I can't figure out what the word was that Wilson used, so I don't really know whether the players have a legitimate right to be upset. Wilson apparently does multiple blogs, one for the Rangers and one at MLB.com, but MLB doesn't allow profanity, so the word never would have shown up there.

I like the fact that Wilson writes his own material, rather than have someone ghost-write it for him and give us the "sanitized" version of what he's thinking. Generally speaking, I think the teams and players need to give guys like Wilson a bit of slack with what they write. You want someone who is colorful and honest expressing himself in these kinds of blogs, not corporate PR and boilerplate material. Baseball needs a little bit of color, and guys like Wilson are willing to provide it.

I hear Curt Schilling is available for one-on-one branding sessions with aspiring bloggers this season...

Where is this CJ Wilson blog? I know he's straightedge and grew up going to LA punk shows, that's enough for me to want to read what he has to say.

an obscene remark

Politically-illiterate #######?

Crispix...Scorpian Tales...the CJ Wilson blog.

Frank Catalanatto has a beard!

But his boyish good looks are his best asset

People in Texas aren't politically educated? You don't say.

The word used was ##########.

Wow, it won't even show up here. The word used was a feminine washing device in the plural.

Where is this CJ Wilson blog? I know he's straightedge and grew up going to LA punk shows, that's enough for me to want to read what he has to say.

He used to post under the name "blueglovelefty" on lonestarball.com. However, all of his posts have since been deleted (presumably at CJ's request).

Brandon McCarthy's (BlackGloveRighty) long post that is critical of CJ is still available:

Anyways, a group of 20-30 yr olds not being completely current on the Wisconsin Democratic Primary is hardly an indictment on our group's knowledge as a whole.

I'm also bothered by the fact that you've failed to mention that we're going through the primaries and caucuses and not the general election. I'd be willing to bet that come late summer and early fall when the race really heats up, that there will be political conversation to be found in MLB clubhouses.

Indeed, a top 10 list of spring training topics discussed by ballplayers would look something like this:
1. Baseball
2. Free sunglasses
3. Breasts
4-5. Jesus/golf (tie)
6. Dinner options
7. The Kyle Kendrick YouTube video
8. Britney Spears
9. Strip clubs
10. More Jesus/golf (tie)

Yuck.

Brandon McCarthy paints a rosier view than that sportswriter (Posnanski?) who said he was constantly surrounded by people whose only interests outside of baseball were gambling and pornography.

Generally speaking, I think the teams and players need to give guys like Wilson a bit of slack with what they write. You want someone who is colorful and honest expressing himself in these kinds of blogs, not corporate PR and boilerplate material.

Come again? If you mean fans and media, OK. If I'm a player, why wouldn't I want corporate PR and boilerplate material rather than someone colorfully and honestly calling me a #########?

Where is this CJ Wilson blog? I know he's straightedge and grew up going to LA punk shows, that's enough for me to want to read what he has to say.

Interesting ... he's the closer now, right? Wonder what his entrance music will be.

Brandon McCarthy paints a rosier view than that sportswriter (Posnanski?) who said he was constantly surrounded by people whose only interests outside of baseball were gambling and pornography.

Redeemed by rose tinted sunglasses!

Interesting ... he's the closer now, right? Wonder what his entrance music will be.

If he doesn't have a thread about this on his blog I will be disappointed.

I nominate Rancid's "Cash, Culture and Violence". That song is pretty catchy.

I know he's straightedge and grew up going to LA punk shows, that's enough for me to want to read what he has to say.

He and Scott Radinsky would have some interesting conversations, I bet.

I want more details on this free sunglasses business.

I find it fascinating that 20something ballplayers are more interested in discussing free sunglasses than boobs.

You want someone who is colorful and honest expressing himself in these kinds of blogs, not corporate PR and boilerplate material. Baseball needs a little bit of color, and guys like Wilson are willing to provide it.

Fungus on your shower shoes is colorful. Calling your teammates a bunch of ignorant ########## is just being a giant ########## regardless of what you want to put behind the ##########.

The Brandon McCarthy post that was linked was not a response to C.J. Wilson, but rather, to that Jeff Pearlman Page 2 story that was linked on BTF a few days ago.

I'm also bothered by the fact that you've failed to mention that we're going through the primaries and caucuses and not the general election.

This needs to be mentioned? Who are the folks that are unaware that we are in primary season? Oh right, ballplayers.

The Brandon McCarthy post that was linked was not a response to C.J. Wilson, but rather, to that Jeff Pearlman Page 2 story that was linked on BTF a few days ago.

You are correct, and I also completely mangled the quoting in #10, as the top 10 list comes from Jeff Pearlman, not McCarthy.

This needs to be mentioned? Who are the folks that are unaware that we are in primary season? Oh right, ballplayers.

I think that it's a fair point, in the context of Pearlman's article

Pearlman said: "What many ballplayers fail to understand is that, in terms of policy, they will be as impacted by this fall's election as anyone. While McCain plans on upholding the tax cuts enacted under George W. Bush, both Obama and Clinton want tax breaks to expire for Americans making more than $200,000 per year. (Read: baseball players.) Though McCain has said little about automobile emissions, Obama and Clinton have demanded drastic improvements in fuel efficiency standards. "

McCarthy's point is that primary season is about choosing the person to represent a platform, and the general election is choosing which platform represents your beliefs/interests.

Yes, I was referring to fans, who I would assume are the target audience for a player blog. I doubt that other players, who already know what's going on at the ballpark, would be the target audience of such a blog.

I find it fascinating that 20something ballplayers are more interested in discussing free sunglasses than boobs.

Probably harder for them to get their hands on the free sunglasses.

who said he was constantly surrounded by people whose only interests outside of baseball were gambling and pornography.

Sounds like my group of friends.

Yes, I was referring to fans, who I would assume are the target audience for a player blog. I doubt that other players, who already know what's going on at the ballpark, would be the target audience of such a blog.

There have to be options that fall between walking the company line and trashing your teammates collectively in a public forum. As a fan (and as such, supposedly, a member of his target audience) I find the comments completely classless. I don't begrudge ballplayers going off the rails in their blogs, but geez, "being colorful" and "having character" just aren't mutually exclusive, are they?

Jim Bouton "trashed" (your word, not mine) several of his teammates and coaches in Ball Four, which is generally regarded as one of the greatest baseball books ever written. It's also one of the most culturally important baseball books ever written. Now I'm not putting Wilson in the same class with Bouton as a writer, but I appreciate that he's willing to give us something that is honest and substantive rather than hackneyed and full of platitudes. I guess we also have to ask whether Wilson was making a legitimate point here about his teammates. It sounds to me like he was; he just should have used a better choice of words.

If Ball Four is now the touchstone for validating the shouting of hollow, broad-brush insults of your teammates on a blog then you can also list it as one of the most dangerous baseball books ever written.

I guess the best argument for Wilson's behavior as "culturally important" would be his cry to make ballplayers more politically aware, but then where are we? The league becomes a bunch of Tim Robbins, and then ballplayers can't be invited to the Hall of Fame anymore.

Way to ruin baseball, Markusen.