His banner states "Some say it's beter to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt. I disagree".

That.

Thank you, Mr. Schmuck, for not making we simple minded folk think too long or hard when selecting your derogatory nickname.

And they say ignorance is wasted on the young...

Kevin Eck: Mega Babyface

Peter Schuck, AKA The Pencil Neck Geek, damn jabroni!

Unfortunately, life is full of these people. I don't understand why someone would go out of their way to attack a group of people. Probably a pathethetic man who desperately seeks approval. Putting other people down is a sign of insecurity. I don't know how many page views you get, but I can't imagine that he is anywhere close. I would've just ignored him.

He's just trying to get his blog hits up to your level. You shouldn't help him out by linking to it.
He would totally change his mind if he saw a Kelly Kelly vs Eve match.
Do us all a favor Eck and give him a couple of steel chair shots

I applaud that, Eck. I'm from Cleveland, so I understand sorry baseball teams. It's a wonder a person like Schmuck can even get a job blogging for a newspaper. Wrestling to me is a great form of entertainment. I am not a redneck, I have no tattoos and I don't even drink. You could say I could be a member of the SES. I have three kids and a wife. I work and support my family and I LOVE wrestling! I love your blog and don't be discouraged by morons like that guy. Keep your head up and keep bloggin!

Eck vs. Schmuck headlining Summerslam!

Hey Kev, just wanted to say thanks...thank you for standing up for the little people who don't feel like having to be guilty for liking something. I enjoy wrestling, I enjoy the many facets of it, and I enjoy your column. Just thought you should know that I can speak for many by saying: Thank you.

Kev,

I read your blogs every now and again just to see if anything in wrestling is going on since I don't watch it anymore. So I used to be a wrestling fan when I was a kid but no longer am. However, let me say that you do a good job with the blog and don't let Peter get you down. There must be something about you he's jealous of, that's why he feels the need to attack you. Case and point, when Peter reads this, he'd have something sarcastic to say. I wouldn't stress over it because Peter's on the Orioles management N*t Sack and will very rarely put the Orioles down for their management decisions. And by the way, he's not funny at all. Keep your head up and keep doing what your doing. If you enjoy wrestling and writing this blog, don't let some idiot get you down. Keep up the good work.

He's the TNA to your WWE, Eck... it's that simple.

He's just like TNA, a circus-sideshow combination of wasted talent and over-the-hill sad-sackery who embarrasses himself by repeatedly namechecking you and taking potshots, because his senile vanity requires him to make believe that he's anywhere near in your league or has anywhere near your viewers.

Ask him if Extenze really works, for me.

Baseball is indeed a real sport. However, in my humble opinion, it doesn't have much entertainment value (except when they charge the mound). Yeah. Nothing would bring me out of my seat like watching a man hit a ball with a stick and another man catch the ball with a glove. Exhilarating. But hey! It's real! Well, the actual contest is real. I'm not as sure about the manufactured anger of the managers who march out of the dugout and throw a tantrum at the umpire who called a ball instead of a strike. NFL coaches show more composure when they are victimized by game-changing calls, yet I am supposed to believe that those manager guys are legitimately incensed over the count being 2 and 1 instead of 1 and 2? Since they are largely irrelevant during the game, they probably realize that their tantrums are the only way into the sports news reels. Wrestling may not be the only business with actors. Bottom line: there is plenty to poke fun at in wrestling, but the same is true of boreball oops! Baseball.

Dear Kevin,
Do us all a favor and "Stomp a mudhole in Schmuck and walk it dry!"

And on top of that he´s using your old pic on his blog. That´s really too much!

The only reason I can think Mr. Schmuck is doing this to you is perhaps because more people are reading your blog than are reading his blog. If that is the case I can't blame them. Besides who wants to read about the Orioles?

I thought you were the sports editor. Can't you fire his behind? Or better yet, give him a time out in the corner. In a public room (no, not THAT one).

Oh snap. I was going to click on his post (and apology), but figured I did not want to give him the click. Best to let these festering boils just dry up and flick off.

Keep fighting the good fight, Kev.

People who buy into negative stereotypes are among the most insecure individuals this world could ever grace us with.

KEVIN ECK SHOOT FTW!!!

Who knew Bubba the love sponge had a fatter, more annoying and less intelligent long lost brother

I can't decide if you and Schmuck are in kayfabe mode or if this is legit.

More than the pro wrestling bashing, however, the fact that he put up your old blog pic (fat, roided up face as a certain chubby talentless shock jock fan called it; not that I agree, of course) instead of the bleached blonde pic speaks volumes about how much respect he has for his colleague.

Down with Schmuck! Eck army for life!

wow eck, what did you do to piss this guy off?, he really has it in for you and doesnt seem to care about making it public.

seems barely worth firing back at him...look at him : \

Kev - I'm glad you're taking the high road and keeping your dignity. Schmuck getting that personal to both you and a large part of The Sun's audience is digusting...

As I see it it Kev you're the best wrestling journalist out there, in fact one of the best journalists I know of...This Schmuck guy just sounds jelous at your success and loyal readers - personally I think he should be fired...

Hey Kev, if Schmuck didn't have a job, would that mean you could get paid for this?

Nice Eck, I always thought of you as a really chivalrous person. I didnt think you would do something like this. Loved the entire last paragraph, now to quote the great Dr. Sheldon Cooper: Bazinga!

Im going to say that these blog battles are a work...???

Ever realized that you're driving traffic to his blog just by putting those two links?

Eck, let him be. Just by owning that name the old man probably took a few bad beatings during his high school years and a lot of insults than he can give you in a day. I think it messed up his brain, and obviously, his fashion sense. Just accept that there are a lot of schmucks in the world and move on with your life knowing that (insert flattering remark about you here).

That's what I'm talking about!

I fear this may all be a work...

Go Kevin!

It's a classy paper you guys are running over there.

Brutal.

So begins the Baltimore Sun Blog Wars.

Let the site traffic roll.

I don't consider Peter Schmuck a legitimite sports journalist. He is a complete moron, jerk, and a poor writer. I honestly don't know how he still has a job. He knows next to nothing about sports. And he sure does not have any of my respect. I think it's time The Sun puts Schmuck out to pasture. He's a blight on the newspaper.

He goes the tired route of denigrating professional wrestlers as not being real athletes, but if Schmuck thinks anything that the Orioles have done on the field this season is even remotely as athletic as a Great Khali-Nailz-Giant Gonzalez Triple Threat match, then he's being a little delusional.

Peter Schmuck? This guy sounds like he was named exclusively by WWE creative.

This is all a work right? Schmuck calls wrestling fans out, gets a bunch of people worked into a tizzy, he gives a half-hearted apology and you come back with a blog to defend the honor of wrestling fans?

This is all to sell tickets for MCW, right?

And with those two clicks, I've just doubled the amount of times I have looked at Pete's blog in the last 3 years...

I will never understand people that bash wrestling. You can make fun of anyone over the age of 20 that believes it is not scripted. Once I was in line buying tickets and some guy in his 40's was going on and on about undertake and kane being brothers, etc.... I wanted to make fun of him. But to make of it like PS has is pretty lame. Why not just make fun of all TV shows? WWE, TNA, etc... never claim to be a sport, or real, it is SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT - focus on the entertainment part. And for the most part it is live. When any other TV show airs who knows how many times they had to cut and re-shoot a scene, wrestling it all done live and that is hard to do. Not just characters, and lines but also wrestling, it isn't easy.

As for the physical aspects I would make a hefty wager that 99% of people in pro wrestling could out perform most "athletes" in generic feats of strength and fitness.

PS should stick to writing about how awesome the orioles are. Congrats you are a sports writer for the worst team in baseball.

ZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I've been insulted by better guy than Schmuck. I wouldn't sweat anything he has to say. Sounds like he also isn't capable of talking to you face-to-face with both his insults and his self-serving "apology." Ignore him -- don't give him the satisfaction of responding to his beer-swilling frat-boy antics.

Crack him over the head with a steel chair.

Is this a work? Because if it is this is a work of epic proportions and I will pay to see that Steel Cage Match. Better yet make an Inferno Match with no flame retardant clothing. As long as you win, of course. I just lit into him on his first wrestling blog, as have most other people. He's a joke.

Kev -

Glad to see you responding to Schmuck, and in a classy, but strong way at that. Seems like wrestling fans should unite and take on Schmuck and his idiocy. Keep up the good work.

Surprise! Peter Schmuck is the new General Manager of Monday Night Raw!

In all seriousness, don't worry about this guy, Kev. I love your blog; keep up the good work.

Unfortunately Kevin people are very ignorant when it comes to wrestling. I used to be that way until I realized the amount of hard work and dedication that it takes just to become a "good" wrestler let alone a great one. And as for wrestling fans being rednecks, yeah there are a portion of redneck fans that love wrestling, but does that mean that every fan at a wrestling show is a "redneck"? No. I may be from the DFW area, but I live in the heart of Suburbia. And for the last time Peter if Wrestling isn't a real sport then what about Baseball? I played Baseball for 10 years and was out of shape for 6 of those. Despite that fact I was able to play at decentley high rate and even made my High School Baseball team. I doubt if I was a wrestler I would have lasted more than 45 seconds in the ring. If baseball requires such great athleticism, then why are guys like Prince Fielder, Bengie Molina, and David Ortiz able to play at high levels? They look like they spend more time eating Big Mac's then lifting weights. Give them a week in proffesional training for wrestlers and see just how long they last before collapsing of heart failure. Sorry for the long post, but I'm pretty sick and tired of ignorant pr*cks like this thinking that Wrestling is not a real sport because it is predetermined. Well then what about the NBA? Yeah that's an extremely "fair" league where referees are the most saintly of them all. Hopefully Mr. Smhuck is man enough to deiliver a sincere apology, but I highly doubt that.

At least with Pro Wrestling, we all know its a show mainly for the purpose of making money.

"real" pro sports are mostly about making obscene amounts of money these days. That result is assured as well!

The differences between wrestling and other real pro sports in fact becomes less all the time.

Also, I bet the Schmucker is just jealous that pro wrestlers get some hot chicks and probably make more money than him as a journalist.

Hey, Kev, nothing against journalists. At least you are not jealous of Ted Dibiase hanging out with Maryse AND getting payed to do it, right?

You get him, Kev; good for you! I for one am sick and tired of these douchebag sports reporters who look down their noses at professional wrestling, all the while trumpeting the virtues of their beloved "real" sports. Screw that! Real? Anyone who watched five minutes of the NBA Finals knows that the officials do everything they can to fix the outcomes of the games. In the NFL, you can't turn on SportsCenter without seeing one of their stars caught up in a murder trial, a rape case, or making a complete a** out of themselves in a strip club. And this clown wants to compare pro wrestling to baseball?! The MLB is far more riddled with steroids than the WWE and TNA combined. The players are so juiced up that they've actually rendered an entire period in the sport's history null and void! And as for the tired old stereotype of all wrestling fans as rednecks, I dare you to go to any NFL game on any given Sunday and not find thousands upon thousands of grown men exhibiting behavior that they should be ashamed of, all in the company of women and young children. Seriously, Kev. F*** this guy.

I guess the obvious thing is to say to hit him with a chair...

Better still, tell him to take a few body slams or power bombs, or, one of my faves, a superplex, and then evaluate the unrealism of wrestling.

Oh it's ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!!!

This is awesome! clap-clap-clapclapclap

(I'm fully expecting your Editor-in-Chief as "special guest referee"...go Kevin go!)

Nah, that's not a very good lead for more blog reading on the Baltimore Sun. I liked Reality Check a LOT more!

What other recommendations have you got for us, Kevin?

Kev,
There's only one place to settle this: In The Ring!

schmuck you

Stick to your guns Kevin. Pro Wrestling is an art form and it's performers are unique but like all other sports there is a culture, a way to progress, and a way to fail, among other similarities. Tell him to meet us outside of Squire's and we'll throw down NWO style.

I'd try to be supportive of you here Kevin, but I couldn't get past the title of the blog being "The Schmuck Stops Here." I simply couldn't go further because I was laughing so damn hard.

I don't get these people who judge others for their taste in entertainment.

That is funny...I was waiting for your comeback Kev and it couldn't have been greater lol...and we all know the only reason he got the O's gig is because nobody else wanted it and he was desparate for something.

Count me in as one of the ones who believes this is all a work. No offense, Kevin. I never cared for Schmuck's blog anyway, I was and am partial to Roch. I still can't believe The Sun allowed Schmuck to 'bad mouth' a community (Dundalk) that most certainly has paying subscribers. With the way print media is dying off, clearly, The Sun cannot afford for one of their writers to denigrate a community, can they?

Sounds like we have a bonus match for MCW Shamrock Cup. My money is on Kevin winning with Sweet Chin Music

What's with all the hate for people with tattoos? Almost everyone in NZ has tattoos. I'm a journalist and I have heaps.

Orioles...ha ha

Is this a worked or shoot fued?

So the rumors are true!
Peter Schmuck aka Lil' Peter

Kevin:

I've never followed wrestling and for the most part I enjoy Peter S's blogs. However, as a lifelong hockey fan I can most certainly identify with your sentence about few things being more irritating then when a sports journalist speaks condescendingly about a sport that you like, how its fans are rednecks, etc, etc.

P.S. Though from the York Rd corridor, I say GO DUNDALK! (Squires has long been one of my favorite restaurants!)

Kevin, it is NOT a sport. it is entertainment. circus acrobatics is not a sport, (although it does take more athleticism). pro wrestlers are athletic performers. the outcome is predetermined, just like a movie.
although i don't have an opinion concerning its fans one way or the other, (to each his own), calling it a sport is not accurate. if you have an issue with Pete's comments about the fans fine, but call a spade a spade. i grew up in Dundalk back in the 60's - 70's myself. i guess i came from a generation with a little more toughness and thicker skin. Dundalk must not make them like they used to.

Schmuck is a complete hack with his retarted hawian shirts. The Orioles are one of the worst teams in the history of sports and yet Schmuck doesnt do his job as a journalist and critique them. He is a fat slob mark for Peter Angelos. I would pay money to open a can of whoop ass on that jabroni scum.

Thin skins - My family comes from Dundalk and thin skin comes with the territory. The same is true for wrestling fans. Grow up.

This is a work...i look forward to the tag match at the MCW show :p

I may be not from Dundalk so maybe the jabs at Dundalk make it so I can't understand your pain. However, as someone who enjoys Peter's blogs as well as Eck's, along with Schmuck on WBAL, I found his blog quite hilarious. It was typical Schmuck, a little light hearted humor. I too love pro wrestling, and I take a lot of ribbing for that. But come on people, lighten up. I too think this is a work, I can't imagine in a professional work environment (except for the fact that Rodricks is still employed) that the editors would allow either one of you to take jabs at each other. It sounds like you 2 contrived it in order to increase traffic and promote MCW.

How many Maryland Sportswriter of the Year awards have you won again? Oh wait...

I love baseball and I love wrestling. Why can't you love both? Baseball is a sport. Wrestling does not claim to be a sport though the wrestlers as JR would put it phenomenal athletes. It's a fun, funny, action packed spectacle with story lines that usually keep you tuning in week after week. I just feel sorry for this guy. As he's writing his blog thinking he has made this amazing revelation about wrestling and it's fans he does not realize at all what a big petty jackass he comes off as. That stereotype might have worked in the 70's where Memphis owned wrestling, but the game has changed mightily. Are Shaq, Adam Sandler, Shawn Merriman, Ashton Kutcher, Macauly Culkin rednecks. They are real wrestling fans. Schmuck it's entertainment who cares if it's not a sport get over it! Please though Eck, you must get the numbers between yours and his blog, I have to find out how much you are blowing him away. No one outside Baltimore or even inside Baltimore reads his blog, where you have readers across the country (i'm in LA) and worldwide. Keep up the good work!!!

Could be worse. Could be a blog by Sam Zell.

The only thing more homoerotic than professional wrestling is the real kind. If you guys want to pledge time as full grown men to watch roided up greased up freaks contort one another, fine. Its when you prance around with a blog dedicated to it on the freaking sports page of a legit newspaper that it becomes a problem. The fact that this guy has a blog on the sports page is a joke. Don't deny it. Put it in the entertainment section where it belongs. Btw hair gel + highlights + side burns + receding hairline = fail
WWE < Sports
Getting Pissy over the WEE when you're 15+ y.o. = FAIL

I just stumbled on this and have to say 90% of these comments are just helping Pete's case. Wow.

Schmuck is a schmuck....enough said! The name fits and he wears it well.

I hope this whole thing is a work. That'd be really funny.

If not... good for you then, Kev.

His condescending entry was uncalled for and he deserves everything he gets.

Wait...A guy with a name like Eck, is making fun of someone else's last name? Eck?...sounds like the sound my cat makes when he's coughin up a hairball...And yeah these guys are "real" athletes. Anybody with a syringe, a mullet and a pair of tights can join the WWE. But let me see any of these guys hit a 98 MPH heater like the aforementioned Prince Fielder and David Ortiz.

Please find a way to replace Schmuck on the radio with this relatively articulate guy. S is so painful to listen to. I've moved away thus have been spared, but I empathize with family members on their commute.

I think Pete's point has been proven here.

Feeling frustrated at someone else's success is one of the more unfortunate qualities any person (including a work colleague) can have.

This column is proving very popular, and attracting both a national and international audience, so detractors, who may not be so comfortable with that, can be expected.

I would ignore the noise and stay on message.

Let's see ...

A guy named "Eck" is making fun of someone's name. Hoo-kay.

Wrestling being disparaged as not being a real sport and being referred to condescendingly is correct on point number one and a matter of opinion on point number two. Of course, we're talking about the staged wrassling and not the real stuff done at the Y, in high schools and in colleges. And, of course, I agree with the second part as I find it positively boring the n-th degree.

As for Dundalk, I heard there are no pharmacies there because they can't get the containers in the typewriter.

Dear -_- (how brave...)

Perception is reality and your reality equates professional wrestling with homoeroticism. Fair enough. However, I'd ask you to really examine why that. is Perhaps something in your past has caused you to experience a reactionary response to the mere sight of two men grappling with each other as being somehow "gay". Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I'm not sure how wrestling can be bashed as somehow "gay" and then also the bastion of "rednecks" who, while we're in the practice of making gross generalizations, are often not too keen on gay people. You kinda hafta pick one or the other.

Furthermore, you won't find Eck's blog on the sports page but on the "blogs" page under the heading of sports. If you want to quibble over "sports" as opposed to "athletic endeavor" or something, fine. But I'm not sure there is a better place to file such a blog.

Nice usage of the "fail" formula in taking a dig at someone. This is perhaps the most lazy rhetorical device I've ever seen. This is the kind of thing that folks resort to when they have nothing else.

I refuse to post on Schmuck's blog as to not give him the satisfaction of extra page hits in this obvious attempt at siphoning hits off of a blog that probably does pretty well.

-JG

What is that guy's obsession with neck tattoos? Sorry, I don't have any ink. I've never drank alcohol either. Stereotypes are for the intellectually deficient.

Eck vs. Schmuck = Ivan Drago vs. Jay Leno

lol at adam, a Kelly vs Eve match I know you wre being sarcastic (I mean one of them is somewhat decent you know) but he'd really change his mind if he sa an old Trish vs Lita bra on the line match lol! But yeah, Bubba the love Sponge needs to keep his crazy brother away from the pin and paper, (hey I didn't know either could read or write).

I think you are giving him too much importance, Kevin. It would have been better, if you hadn't reacted at all. This would have given him a clear cut message: That we (prowrestling fans) don't give a damn about his blogs.

This looks like a work to me. This is just hype leading up to a huge PPV entitled "Sports Journalists Unleashed; Maximum Overdrive" and the main event will be....

Kevin "the Ringpost" Eck versus Peter "the Hawaiian Shirt" Schmuck in a no holds barred, hard core, steel cage match!

Seriously though, that is Schmuck's opinion and he is entitled to it. Just like you have opinions on how inferior some wrestler or promotion might be, I am sure those people or people in that company you speak of aren't very happy with how you speak of them.

If you enjoy wrestling and are comfortable enough with yourself as a person it should not matter what somebody else thinks of what you like or enjoy as entertainment.

Dundalk - The armpit of maryland

Kevin, just a note to let you know how much I enjoy your blog in spite of all the recent unpleasantness. It gives me something to do while I polish my FIVE Maryland Sportswriter of the Year plaques.

Interesting thing about wrestling fans: According to research cited by the Wrestling Observer fans of the NBA, WNBA and Wrestling (probably WWE) are the most left leaning of all sports fans. Doesn't exactly agree with the redneck stereotype.

WORK ALERT WORK ALERT WORK ALERT WORK ALERT WORK ALERT

wwe don't even call themselves a sport... peter schmuck = fail

Probably the most betted on fight ever was this weekend's between Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar. Lesnar beat a collosal undefeated mma fighter, and afterwards, he credited the wrestling business for his ability to get literally beat in the face for 4 solid minutes, get up and choke the guy out the next round.

Set aside the ego's fellas, and look at the baddest man on the planet, former WWE champion Brock Lesnar. I'm a proud wrestling fan, and now an even prouder mma fan. Nuff said. I'd love to see Peter make fun Brock. This is what it would look like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SACE1tPEcbc

Nice of him to diss wrestling when he stole his whole image from Freddie (Blassie).

Come on Kev, tell the truth. Schmuck is an evil alter-ego of yours that you are trying out :)

Will Peter Schmuck actually get in the ring with Kevin Eck at the Shamrock Cup??? Damn, I can't wait! After Kevin tears Schmuck apart, maybe Cole Callaway (one of Eck's tag team partners) will throw Schmuck a kiss!

Stiff em' sodapop!