While you are most notably known as a kick ass MLB player, and seemingly cool guy, I must admit that until this week I had no idea who you were. Please forgive me. I don't like baseball.
Then something amazing happened - you became not only a legendary baseball player, you showed the world that no one fucks with your kid. I use that word, because it is the only one strong enough to emphasize the lengths that you went to protect your daughter.
After tweeting about her, (a congratulations for getting accepted into College) as any proud dad would do, you were happy to see so many great tweets in response. When you started seeing sick, twisted, misogynistic, rape oriented tweets directed at your daughter, you did the only thing you could do. You found those trolls and kicked their asses.
Like all cowards, they hid behind screen names all the while posting their disgusting vitriol. So what did you do? You searched them out. You got their real names. You posted their names, their jobs, and publicly shamed them. Amazingly enough, one of those people (I hesitate to even call them that) workED for the Yankees. He doesn't any more. The other is a recent university graduate and the former vice-president of his fraternity. He too has been stripped of anything he valued in his day to day life. Their bullying has cost them their futures. Good.
For all those mothers and fathers out there that are sick of cyber-bullying and the cowards that find their presence in that cesspool, thank you for what you have done. While you have more clout than us mere mortals who couldn't hit a ball with a bat if it was tied to it with a string, I just want to tell you - you kick ass, and have reinforced my belief that as a parent there is nothing we shouldn't do to protect our children.
Mr. Schilling, you wrote the following on your blog as a PS to your daughter. I am posting it here because I think what you say is important and needs to be said. While I may disagree about it not happening when we were growing up - bullying has always happened, sometimes it was a kid being thrown in a garbage can and sometimes a girl being forced into doing something she didn't want to do. But make no mistake - our bullies are more anonymous but not greater in numbers. Now they simply bully 'old school' and anonymously.
P.S. Gabby I know you’re likely embarrassed and for that I apologize. But as we have talked about, there is no situation ever in your life, where it’s ok for any ‘man’ to talk about you, or any other woman this way (and truth be told no real man would ever talk this way anyway). It truly is time this stopped. I don’t know where it started because it sure as hell didn’t happen much when we were growing up. Like any dad reading this the only thing I need you to leave this home with when you head to college is the knowledge that I love you more than life itself and there is NOTHING I would not do to protect you. And while it may sound corny, it’s nothing I’d ever be shy about saying in public, ever.
Curt Schilling - you rock - and you are definitely one of the coolest dads out there.
1 comment:
Yay, Curt Schilling! There are so many other parents out there that feel the same way but feel they have no platform on which to stand and defend their children. Good for you and Gabby won't be embarrassed for long. She obviously has been brought up in the norm like the majority of children but is fortunate enough to have a dad that not only sticks up for his family but who is famous enough to make everyone sit up and listen. Now if only Dalhousie would just turf these so called future dentists instead of allowing them to continue with their education. They don't deserve to do their clinical work or finish their degree. This is the kind of publicity that is needed to make people realize that bullying, regardless of physical or cyber, will not be tolerated.
Love to all
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