Posted on 10/30/2004 7:25:39 AM PDT by ForegoneAlternative
They're, um, mounting the Duck boats in Fenway Park, and it dawns on me that Kurt Schilling, who endorsed Bush on Good Morning America this week, is nowhere to be seen.
Then it dawned on me that every *other* Sox player spoke in Fenway before they started the parade *but* Schilling.
Amazing. Vengence is mine, says the War Hero, by way of Mumbles Menino...
I'd guess 80% of the ballplayers support Bush. Schilling is just one of the more vocal ones.
Schilling said he couldn't go to the Bush rally because of his tendon injury. Maybe it applies to this as well.
His doctors told him he shouldn't travel to New Hampshire to appear with the President -- although it was alright to start for a game each in the ALCS and the World Series? I'm very suspicious that he is being pressured to silence his free speech rights.
It doesn't HAVE to be political.
But, it is interesting.
The New York Times.
All we need to know.
As far as Schilling not campaigning for Bush after he said he would, I wonder if the Red Sox might have forced the issue. Professional athletes are contractually obligated to undergo medical treatment for injuries. Suppose the BoSox actually ordered Schilling to be examined by a surgeon on the very day he had committed to the Bush Campaign? Check & Mate.
I could swear I saw him loading up on one of the busses in Fenway.
If you think the Sox are going to trade Schilling, you are smoking something. I am sure he is pissed the Sox said he could not campaign for Bush. CEO of the Sox, Tom Werner, AKA formerly Mr Katie Couric is a flaming liberal. THe Sox also want to add 1000 new seats to Fenway and must get support of the Boston pols, most of whom are libs and Kerry supporters. My guess is they put pressure on the Sox to suppress Curt
Kerry has been quoted as saying he supports the free speech Pedro Schilling.
Unless he's fasting for surgery to take place tomorrow, I'm not buyin' that public statement. Schilling pitched 7 innings on that ankle. Are you trying to tell me that he can't simply stand on it for an hour or 2 at a campaign appearance? And who says that he has to stand or walk? Schilling is a stud athlete. Evidently he has a high pain threshold and political second-thoughts.
Schilling had no choice. But he made it clear as crystal whom he supports, and he'll be there cheering front and center when they visit the WH and GW.
Curt is in the parade. He's on a duck boat with Pedro. He called into Dennis and Callahan on WEEI this morning and spoke off the air with Gerry Callahan and said that the front office did not pressure him to back out of the rally in NH. He did say that he and his family received pressure from other places however. That lends credence to the stories yesterday that union thuggery and pressure on the companies that Curt endorses may have caused him to cave. He also said he's still talking to the Bush people about helping out in some other way though.
The Sox owners' leftist leanings and the fact that they need to continue to kiss up to Menino, Kennedy, et al., for the Fenway improvements most likely is the reason Schilling was made to shut up and "disappear" after his Good Morning America comment.
I am generally of the opinion that athletes & entertainers should keep their politics to themselves. When they DO actually express an opinion, they invariably p*ss off a good chunk of their fan base. If they then turn around an reverse themselves, the PO'd fans think that they've won a battle and taken a scalp; the favorable fans are then dissappointed as well. Reversing one's self only compounds the problem.
All the kerry campaign had to do was call the players union- Players union calls kurts manager,kurts manager calls kurt, kurt calls president bush and cancels!
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