ESPN sanitizes Boston Red Sox history
ESPN has created a new view of Boston Red Sox history by expunging the historic game six of the ALCS from their 30 For 30 documentary
The Boston Red Sox have had some very messy divorces in their history where a once star has fallen in the team pantheon of “greats” over an issue that usually revolves around a contract. We have seen it with Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Nomar Garciaparra to mention a few. Occasionally it can be so with management where the axe has fallen on a general manager or manager.
However times do change and often sent away from the adult’s table does not necessarily mean being an outcast forever. Times change, management changes and the years pass by and old wounds are healed. Then there is ESPN.
“I apologize for taking credit for being part of something I apparently wasn’t” – Curt Schilling
The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network has managed to insult Red Sox fans everywhere with a newly minted and sanitized version of history by expunging any reference to the heroics of Curt Schilling in the sixth game of the ALCS. Gone is that historic game. Did it even happen? I do remember something? I do recall having it immortalized on a CD of that season. Maybe I am just getting old? And this is an insult of every baseball fan – Red Sox fan or not.
“Couples who get divorced don’t usually stoop so low to get the last word in” Shonda Schilling
The new sanitized version that is from a 30 For 30 documentary on the 2004 Red Sox has removed one of the premier events in Red Sox and baseball history – the Bloody Sock Game. The reasoning is not difficult to flesh out since ESPN recently cut ties with Schilling over a questionable post.
ESPN is or was his employer and they had every right to fire Schilling and can wrap it up in any corporate nuances they wish. And that was not the first time it happened with Schilling and ESPN. The track record of Schilling’s comments and political views are well known and have probably even impacted his possible election to the Hall of Fame, but this latest deletion is not about Curt – it is about Red Sox fans and baseball fans everywhere.
“Wow, full one year complete fabrication to defame the greatest QB, now omitting about 4 hours of a game I think I played in” – Curt Schilling
ESPN has ire at Schilling and many would certainly consider it well deserved, but does that entitle them to change history? Is ESPN now in the business of being a denier? This is a blatant attempt to ignore the one single most emotional event in the lives of Red Sox fans – the defeat of the Yankees in a historic comeback – and that game six was crucial, heroic and key to energizing the team for game seven.
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In an attempt at editorial accuracy, I will say Schilling is not high on my list of people I would care to have a beer summit with and it really is not about his politics. But I would certainly not be dismissive about his accomplishments in his profession and have written about it. In this instance, Schilling and Red Sox fans have been insulted by an immature and vindictive ESPN.