The Bloody Sock '"Controversy"

Ardent baseball fans remember how star Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, had the tendons in his ankle surgically bundled together so he could go out and pitch against the Evil Empire (aka the New York Yankees) during the 2004 playoffs. He pitched a superb game, with many close-ups of the bloody sock, where blood had apparently seeped from the surgical site. What a dramatic story! What a gutsy performance! Now, a controversy is raging in the baseball world over whether it was really blood or maybe……..paint? Here’s an update from the New York Times:

“Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling offered $1 million to anyone who could prove it was not blood that blotted his sock in the 2004 playoffs, and he criticized members of the news media in a blog on his Web site yesterday. The controversy over what stained Schilling’s sock was reignited this week when Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne said that Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli had told him it was paint, not blood, and that it was done for a publicity stunt. Mirabelli called that a lie and Thorne said Thursday that he had misreported what Mirabelli said. Schilling, who had a surgical procedure on his ankle that allowed him to pitch in the Series, blasted Thorne and the news media in general yesterday in his first public statement since Thorne’s on-air comments.”

Schilling has made it public that he is a Republican and Bush supporter. Could the bloody sock controversy be the beginning of Schilling’s dark horse candidacy in the 2008 presidential elections? John McCain never pitched with a bloody sock! How will the Democrats respond to this “publicity stunt”? Perhaps a Congressional subpoena? Not wanting to be outdone, they may try to find a Democratic baseball player to counter this insidious Republican ploy!