Very few people talk about the way the Yankees collapsed in the 2004 ALCS. Almost no one mentions the fact that Boston destroyed St. Louis in the World Series. That’s an afterthought, like the Super Bowl after a couple of thrilling conference championship games. What people talk about, more than Manny or Papi or anything else, is the bloody sock of Curt Schilling.

That bloody sock is the Zapruder film of the Baseball Hall Of Fame.

Red Sox die-hards say it’s really blood and that everyone who says otherwise is a Yankees fan or an idiot, which ignores the fact that there was no obvious progress of blood from a point of origin outward into the material of the sock, the blood did not change colors during the game, and the blood didn’t seem to seep into Schilling’s stirrups. The blood appeared, in that spot and in that shape, without actually growing or changing throughout the game, despite the fact that continued movement would continually reopen whatever wound caused the initial blood. I’m aware that blood dries and wounds scab, but if he really did open a suture, the wound would have bled a whole lot more and every time he moved or disturbed the thin layer of crust connecting the wound to the sock, it’d bleed a little more.

Was Curt really injured? Of course he was. I’ve seen the scar on his ankle. Hell, he lost the 2005 season because he pitched two games on a bad wheel and didn’t have time to heal properly. He’s even put up a $1 million charitable donation on the line for anyone who can prove he faked the bloody sock, so he must be fairly confident I won’t break into Cooperstown and sneak off with the sock for DNA testing. Also, I don’t have a spare million bucks to donate to ALS research (though if I did, I would).

Curt Schilling probably didn’t fake the bloody sock, but I guarantee you he knew the whole time it had a little blood on it and he left it on so people would notice it and comment on it. The same thing happening twice is pretty suspicious, at least to me, but maybe he wore the same sock twice. The one thing I do know is he pitched in a hell of a lot of pain, and that SHOULD be all that matters. But it’s not, because Curt loves attention.

One quick test would end the controversy, and that’s why this will never happen. Curt’s pitching performance will be enough to keep him a memorable figure, but the bloody sock is something Boston fans will tell their pasty, whiny children about. It’s the stuff of legend, the blood sacrifice that reversed the curse of the Bambino. I guarantee you a guy like Curt loves that thought; he’s a student of baseball history and this bloody sock makes him a part of baseball history.

I think Schilling has too much respect for the game to blatantly fake the bloody sock, but too much of a desire to be talked about to put the rumors completely to bed. So long as he’s being talked about, and people are talking to him, this will never completely go away. Curt won’t let it go away, either.

All I know is, when I stepped off the mound my sock didn't look like no goddamn maxi-pad.