You may have heard this news already but if you didn’t it will catch you up on the events of what happened. A hat tip to a loyal reader, Steve, for the heads up.

In a situation very similar to what happened at LSU with Pokey Chatman, Boston College women’s hockey coach, Tom Mutch, resigned on Tuesday over allegations of inappropriate conduct with a freshman player, Kelli Stack (who by the way is very good looking). The “relationship” was exposed when a teammate of Stack’s discovered “filthy and sexually graphic” text messages that Stack had sent to her coach.

Sources stressed that BC’s probe had yet to find an actual sexual relationship between Mutch and Stack. But in a statement released to the Herald last night, Gene DeFilippo, director of athletics, said, “We take this matter very seriously.

“Boston College Athletics began an investigation of the alleged incident as soon as it was brought to light. Coach Mutch subsequently submitted his resignation and his resignation was accepted.”

Mutch’s wife, Laurie Baker-Mutch, had just given birth to a baby before these allegations came to light. While BC is saying that they haven’t found any evidence of a “sexual relationship”, given the nature of the text messages, one can only assume that something was happening or going to happen.

unless you believe what Kevin Millar yelled over to Schilling on his way out to the field today. “It was paint! It was paint!” All kidding aside, it turns out the whole bloody sock issue was just a misunderstanding of what Gary Thorne thought he had heard.

“It was miscommunication,” said Thorne of the remark he said Mirabelli made that led him to believe the sock was painted and not bloody.

“I was doing a (Red Sox) game. I don’t remember when it was, but it was well after the (Sox’ 2004 World Championship) fact. It (Mirabelli’s remark) was joking or being sarcastic in the clubhouse that I took to be serious. We were talking about something else and my last question was about the sock really being bloody,” said Thorne, standing around the batting cage, surrounded by TV cameras and other media members as the Orioles took BP.

“I never really thought much about it at the time (of uttering the remark). It came up, a comment was made (Wednesday night). I didn’t think it was a big deal. It’s a non-issue. It (2004) was a great year (for the Sox). It was a tremendous playoffs. Schilling was outstanding. He did the warrior stuff. So, okay. I guess I don’t get it. Obviously this is much bigger than I thought,” said Thorne.

Doug Mirabelli, who probably never has to speak to the media, again met with them today after talking with Thorne.

“Any time you’re associated with something like that it came damage relationships with friends and teammates,” said Mirabelli, who said he didn’t even know who Thorne was until seeing his face in the Orioles media guide.

Schilling assured him there was no damage control that needed to be addressed.

“(Thorne) said he assumed from what I said that (the sock was painted). By no means was that what I meant. He said I said to him, “We got a lot of publicity out of that.” That’s all he can recall,” said Mirabelli.

Mirabelli is known for his dead-pan style, which, in the context of what passes for clubhouse humor, makes it likely this is all a case of two plus two adding up to be eight.

“This is a non-story, childish,” said Mirabelli. “The media made it up and is running with it, keeping this stuff going. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”

Terry Francona, who normally gets to sleep in while the team is on the road, got woken up nice and early by members of the media who wanted comments on the situation.

“I’m disappointed this happened,”

“That (Schilling’s performances on a sutured ankle) was one of the most miraculous performances I’ve been around,” he said. “I’m disappointed there are factions of people who want to believe (it was paint and not blood). That’s a shame. It’s not true. Gary’s a great guy. I’m hopeful it was just wires getting crossed and we’ll move on.”

Hopefully now this whole mess is over with and everyone can move forward. It’s a shame that a joke got taken this far. If you’ve ever been in a clubhouse, you would know that there is a lot of joking around that goes on. Unfortunately, Thorne never confirmed the story with Mirabelli, but rather reported what he thought he had heard. He did the right thing by apologizing and hopefully this is the end.

Oh by the way if you’re watching the game, check out Millar’s right sock. It seems to have some blood paint on it.

A big thanks to Anthony from the Oriole Post for the pictures.

Hasheem Thabeet will stay at UCONN for next season as I previously said in a post yesterday. This is good news for us here in Huskyland as we will get to witness another season of shot blocking. Hopefully he works on his free throw shooting in the off-season. If he was smart, he would befriend Mel Thomas and have her teach him the art of free throw making.

“I am very excited about next season and returning to UConn for my sophomore year,” said Thabeet. “I look forward to continuing my education as a person and as an athlete. We have all been working very hard since the season ended and will continue doing everything we can to get better each day and have a great season next year. I would also like to express my appreciation to all my fans and those who have taken interest in my career here at UConn. I want to especially thank my fans in Tanzania who continue to send me volumes of letters of support. I am glad I can be a role model figure to the youth in Tanzania, many of whom do not have the opportunities that I have been given.”

If you’re a Red Sox fan, y’all remember the bloody sock game in 2004. Game 6 of the ALCS versus the Yankees. Sox trailing in the series 3-2. We all know what happened. Then again in Game 2 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Well last night, Orioles broadcaster made these remarks to Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who was doing the color during the game. Watch the video to hear what he said.

[youtube BkAMInhHBN0 nolink]

A couple of innings later he followed up with this:

During a break two innings later, Thorne confirmed that’s what he said, and that Mirabelli had told him so in a conversation “a couple of years ago.”

“Go ask him [Mirabelli],” Thorne said.

Are you kidding me? He faked it for the publicity. So is Thorne saying that Curt Schilling didn’t have his ankle sutured before the game.

This was Mirabelli’s response to Thorne’s statement:

“What? Are you kidding me? He’s [expletive] lying. A straight lie,” Mirabelli said. “I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood.”

Terry Francona weighed in as well:

Sox manager Terry Francona, when first told of Thorne’s remarks, thought that perhaps Mirabelli had been having some fun with Thorne, that it was all a joke. But after Mirabelli angrily denied ever discussing the subject with Thorne — “I honestly don’t know who Gary Thorne is, that’s a straight lie” — Francona became agitated.

“What we’re going through today as a nation, you hate to use a word like heroic on the field, but what Schill did that night on the sports field was one of the most incredible feats I ever witnessed,” Francona said. “[Thorne’s remarks] go so far past disappointing. Disrespectful to Schill, to his vocation. I’m stunned.

“I am just floored. Schill takes his share of shots, and this one is so far below the belt that I’m embarrassed and I wish somebody would have had the good conscience to ask me. I saw the leg. If that had been painted, I wouldn’t have had my knuckles so white, and having so much anxiety.”

Schilling added this:

“It gets stupider,” Schilling said with a tone of resignation in his voice. “I got the 9-inch scar for you. You can see it.

“There are some bad people in your line of work, man.”

I think Theo Epstein’s remarks were the best of the bunch:

“You’re kidding me, right?” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail last night. “I’m the GM of the team, not Jerry Springer. I couldn’t give two [expletives] about what was on his sock, I care that we won the game. The rest, and Gary Thorne, is just noise.”

Larry Lucchino responded as well last night and as well today:

“I have never heard any such thing internally, and I refuse to believe it now,” Lucchino wrote. “It was a courageous moment for Curt Schilling and a glorious moment for the Red Sox, and it shouldn’t be sullied with such speculation now.”

Lucchino gave the official Sox statement today:

“Regarding the remarks made on Wednesday by Baltimore Orioles announcer Gary Thorne, the Red Sox will not respond to or dignify these insinuations with extensive comment. Such gossip occurred in 2004 and we will not participate in further comment other than to remind everyone that we remain steadfastly proud of the courageous efforts by a seriously injured Curt Schilling — efforts that helped lead the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series Championship.”

More on the bloody sock issue after the jump. Continue reading →