Schill; He did it here first!

My first baseball post. Expect many more to come. I have a long-standing love affair with the game. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about a month and I’ve already scored tickets to the World Baseball Classic. It’s a safe bet that from time to time I will wax poetic about America’s pastime as if I were Peter Gammons, George Will, and W.P. Kinsella all rolled into one. Consider yourself warned.
I just finished reading Bill Simmons’ interview with Curt Schilling. Good stuff. I’m a huge Schilling fan. I know many people think he is an obnoxious ass. He probably is, but I love the guy for several reasons:

1. The way he pitches. He’s got a plan and he works it. He works the top and bottom of the zone like no other. He’s got disgusting control, changes speeds, his split disappears, and he can get 97 on his heater. Also, Schill doesn’t fuck around. He throws something like 95% first pitch strikes. He challenges hitters constantly daring them to hit his best stuff.
2. He’s one of the best interviews in sports. I understand why other players sometimes hate him for this but as a fan I love that he isn’t afraid to call em’ like he sees em’. I don’t agree with everything he says (particularly when it comes to his venom directed at the commissioner’s office). But I love that he openly acknowledges that most of the time it is about the money. I love that he talks trash about A-Rod and Barry Bonds. Most of all I love that he obviously cares about the game, its history, and the fans. Passionately.
3. The 2001 World Series. I’ve lived in Arizona basically my whole life. I became a Diamondbacks fan when the city was awarded a franchise in 1996, before they even had a single player. The 2001 World Series was the seminal sports moment of my life. I was at the BOB for The Backs win in game 2 and I was at Hightops (bar outside the stadium concourse) for the historic game 7. That game and the subsequent chaotic celebration was one of the best moments of my life. At some point I will write about it, but I’ll want to take some time with that one. Possibly multiple drafts.
   
   Reading Simmons’ column I was reminded of something that has been bugging me for awhile. Schilling is a Red Sock. He beat the Yankees and broke the curse for the most passionate fan base possibly in all of sport. Predictably Red Sox Nation embraced him as a sports deity. In the process Arizona lost its claim on him. I loved what Schill did in 2004 as much as anyone. I just feel like the laughably dominant stretch he had in 2000 and 2001 culminating in a gutsy masterpiece against Clemens on short rest has been somehow cheapened by a damn bloody sock. No matter what he does for the rest of his career nothing will top (for me) when he brought a championship to the desert. And I got to experience it first hand.