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ESPN suspends Curt Schilling for the rest of the MLB season

(AP)
(AP)

If you thought the Curt Schilling drama had died down, not so fast.

Schilling, the ex-MLB star and current ESPN broadcaster, was punished again by the network Thursday. He'll be benched for the rest of the MLB season — taken off Sunday Night Baseball and nixed from wild-card game coverage.

At issue is an Aug. 25 tweet that Schilling sent that featured a meme comparing Muslim extremists to Nazis. Schilling quickly deleted the tweet and apologized, but ESPN still took him off that week's Sunday Night Baseball broadcast.

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Things could have ended there. ESPN was reportedly giving Schilling the green light to return this week. But then Schilling made headlines again, after he sent an email to sports media site Awful Announcing, ripping one of its writers. In that letter, which the site made public, Schilling said he apologized that he tweeted the meme but not for the content of the tweet. Awful Announcing then wrote an open letter to Schilling. Then Schilling retorted. ESPN, meanwhile, said it wasn't "aware of Curt’s plan to craft or send this email," which is essentially code for "Ah, man, not this again."

Now, it's obvious that ESPN is fed up with the Schilling sideshow. For now at least. ESPN issued this statement about Schilling and his status for the rest of the season. The network didn't use the word "suspension," but that's what this is.

“At all times during the course of their engagement with us, our commentators are directly linked to ESPN and are the face of our brand. We are a sports media company. Curt’s actions have not been consistent with his contractual obligations nor have they been professionally handled; they have obviously not reflected well on the company.  As a result, he will not appear on ESPN through the remainder of the regular season and our Wild Card playoff game.”

At issue here isn't free speech. It's the consequences of saying whatever you want. Schilling is opinionated and unfiiltered, and that could make him a good broadcaster. Part of being a good commentator, however, is knowing where the line is and not crossing it. It's knowing not to drag your employer into political controversies. That's the part where Schilling has had trouble recently. And ultimately, ESPN decided it had enough.

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It's unclear what will happen to Schilling after the MLB season. ESPN has a wealth of baseball commentators, though, so it won't have a problem replacing him now and shouldn't in the long term if it so chooses. Jessica Mendoza filled in for Schilling on Sunday night, and seemed to make a good impression overall.

We haven't heard from Schilling yet about his latest punishment. And given his track record of late, that may be for the best. Especially if he wants to continue his employment at ESPN.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!