I like Eric Christenson and Sons of Sam Horn a lot. I like Curt Schilling, both as a player and as a person, from the little I actually know from brief meetings and conversations. Where my problem lies is in the ethical dilemma of Curt's post over on SoSH where he requests that they be 'off the record.' Now, I have no problem with off the record conversations and I have no plans to post any of Schilling's information anywhere else. Where my problem lies is that this brings up the dilemma of what is what on the net. Is posting something in a public forum ever off the record and what journalistic ethics cover this? If Curt said, hypothetically, that the duct tape fell off Pedro's arm and he'd be out for 2004, does anyone honestly think that would stay off the record, in Boston or in UTK? It's something that needs to be addressed before it becomes a problem. We all want players to open themselves like Schilling has and places like SoSH are a great place to break the Chinese wall between our heroes and ourselves, but there needs to be a framework.

Which brings me to another ongoing situation ... as long as the BBWAA is not admitting net-based writers, we need our own organization to not only address issues such as this that are important to net-based writers, but to advance the craft as a serious vocation. So, who's in?