12/21/24
February 12, 2004
When sports and blogging collide.: David Pinto at Baseball Musings quoted a Curt Schilling post from the Sons of Sam Horn message board in his weblog. This angered the SoSH owner as well as a few SoSH members because of Curt's wishes that whatever he posts stays at SoSH. Bloggers defended David's actions. Another rode the fence.
Are Schilling's words protected by fair use? Is Schilling's request unreasonable? Previously touched on here.
posted by jasonspaceman to baseball at 06:56 AM - 12 comments
word
posted by garfield at 08:35 AM on February 12, 2004
I've been following this for a while, as I read SOSH and Bambinos Curse, DD, redsoxnation.net and all things Red Sox related daily. I really enjoy Curt Schilling's attitude about dealing with the fans hands-on and I especially enjoy his answering the questions in the forum. Initially, back in January, I thought it could be a great FPP because it didn't have a media/editor filter on it and the content was smart, enlightening and sharp. It came straight from his mouth, directly from an actual baseball player and you don't get that very much anymore. But because I was kind of confused about the content and if it was okay to link, I didn't post. And maybe I just wussed out. It's a public forum. Yes, membership is restricted, but read permissions are not. I also find it difficult because if I Google, I could probably stumble across his post anyway.
posted by jerseygirl at 09:36 AM on February 12, 2004
SoSH and Dirt Dogs are out of their mind, but that's expected when someone gets a little famer on the 'net comes to expect it. Schilling's request is asinine; unfortunately, I'm willing to play the game to get threads like this from him.
posted by yerfatma at 09:50 AM on February 12, 2004
This seems like a tempest in a teapot. I'm no expert on what should be considered "fair use" of quotes from other Web sites. I generally allow my forum members to quote a paragraph at most, and require them to link to the story if they want people to read more. I know that corporate news sites technically don't want people like me "stealing" even one sentence of their content, but nobody's ever given me a hard time about it. As for Mr. Pinto, I don't think what he did was necessarily wrong, but it may not have been smart. If other blogs refuse to link to him because of this, then it might not have been worth it. If I was in his shoes, I probably would have just linked to the quotes since SoSH is a non-profit site. Without actually visiting the SoSH forums, I would assume their big concern is that Schilling will stop talking to them if he finds out that his quotes are being plastered all over the Web. I agree that the whole "off-the-record" issue is a joke. A public Web site is most definitely "on-the-record". The baseball blogging community seems a lot more advanced than the blogging communities of the other major sports. I guess this shouldn't surprise me, since baseball is a cerebral, statistics-heavy game. Regardless, I hope more athletes take the time to interact with sites like SoSH where the diehard, intelligent fans gather.
posted by Scott Carefoot at 09:53 AM on February 12, 2004
If membership is going to be reserved than they have to expect people (fans, especially ones with blogs) are going to want to talk about what Curt says in another forum.
posted by jasonspaceman at 10:19 AM on February 12, 2004
yerfatma, I just got done reading all 4 pages of that thread, that was truly awesome.
posted by vito90 at 11:50 AM on February 12, 2004
I think the down-side to that thread is it left me thinking, "Why didn't anyone else do this before? Where's an athlete in another sport doing the same thing?" I have a feeling Schilling will have given up SoSH within the next 3-6 months either because of an incident the team doesn't want repeated or because the fans demands become unbearable. What will that place look like the night after his first start?
posted by yerfatma at 12:06 PM on February 12, 2004
A lot of conversations I've had were questioning the same thing. I think, in part, you'll have the people who will suck up to him regardless and some will not censor themselves, even though Schilling is part of the forum. I also think Schilling can handle the criticizing and when he has a bad outing, he'll own up to it. Its part of his character I think. He's not a finger pointer, from what I've gathered. I read recently, and for the life of me I can't remember where, that Schilling may agree to call in to WEEI on a regular weekly basis on either Dennis and Callahan or god forbid, the Dale and Neumy Show. Lucchino and Jerry Remy did similar engagements with the station during the season also. Schilling has said before in a radio interview on WEEI (I have the mp3 of it if anyone is interested) that he prefers talking live on the radio or online directly because there's no way his words can be edited or filtered before getting to the fans. He's one of those guys who loves to talk, and moreover, he loves to talk baseball and loves talking to the fans. We're not used to players like that I guess. I for one welcome Boston's new chatty pitching overlord. :)
posted by jerseygirl at 12:23 PM on February 12, 2004
Let me get this straight: you think, bad as I admit they are, Dale Arnold and Bob "I Never Met a Fact I Didn't . . . Y'know Dale, I Never Met a Fact" Neumier are worse than John Dennis and Gerry Callahan? Where do Hitler and Göering fit on that list? </boston-centricisim>
posted by yerfatma at 02:51 PM on February 12, 2004
I've recently realized Neumy just kills that show. Yes, I still listen to it anyway , just because it's a more acceptable droning out at work than say blaring "The Immigrant Song" repeatedly. Here's the difference though. I respected John Dennis as a tv sportscaster, so maybe it carries over. Can't say the same for Neumier.
posted by jerseygirl at 09:09 AM on February 13, 2004
John Dennis makes Callahan seem knowledgable. And that's a crime.
posted by yerfatma at 09:43 AM on February 14, 2004
This is ludicrous. Curt Schilling is a public figure making his comments in a public forum. He has as much right to privacy as Janet Jackson's right breast.