E-Media Tidbits

38pitches.com Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling recently apologized on his blog for on-air remarks about Barry Bonds.

In the larger scheme of things like world peace and the environment, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's apology on his blog Wednesday to controversial San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds is a tempest in a teapot. People (perhaps especially athletes?) say stupid things every day and apologize every other day. Many, like Schilling, do it on a blog so that they, as a publisher, can control the message.

But there were a couple surprising elements in this latest sorry-I-said-it story.

In brief, during a morning radio interview on Boston station WEEI, Schilling criticized Bonds -- who is 10 homers short of matching Hank Aaron's home run record of 755: "I mean, he admitted that he used steroids," Schilling said. "I mean, there's no grey area. He admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes and cheating on the game. So I think the reaction around the league, the game, being what it is, in the case of what people think. Hank Aaron not being there. The commissioner [Bud Selig] trying to figure out where to be. It's sad. And I don't care that he's black, orgreen, or purple, or yellow, or whatever. It's unfortunate. There's [sic] good people and bad people. It's unfortunate that it's happening the way it's happening."

Here's the online apology (to which there were close to 400 comments Thursday morning): "Everyone has days and events in life they'd love to push the rewind button on, yesterday was one of those days. Regardless of my opinions, thoughts and beliefs on anything Barry Bonds it was absolutely irresponsible and wrong to say what I did. I don't think it's within anyone's right to say the things I said yesterday and affect other peoples lives in that way. As someone who's made it very clear I have major issues with members of the media that take little or no pride in their work, it's the height of hypocrisy for me to say what I did, in any forum."

You can judge the comments for yourself. You can judge Schilling's right to say them for yourself. But Schilling's manager, Terry Francona, wasn't pleased. "We talked a little bit and I said, 'You probably just need to stay away from some of those things,'" said Francona -- who admitted he didn't know what a blog was until the controversy. (The Red Sox lead their division, so I guess that's pardonable.)

Schilling will continue to write his blog. "I don't care, as long as he stays away from certain things," Francona said. "It doesn't make sense. If you want to run for office some day and solve the world's problems, go ahead. Just not while I'm the manager."

Although Schilling and Bonds play in different leagues, the teams have an interleague series scheduled in Boston June 15-17. I bet Schilling's blog will be particularly quiet around then.