As a way of dealing with unwanted attention from the media, many professional athletes slip into Auto-Reponse mode when sportswriters are around.You know when you send an email and you receive a reply right away? "I am out of the office until May 17. If you need any assistance, please contact my secretary."
For athletes, it's a go-to answer in response to nearly every question: "How'd you feel about your walk off home run today, Alex?"
"It was really a team effort out there. It's always good to come up with a win in games like this."
If you're a sportswriter (or a fan forced to read this quote written by a bad or desperate sportswriter), you're thinking, "Booooring."
And then there is Curt Schilling.
"So, Curt, anything you want to chat about before you head out for your bullpen session?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. First of all, I'd like to say that that was blood on my sock, and I'm willing to take a blood test right here, right now to prove it."
"Second, I'd like to say that Barry Bonds has admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes, and cheating on baseball. He's a bad person and doesn't deserve to break Hank Aaron's record."
That snap you just heard was the lead from the sportswriter's pencil, which is quivering with excitement.
The best thing about statements like the one made above (my paraphrase, but pretty close) is that it doesn't matter if it's true. In this case, it's not. But as long as you've got the quotation marks surrounding the statement --however ridiculous -- you're golden.
As a fan and an aspiring sports writer, I'd like to say thanks, Curt, for keeping things interesting. There are a lot of tight-lipped athletes that could learn from your example.
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