And the big wheel keeps on turning. I’m not a football fanatic by any means (round here, football refers to soccer; we call the game with the pigskin “American football” - it’s a good game, but it hardly involves the feet!), although give me 15 minutes with Cold Hard Football Facts and I’ll talk the talk at any bar. But of course I’m a de facto Pats fan by dint of my time in Boston, so I got up at 5.30am on Monday morning to watch Pats-Colts. Great game. Funny to see Peyton dismanningtled. Actually, my take on Peyton Manning is kind of like my take on Derek Jeter, insofar as it’s annoying in both cases that they’ve been anointed as the Great Ones, but to be fair, that’s the media’s fault, not theirs.
Meanwhile, Schilling the Steelers fan (nice enough segue?) talks to Jayson Stark, although as usual he gives the corporate “I love these guys” schill about the new guys. I think his assessment of his own Hall of Fame chances is very fair:
“I don’t think I’m going to play long enough to win enough games. But you know what? I’m OK with that. I’m going to retire, and I want the people I played with to say, ‘If I had to win a game, that’s my pitcher.’ And if I can do that, the other stuff is going to be pretty much inconsequential.
“And that’s not to diminish the Hall of Fame. To be in the Hall of Fame, you have to be one of the greatest players to ever play the game. And I don’t think I’m one of those. I think Randy Johnson is. I think Pedro Martinez is. I think Nomar [Garciaparra] will be. Manny [Ramirez]. I’ve played with some Hall of Famers. I don’t have that kind of perspective on my career.”
I’d put Schilling in my Hall of Very Good. Schilling’s certainly a notch up from Jack Morris, whose HoF claims are mostly centred around his big games, but is he Hall-worthy? I wouldn’t think so, barring a next few amazing years, but I wouldn’t be unhappy to see him there either, let’s put it that way.