ESPN is really laying down the law with Curt Schilling.
The network announced in a statement Thursday that it will be pulling the analyst from all TV coverage for the rest of the season.
“At all times during the course of their engagement with us, our commentators are directly linked to ESPN and are the face of our brand. We are a sports media company. Curt’s actions have not been consistent with his contractual obligations nor have they been professionally handled; they have obviously not reflected well on the company. As a result, he will not appear on ESPN through the remainder of the regular season and our Wild Card playoff game,” ESPN said in a statement.
Schilling got into trouble when he sent a tweet comparing Muslim extremists to Nazis. He quickly deleted the tweet, but it was up long enough to go viral. Then people dug up many more politically and racially-charged items Schilling had posted on his Facebook page.
Schilling was initially pulled off coverage of the Little League World Series and last week’s “Sunday Night Baseball” game. Now he’s done for the year. An email exchange he had with Awful Announcing that reignited the story this week likely played a role in the extended punishment, especially considering he trashed a fellow ESPN employee (Chris Mortensen) in the email.
Meanwhile, we’re wondering why the same thing hasn’t been done with Cris Carter. Partly because he encouraged NFL players to skirt the law, but also because he’s just bad.
