Boston Dramatics

Does anybody here remember the one season of the XFL? I watched a few games of it back in the day, but you know the thing I remember most (well, besides "He Hate Me")? It was the contrived, made-for-TV fued between governor-come-colorman Jesse Ventura and the head coach of a team called the NY/NJ Hitmen, Rusty Tillman.  Jesse got miffed that Rusty wouldn't participate in a lot on-field interviews (the coach was probably afraid that someone he knew would see him there) so began taunting the coach and calling him gutless. Tillman responded that Ventura should just shut up and go back to the governor's mansion. Andy Hanaseck, XFL "analyst" (whatever that was) noted, "NBC must be licking its chops.....the prospect of seeing the Minnesota governor get clocked by Tillman, or vice versa, could drive ratings up by itself." Of course, that's what it was supposed to do, but fell flat.

For those of you a little older, a similar situation occurred years before in 1982, when comedian Andy Kaufman got into a screaming, obscenity-laced tirade with pro wrestler Jerry Lawler (there's those wrestlers again!) on "Late Night with David Letterman," prompting a protracted fued. Of course, it was all a stunt, played for laughs and ratings.  Lawler and Kaufman were actually friends.

Now, round three: Curt Schilling vs Dan Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy, master of the poison pen, has written several less than flattering pieces about Schilling, fondly known in intimate circles as "The Mouth." On February 2, Schilling had this to say about the way he felt Shaughnessy did his job: "I think there's things that you write that are absolutely and totally unequivocally uncalled for. I think you take personal vendettas to the paper. I think you rip people in the paper because you don't like them whether they're good people or not." On his blog 38Pitches, Schill referred to Shaughnessy as a "giant sphincter."

Well, today in his column, Shaughnessy took aim and scored a direct hit, portraying the spotlight-loving Schill as an overbearing egomaniac and the usually adoring fans that post to his blog as a bunch of drooling, moon-eyed minions.

The things that make you go hmmmm....

Now, I am not cynical enough-yet, although it wouldn't surprise me if I am wrong-to postulate that this is a completely contrived fued ala Kaufman and Lawler, but clearly there is something else going on here. I am reminded of a line oft quoted by NY Times columnist David Brooks, although he may not be the originator of it: "When two men fight over a woman, it's the fight they want, not the woman." Since there are no two men who like a good fight better than Shaughnessy and Schilling, it stands to reason that they both have a seriously vested interest in continuing the escalating war of words and making sure it plays out in public. Already, the wagons have begun to circle.

IMO, it's all theater. Act I over and done, and now on to Act II.

Just remember, guys, if the product on the field isn't good, the personalities won't matter. After all, it didn't save the XFL...