Curt Schilling Should Be On Mount Rushmore

Noted loudmouth and ex-Phillies pitcher Curt Schilling famously pitched Game 6 of the ALCS in 2004 with a hurt ankle, which also famously bled through his sock. The win helped the Red Sox rally from a 3-0 deficit to upset the Yankees and eventually won the World Series.

Last night, during a game, announcer Orioles announcer Gary Thorne made an interesting comment during the Baltimore-Boston contest: It was actually painted on! But of course! I’ve actually heard that rumor before, but it doesn’t make much sense; it’s not like his ankle wasn’t hurt, it’d be pretty silly to actually paint on fake blood just to make yourself look tougher.

The Red Sox denied it; the guy Thorne said told him about it says he doesn’t even know Thorne, etc. But the best comment comes from Terry Francona, the Phillies manager who successfully guided the team to a 65-97 record in 2000:

“What we’re going through today as a nation, you hate to use a word like heroic on the field, but what Schill did that night on the sports field was one of the most incredible feats I ever witnessed,” Francona said. “[Thorne's remarks] go so far past disappointing. Disrespectful to Schill, to his vocation. I’m stunned.

“I am just floored. Schill takes his share of shots, and this one is so far below the belt that I’m embarrassed and I wish somebody would have had the good conscience to ask me. I saw the leg. If that had been painted, I wouldn’t have had my knuckles so white, and having so much anxiety.”

“I don’t want to say Schilling’s a hero, but, man, he makes the people on Flight 93 look like pussies.”

Schilling’s sock called into question [Boston Globe]