I loathe the guy.  Sure, there was the bloody sock incident in 2004 which some saw as guts, dedication to team, and passion, but I saw it as self-aggrandizing, even then. At the time I didn't care though.  We won the World Series that year and I quickly forgot about my loathing for Curt Schilling...that is, until recently.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past month or so, or unless the bandwagon just recently stopped to pick you up, you all know the most recent goings on with Schilling. For those of you who may not, just check out his Facebook page and he will make sure you are all caught up on how he is being targeted and victimized following his genderphobic comments regarding transgendered individuals. Following the comments, Schilling was immediately terminated by ESPN on April 20th, where he had been working as a baseball analyst. But, it seems the story does not end there.

Last night, ESPN chose to re-air Four Days in October, you know, the film that chronicled our beloved Red Sox comeback from a 4-game deficit over the Yankees to win the 2004 American League Championship. Mysteriously, a 12-minute long segment of that film was missing from last night's airing, and even more mysteriously yet, that 12-minute segment was the Game 6 portion, aka "The Bloody Sock" moment, aka Schilling's portion.

When reached for an explanation of why Schilling was cut out of the airing, ESPN's PR rep offered, "When a live event runs long, it’s standard procedure to shorten a taped program that follows. In this case, we needed to edit out one of the film’s four segments to account for the extra length of the softball game."

Sure, programs cut and condense shows all the time. You've all watched a movie on television where it let you know ahead of time that "this program has been edited for time and content," but one has to wonder if this was an attempt to dig back at Schilling, who, let's be honest here, has been less than apologetic for his comments against transgendered individuals and does not seem to grasp any sort of responsibility for his firing.

I have no sympathy for Schilling and could care less about his being fired. In my eyes, he deserved it. But let's be honest here, ESPN does not have a stellar record of their "analysts" making good decisions about the s**t that comes out of their mouths. Does everyone remember when Stephen A. Smith made comments about a woman's responsibility to avoid being beaten during the Ray Rice incident? Oh, you don't? Well, check out the link here for the misogynistic rant.

Sure, he was "suspended" following those comments, but given that Smith still has a job, it does appear to be a little petty and spiteful for ESPN to cut out Schilling's portion on the 30 for 30 re-airing last night.

What are your thoughts, Red Sox Nation?

Follow Jennifer Warner on Twitter @Soxfan012