PriorBlog

This afternoon I had to pick up some tapes for the video recorder at Best Buy in Dedham. Pulling into the parking lot I came this close to bagging it because the place looked so crowded. Of course, since it’s Best Buy, I’m not going to go in there, buy something and leave. I’m going to putz around the video game area for a half hour or so. I am really into watching other people play John Madden Football. It’s the most amazing game, but I have no intention of ever playing, mainly because it seems so complicated.

John Madden wasn’t on, but there was a boxing game equally as complicated. The kid playing it was in a gym learning how to punch. As I am waiting for this kid to get into a real fight, or a “real” fight (so many quotes around here), I noticed that Curt Schilling was standing about six feet away from me. I did a double take, thinking something like, ‘I better make extra sure it really is him, because I don’t want to spend the next eight months telling everybody I saw Curt Schilling on December 22 only to find out that he was in Arizona.’

There were three tell-tale signs that this was the real Schill.

1.) Shonda Schilling was standing right there next to him.

2.) He was wearing a Green Monster Games hat.

3.) As a disinterested looking Best Buy employee sauntered by, I gave him a nudge and said, ‘hey that’s…’ and his face lit up, just exploded with a smile, and he said ‘I know.’ Even though I didn’t say anything to Schill, because he seemed real intent on looking at the games (I think Schilling loves attention though, why else would he be milling around a packed Best Buy in Boston right before Christmas with his Green Monster Games hat on? And when I say milling, I mean milling (not in the grist mill sense, in the loitering around sense)), that moment of shared excitement between the Best Buy employee and me was enough to make my day.

For the record, Schill looked like a guy who lives in his mother’s basement. Oversized blue and white basketball player warmup pants, a hooded sweatshirt that gave the impression of being worn for at least the last 72 hours, and the aforementioned hat. He also had one of those phones you hook on to your ear. This last little detail gave a comic flourish to the total ensemble, as though he was at once extremely busy and at the same time prone to waking at one in the afternoon.

Schilling is probably most noted for the bloody sock game. That’s all well and good, but myself, I most remember the following moments:

June 22, 1998. The day after my sister gets married my dad and I hightail it out of Philly to see the Red Sox take on the Phils in Fenway. There is something I hate about watching my two favorite teams play each other, and in a lot of ways I hate interleague play for doing this to me, but of the Phillies-Red Sox games that I have been to, the majority have been great games. This one was no exception. Red Sox are ripping Schilling apart 8-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Francona comes out to pull Schilling off the hill. Shilling isn’t going anywhere. Appears to tell Francona to head back to the dug out, which he does. Schilling pitches two more innings, the Phillies come back and win it 9-8 in 10 innings.

Game 5 of the 1993 World Series. The night before the Phillies and their bullpen were up five runs going into the eighth and ended up losing the game 15-14. The toughest non-series ending games I think I’ve ever seen. Schilling the next night throws a five hit shut out to send the series to that fateful game six.

Uh-oh, I am getting pinged on IM and my Schilling reverie is dissapating. What a great day! Maybe I’ll write some more on Schilling later.