Month: February 2008

Gator Bait

lastknownpic1.jpgJack took off for Florida yesterday on a float trip of the Everglades, traveling with Dale Linder, Jamie Boyle, and Dave Skok. I almost went too (though in the end I just couldn’t leave the lovely ice and snow that’s mantled our fair city of Boston this year). Before leaving Jack emailed me this photo, asking that I put it up on the blog. Sure thing, buddy.

Alligators and/or crocodiles are a constant in the tropics, along with rough roads, mangrove swamps, and mosquitoes. Over the years I’ve gone on about half a dozen trips with Jack to the tropics and except for one croc that got a little too close in Isla Holbox last year we pretty much ignored them. The Holbox croc presented a dilemma…Jack, Dale and I were wading a salt creek about the size of the Yellow Breeches picking up small tarpon, snook, and seatrout when it went cruising by at rod’s length, maybe 12 feet long. Funny as the oh-so-cool flailing retreat to the shoreline might have been to an observer, the conversation that followed was probably better. I think it went something like:

“I think it’s gone.”
“OK, so go in.”
“I’m just going to have a cigarette first. But you go ahead.”
“Actually I needed to rest my shoulder anyway. I’ll wait for you.”

After a few minutes of casual back and forth someone suggested that anyway it was almost dinner time and if we didn’t get a move on all the good tables at the restaurants would be full by the time we got there. So logic prevailed. The croc, lying motionless under a mangrove canopy on the opposite bank, watched us go.

Katie Lavelle emailed me a list of Florida gator fatalities since the 1970s and what’s surprising about it (other than how short the list is–18 fatalities in 35 years) is that the victims and gators you’d expect to see (big reptiles + very young or old victims) actually make up less than half of the tally. The rest of the victims are adults in the prime of life and the gators involved range in size from 7-12 feet long.

Anyway, for this particular trip I think Jack stands a pretty good chance of coming out alive. Given their relative age, weight, risk-taking potential, and which would look tastiest to a hungry gator I put the gator kibble odds at:

Dave: 9-1
Dale: 12-1
Jack: 14-1
Jamie: 20-1

Curt Schilling’s Last Call?

Curt SchillingWe take our Red Sox baseball seriously at jackgartside.com, so it was big news when reports surfaced on Friday that Curt Schilling (Jack’s favorite pitcher) has a serious injury to his rotator cuff that could cause him to miss part or all of the 2008 season. These reports set off a round of speculation as to the significance of the injury and whether #38’s career is over.

Sports Illustrated reported that Schilling’s doctor insists surgery is required if Schilling is to ever pitch again, although it added that the Sox team physician disagrees and recommends a period of rehabilitation. In his blog Schilling acknowledged the issue but disputed current reports, saying he himself isn’t sure what the story is and that his doctor has not recommended surgery. On Saturday the Boston Globe reported that Schilling had just received a cortisone shot in his shoulder, the first step in a rehabilitation strategy that could aim to have him back in the lineup by the All-Star break.

After that the picture only gets murkier. In a Sports Illustrated article Schilling’s physician asserts “I think his chance of coming back to pitching with rehab or a conservative approach is zero. He might not come back after surgery, either. However, if the surgery is successful, he should be fully rehabbed by about All-Star break.” Conversely, David Altcheck, a Mets team physician consulted by the Sox and who performed rotator cuff surgery on Pedro Martinez after the 2006 season casts doubt on that assessment. In a Boston Herald article Altcheck is sourced as saying it takes a year to bounce back from rotator cuff surgery. Part of the equation is what would happen money-wise if Schilling were to miss the entire 2008 season. Most likely in that event the Red Sox would seek to void his contract.

I hope this isn’t the end for one of the greatest pitchers in the game today, although even without this injury most Sox fans probably assumed that, at age 41, this was Schilling’s last season. Certainly the Sox front office believed it, thus the one year 2008 extension deal at a much reduced salary.

Curt Schilling’s Red Sox career:

Regular Season:

Year IP W L SO ERA
2004 226 21 6 203 3.26
2005 93 8 8 87 5.69
2006 204 15 7 183 3.97
2007 151 9 8 101 3.87

Post Season:

Year IP W L SO ERA
2004 22.2 3 1 13 3.65
2007 24 3 0 16 3.00