Hands down, my two most favorite blogs on the web at this moment are by Curt Schilling and Gilbert Arenas (a.k.a. Agent Zero). If you are not familiar with these guys, the first is a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox (baseball), the second is a point guard for the Washington Wizards (basketball), and what they have in common are big mouths, bright minds, great senses of humour, and a remarkable ability to stir up a heck of a lot of controversy. Apparently, I’m not the only one that thinks they’re great: check out these celeb blog voting results.

What’s brought a lot of attention to Schilling’s work in the last few weeks is the opinions that he’s put forward in regards to the Mitchell Report (see this Wikipedia article if you don’t know what this is, while marvelling appropriately at the fact Wikipedia stays so up-to-date). By far the aspect of the report that’s attracted the most attention is an accusation that Roger Clemens took steroids and HGH, and Curt has basically said that if these accusations are true, Roger should give back all the awards he’s recieved since 1997… or alternatively, he should prove his innocence and Curt will respect him again (he has about 3,500 other words on the topic if you want the details). In an era where athletes so often bite their tongue, and a conspiracy of silence is a big part of the reason baseball got in this mess in the first place, Schilling’s candor is refreshing.

Now as an aside, it shouldn’t exactly be a shock to anyone that Clemens took some roids. At the age of 37 or so, as it appeared his career was winding down (as it does for most pitchers of that age) and he was fattening up, Clemens seemed to suddenly double in size, but this time in pure muscle, started dominating games at will again (in fact, more dominant than he’d ever been), and started acting like a crazy person on the mound. If anything, it would be a shock if he wasn’t on something – as far as circumstantial evidence went he might as well have walked onto the field with a syringe stuck in his butt. If he actually took the stuff/ the report is true, of course. If not I, too, hope he clears his name, etc, etc, disclaimer, disclaimer.

But that’s not really the point of this post – the point is how Schilling is using his blog to engage with fans and express himself in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago. He talks about the Mitchell Report, gives his opinions on trades his own team may or may not be considering, various charity-type things he’s into… when it seems like pro sports just aren’t worth following any more, and athletes are so out of touch and/or doing terrible things, it’s guys like Schilling that make you think again. I think it’s great for the sport, great for the fans, andI just hope Clemens didn’t have a roid rage when he read it .

And then there’s Agent Zero – by almost all accounts, one of the funniest and craziest people around, and he makes me laugh out loud everytime I read what he writes. Like Schilling, he totally speaks his mind on his blog, about whatever is going on at the moment, with a particular focus on his own sport, and it can rub some people the wrong way. For example, if he, I don’t know, ridiculed some of his fellow players for not taking the contracts they were offered last summer:

So now, Luol, you’re over here in a contract year and you’re not doing so well as a team. You get paid as a team. Now you’re going to be a free agent, and if you keep this up, that $12 million might not be on the table. So he turned down $12 million, Okafor said he wants Dwight Howard’s money … I mean, you ain’t Dwight Howard. It’s like them two had a discussion together about turning down the $12 million. Then Iguodala turned down $12 million … What is going on in the NBA? Iggy, you’re from Arizona, baby. You don’t turn down that much money. I don’t know who your agent is, but Agent Zero says you don’t turn down that $12 million.I just don’t understand it. Then Varejao, he asked for $60 million and ends up with three years for $17 million. You could have got that contract last summer! You done missed 20 games of the season getting paid the same money you could have got last summer. For the deal you just signed, you could have got that this summer from the Cleveland Cavaliers without losing no basketball time. By the time you’re playing again and are ready back in your form, I’m going to be playing again! It’s a damn shame.

This was all done in good fun (he’s since had to sort of re-explain himself again), and I honestly believe in order to be helpful… heck, just to be sure Agent Zero even got his own dad involved in the debate on his next post. If you scroll down his website, you’ll see he also comments on the Marbury situation (if you don’t know, you don’t want to know), his game performance (before he got hurt), how he won the best celebrity blogger, how and why teammate DeShawn isn’t shaving his beard, all kinds of info on his injury… it’s all there for the world to see, and maybe that’s part of the reason he’s pretty much the most popular Washington athlete in decades.

It’s all great stuff, and the archives on each of their blogs are well worth the read if you’ve got a few hours to kill over the holidays- two athletes on the leading edge of transparency and engagement with their fans/customers, at a time when both of their sports sorely need it.