Curt Schilling

If hypocrisy had a face, a look, a certain familiar strut, it would be that of old favorite Curt Schilling as he pushed his way through a swirling collection of reporters and photographers in Providence this week with absolutely nothing of consequence to say. Curt Schilling, mute, the one time he actually owed an explanation. Perfect. But that's a minor point, really. There's a larger hypocrisy in his failing video game venture, the one that Rhode Island state officials giddily backed to the tune of $75 million in loan guarantees, which seems to be a fancy financial term for...

Curt Schilling's troubled 38 Studios laid off its entire staff in Rhode Island and Maryland on Thursday in a stunning turn of events for the former Red Sox pitcher's ambitious gambit to build a video game franchise off the back of a winning baseball career. The decision comes less than two weeks after 38 Studios' financial woes surfaced and deep cracks began appearing in the six-year-old company. It was lured from Maynard to Rhode Island on the promise of a $75 million loan guarantee from a state hoping Schilling's vision could bring high-paying jobs.

In the final months of two mostly unmemorable terms in office, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri boasted about his little state's big splash - stealing former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and his nascent video game company from Massachusetts. "This is a risk worth taking," said Carcieri, a Republican, announcing the 2010 deal that lured Schilling's company, 38 Studios, to Providence, and put Rhode Island taxpayers on the hook for up to $75 million in guaranteed loans to an athlete who liked video games but had never developed one. "I think the governor...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Curt Schilling met with Rhode Island's economic development agency Monday night to discuss the finances of his troubled video company, and the former Red Sox pitcher said afterward there is misinformation circulating about the situation and that he'll speak to the issue when he is able. Schilling and the Economic Development Corp. board began a closed-door briefing on 38 Studios early in the evening. After the meeting, Schilling said only that there is so much misinformation circulating that he couldn't begin to clear it up with a sound bite.

The photo looked like a snap from the glory days: Retired Red Sox great Curt Schilling surrounded by a swarm of reporters pressing in close with notebooks and cameras. But there was nothing glorious about the scene this week, when Schilling met with Rhode Island economic officials scrambling to keep his 38 Studios computer gaming company afloat. Those state officials were already on the hook for $75 million in business loan guarantees — one of the great bonehead economic development deals of recent history — and publicly questioning whether additional aid Schilling is seeking...

If you've heard of the fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, you might expect his lair to be a faux-medieval fortress, complete with moat, turrets, and an impenetrable iron gate guarded by a stone dragon. Yet the House of Salvatore is no castle. One of fantasy's most popular authors - and one of Massachusetts's best-selling scribes - lives in workaday Leominster, where he keeps the real world close at hand. "I think I'm a pretty well-kept secret," Salvatore, 52, says with a mischievous smile.

PROVIDENCE - Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling scrambled to prop up his ailing video game company, asking Rhode Island officials Wednesday for more public aid while Governor Lincoln Chafee questioned whether the state should cut its losses in the firm, 38 Studios LLC. "How do we avoid throwing good money after bad?" Chafee asked after an emergency meeting of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp., which provided $75 million in loan guarantees two years ago to woo 38 Studios from Massachusetts to Providence.

By Chad Finn, Globe Staff @GlobeChadFinn Today's media column, calling out  Curt Schilling 's about-face as an analyst, is here . I should note that I don't have a problem at all with Schilling criticizing the Red Sox; it's his job, after all, and as I say in the piece, he's offered some thoughtful analysis this spring, particular in regard to the starting rotation. My gripe is that given his mantra during his playing days that no one can know what's going on in the clubhouse if you're not a part of the team . . . well, he sure seems to think he...

Curt Schilling is beginning his third season as an ESPN baseball analyst, and still, something doesn't seem quite right whenever he appears on the television screen plunked behind a desk on the set of "Baseball Tonight. " It's not that it's anything resembling a surprise that he's a talking head; in essence he's always been one, even in his playing heyday. A prominent media gig seemed a foregone conclusion long before he ever put away his fastball or pecked out his first blog post.

Curt Schilling will not attend the anniversary ceremony at Fenway Park on Friday, saying he has business matters to attend to. A member of the World Series title teams in 2004 and '07, Schilling has made news lately with his frequent criticism of manager Bobby Valentine on ESPN and WEEI. He sent this letter to the Globe and other media outlets today: To Red Sox Nation, I apologize that business at 38 Studios has made my participation in the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park impossible.

Rhode Island economic development officials met with former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling for hours behind closed doors Monday night to search for ways to save Schilling's troubled video-game company without exposing taxpayers to further losses. The company, 38 Studios, has already exhausted funds from a $75 million loan guarantee it received from the Ocean State; taxpayers may be on the hook for millions more in state credits as the company struggles to stay afloat. But the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation board took no action, and members provided little...

Now would be a good time for Rhode Island to cut its losses with Curt Schilling and his video game company, 38 Studios. Two years ago, the former Red Sox ace received $75 million in loan guarantees from that state as an incentive to move his fledgling firm from Massachusetts; on Thursday afternoon, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee's office disclosed, the company had tried to pay an overdue $1.1 million payment with a bad check. The company's woes validate Massachusetts economic development officials' decision not to get into a bidding war for Schilling, the often outspoken hero of the...

In 2010, the man who'd helped Boston win its first World Series in more than 80 years came to Rhode Island promising the job-starved state something even better: hundreds of good jobs, millions of dollars in tax revenue and a foothold in the booming business of video games. To former Gov. Donald Carcieri and top economic development officials, it was an opportunity too good to miss. The state's Economic Development Corp. offered a $75 million loan guarantee to lure Curt Schilling's 38 Studios to Providence.

Sometimes it pays to have a governor who doesn't like pro sports. In 2010, Governor Deval Patrick and his economic development team were under pressure to support 38 Studios, then a Maynard-based video gamemaker seeking to expand its operations. It was headed by a local hero, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, making the appeal all the more compelling to some. And Patrick had in the past shown a willingness to dedicate taxpayer dollars to economic development.

Former Red Sox throwing ace Curt Schilling will make the biggest pitch of his life next Tuesday, as his six-year-old video game company finally launches its first release. "Now we're seven days away from the magic," Schilling said yesterday. "This is our lead-off hitter. This is our introduction to the gaming world. " Called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the new game will be published by Electronic Arts Inc., the giant California game company best known for its Madden NFL football games.