Curt Schilling: Trendsetter

by Josh Bernoff

Regarding Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's teriffic and honest blog, 38pitches, the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo had this to say:

. . . It's not that a pitcher can't execute a number of tasks, but outside distractions aren't good for anyone.

That's why you're not going to see a groundswell of athletes starting blogs like Schilling's. I jokingly asked Tim Wakefield yesterday when we'd see his blog, and he said, "You'll never see that from me." Sure, this is the 21st century and communication has come a long way. Mainstream media doesn't have to be the only way to get the message across. Fans enjoy hearing things directly from the athlete. There's no spin. Of course, there's no objectivity, either.

I disagree. Professional athletes are rich (so they get a lot of advice), full of opinions, and have a natural audience. They want to manage their own image. Of course they will blog. Not everyone's as articulate as Curt Schilling (a lot of folks think he's going into politics once this baseball thing is done) but they don't all need to post 10 pararaphs a day.

As for the rest of you bloggers -- as Steve Rubel says, you could learn a lot from Curt Schilling. Including what happened when he told the truth about Barry Bonds . . . and then had to retract it. A politician indeed . . .

Go Sox.

Tags: Curt Schilling, Red Sox, 38pitches, bernoff, Forrester Research, Groundswell

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Comments

[Pete Vlastelica]

I agree. Here's a first look at Greg Oden's new blog: http://yardbarker.com/oden