Saturday, March 6, 2010

Punta Gorda Preacher Plagiarizes Red Sox Pitcher

Peace River Baptist Church minister Jim Stultz preaches from a largely plagiarized column in the Charlotte Sun this morning: “Moment of Meditation: Playing hurt.”

Last October, Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling produced a five-year anniversary memoir about a game in which he “played hurt.” And this week, Stultz – who titles himself “Reverend” – was hurting for a topic suitable for his weekly finger-wagger, a popular genre in these parts.

Schilling's editor wrote a headnote to the pitcher’s nostalgia piece as background. Reverend Stultz copied it word for word, then pasted the editor’s paragraph onto the top of his own “meditation.” Next, the Man of God sent his plagiarized “meditation” to local newspaper editors – who surely were trusting the preacher to write his own stuff – so they could publish the item with a photo and byline as if it were Stultz’s own work.

And, after blatantly stealing the editor’s carefully crafted introduction, Good Brother Stultz went on to steal key lines and phrases from Schilling’s memoir.

Although Jim Stultz is not the first Christian in these parts who has found it acceptable to steal the work and words of others, we hope he is the last to get published in the newspaper, where this sort of sectarian evangelizing ("...if Schilling was able to gut out that game ... shouldn't we be able to play hurt for our Lord...?")has absolutely no place in a newspaper.

Here's the play by play:

Rev Jim stultz: On Oct. 19, 2004, Major League pitcher Curt Schilling delivered one of the most amazing performances of his career.
WEEI.com sports editor: On Oct. 19, 2004, Curt Schilling delivered one of the most memorable performances of his career.

Rev. Jim Stultz: He allowed one run in seven innings in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees.
WEEI.com sports editor: He allowed one run in seven innings in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees after having a dislocated tendon in his right ankle sutured into place.

Rev. Jim Stultz: The Red Sox’s 4-2 Win positioned the team for a winner-take-all Game 7 in Yankee Stadium.
WEEI.com sports editor: The Red Sox’ 4-2 win positioned the team for a winner-take-all game 7 in Yankee Stadium.

Rev. Jim Stultz: The Sox won that game, completing an unprecedented comeback from a 3-0 series deficit en route to the franchise’s first World Series title in 86 years. The amazing thing about his game was that he pitched after having a dislocated tendon in his right angle sutured into place the night before.

WEEI.com sports editor: The Sox won that game, completing an unprecedented comeback from a 3-0 deficit en route to the franchise’s first World Series title in 86 years.
Rev. Jim Stultz: Shilling noticed in about the fifth or sixth inning, that the sole of his shoe and his sock were soaked with blood.
And, Curt Schilling, expressing his own memory of the game: "... I noticed, in about the fifth or sixth inning that the sole of my shoe and my sock were soaked with blood."

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