Thursday I went to the DaVinci Restaurant on Columbus Ave. to attend WEEI's luncheon with Curt Schilling. The event was to raise money for Curt's Pitch for ALS, a worthy cause under any circumstances.

I took half a day off work and got to the restaurant just before noon. I was seated at a table with a gentleman who, as it turned out, used to consult for the company I work for, so we had a lot to talk about.

Lunch was served first, an Italian buffet. The food and the service were excellent - I can certainly see A. and I going back to DaVinci for a date night sometime. As my tablemate and I ate and talked, Curt came in with his wife Shonda. He sat and had lunch with the hosts, John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, along with some other WEEI folks. After everyone ate, Schill, Dennis and Callahan got up in the front of the room and Curt held court on a number of topics. As always, Schill didn't pull any punches - there wasn't much doubt about how he felt on a number of topics.

• His comeback: Curt said that he was just at the point where he had to decide whether to start working out to make a comeback. As he admitted himself, he "hadn't done much". If I had to choose, I would have to say that he was done. It just seems like he isn't chomping at the bit to get back on the mound. He also mentioned several times that he wanted to spend more time with his family, especially with his oldest son just starting his teen years. I wouldn't be shocked to see him back out there, but I'd say it's more likely that the 2007 World Series was the last we have seen of Curt Schilling on a pitchers mound.
• Manny: There's not much doubt about it; Schill doesn't have much use for Manny Ramirez. Curt admitted to four "physical confrontations" with Manny during their time as teammates in Boston. He specifically talked about one his first year with the team, when Manny dogged it on a fly ball in Toronto. Curt was about to go after Manny in the dugout after the inning and was intercepted by some of his teammates, who told him that Manny was hitting that inning and the dropped fly was just "Manny being Manny." He also said that Manny really lost his teammates last season when he pushed travelling secretary Jack McCormick. Curt described McCormick as the players "second wife" on the road, taking care of every conceivable thing so the players could focus on playing ball. It was incomprehensible to him that a player could even be disrespectful to McCormick, much less go after him physically.
• Roger Clemens and steroids: Schill expressed a lot of disappointment in Roger over the steroid issue. Curt said that when players talked in the clubhouse about who might be juicing, he always came to Roger's defense, saying that he knew Roger's work ethic. Someone also asked how he felt about facing guys like Bonds, McGwire, etc. who were cheating and he said that it didn't really bother him.
• The bloody sock: Of course, Curt was asked about the bloody sock game. He didn't say much new, although he did talk about Shonda's reaction when he came out to pitch game 2 of the World Series, after saying that he wouldn't pitch when he left the house that morning. She didn't find out until he walked out to the bullpen that he was pitching. When asked how she felt about that she just said, "Mad!"
• Trip to Iraq: Curt just returned from a USO tour of Iraq, which he described as a life changing experience. He talked a lot about meeting the troops, the Iraqi civilians and others. He also described how strange it was to be the only one not carrying a weapon. It sounds like he had an amazing trip and congratulations to Curt for supporting our troops in that way.

Those were the major topics of conversation. Afterward he left pretty quickly; he only signed a few autographs. It was unfortunate, but they never promised autographs so I wasn't really disapointed. It was a fun experience, and I was glad to donate a few bucks to such a worthy cause.