When my friend, Doug Karr, sent me a link to Curt Schilling’s blog I didn’t expect much. I haven’t yet seen any pro athletes or coaches using blogs very effectively. But as I dug into Schilling’s blog, 38 Pitches, I found some some really good stuff.
First of all, he writes about his personal perspective on the game. Note how transparent he is with his commentary. Here’s a quick excerpt:
So basically I give this game away in a three hitter stretch in the fifth. Inexcusable mistakes and horrible execution put us behind a pretty big eight ball as they have Mariano on 4 days rest and Andy is still very sharp.
Obviously the good guys pull it out. Just a fantastic performance from Hideki in the 9th. I think he’s flown under just about everyone’s radar but I think that might stop happening at this point.
This is a game that 5-6 years ago I’d have been incredibly upset about. Now, not so much. I’m incredibly disappointed in how I performed, but the end result was a huge win. The bottom line is I started the game, and we won. Regardless of the fact that I had little to nothing to do with it, we won.
Say what you want about games and importance for April, or September, but the fact is they all count for one win, or one loss. Some wins are bigger than others, some losses as well. Beating the Yankees when trailing by 4 runs, hell beating ANY team when trailing by four runs in the 8th is a big win. Beating the best closer in the games history is a huge lift as well.
…and the fans love it. This April 21 post has drawn over 90 fan comments already.
I don’t know what’s more amazing to me, that he’s allowed to use his Boston Red Sox uniform and trademarks in his blog, or that he’s allowed to speak frankly about the game itself. The organization must have tremendous trust in him, and his teammates must respect him a lot. Otherwise, I would think a blog like this would be very risky. If he says the wrong thing a the wrong time, it could cause some problems in the clubhouse.
What’s even cooler (to me) about Schilling’s blog is its stated purpose:
For 15 years my wife Shonda and I have worked diligently to raise awareness of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) as well as Malignant Melanoma (of which Shonda is a survivor).
The main goal of this blog, in addition to being an open forum to communicate with fans of the Red Sox, Major League Baseball, and the Computer Gaming industry, is to continue to raise awareness of both of those causes and many more.
Throughout the life of this project you will see many links posted here to charitable foundations other than the two listed on this page. It’s my hope that you will take a few minutes to check out these links and if you’re feeling up to it, do something to help out the worthy causes and incredible people involved.
Schilling has many interests off the field including his family and his “other” business, and he weaves both themes into his blog. This gives him a chance to love on his wife (e.g. sending her kudos for running the Boston Marathon), and raise money / awareness for ALS, and plug his computer game development company, even as he’s writing about baseball.
Not missing a beat, ALS is picking up on Schilling’s activism on its own site. Here’s what the ALS page looks like:
To me, this is blogging at its best. Schilling is obviously a smart guy with a lot of passion. Like so many others of us who feel strongly about what we do, he takes time every couple of days to share his thoughts and feelings with the world, giving us a glimpse inside his mind and his heart. And it’s getting noticed (read this commentary from the Sports Frog). Here’s another blog, MLB Front Office, that mentions Schilling’s blog.
The fact that he’s a sports celebrity draws attention, so I’m especially glad that he’s not just sharing mundane stuff like his favorite music or food. He’s showing his human side, which is risky whether you’re a star pitcher or just a “regular” guy. Of course Schilling is accustomed to putting himself “out there”. After all, he stands on the mound before 50,000 people throwing strikes to major league hitters for a living. And he continues to put himself “out there” on the Web. I think other celebrities could take a cue from him.
And kudos to the Red Sox organization for allowing use of their trademarks for this effort. It reflects well on the organization (in my opinion).
What is surprising here isn’t that a well-known athlete is having success blogging, but rather the age of the blogger.
I enjoyed Paul Shirley’s blog (http://www.nba.com/suns/news/shirley_blog.html) a couple years ago. Not exactly a household name, but I think this kind of candor and opportunities for fan interaction will be very difficult for teams to contain. And much like traditional marketing that tries to control the message in a Web 2.0 culture, teams are going to have to adapt to their entire rosters having grown up in an Internet world, using YouTube, sharing files and … blogging.
Well I don’t know if I can say anything good about the Sox, being a Yankee fan and all, but I am envious that they are comfortable enough to allow Schilling to write so openly.
That would never fly with our site. I also think it’d be a lot harder in Football to find the kind of player Curt is, for the simple fact that he has been around for so long, has a huge amount of experience to draw upon, and a nationally known name.
A few players come to mind that would have as successful of a blog, Peyton, McNabb, Brady, Tiki if he was still playing.
Then again, in season, any of those guys who had a real meaningful blog could easily rack in more than 90 comments.
Being a sox fan - it’s great to have schilling blogging. The comments section reads like the chris farley show - “Remember that time when your sox bled and you beat the Yankees - that was awesome”.
The most interesting developement here is that schilling is the one that broke(well confirmed) that papelbon was moving back to the closer role. Big news for fantasy guys and red sox fans. And a player’s blog broke it.
Also check out Agent Zero’s blog on NBA.com
I blogged this back in March when I read an article that pretty much made fun of his blog. It appears the media doesn’t like the idea of players going direct, cutting out the middle man.
You’re always two steps ahead of me, Joel