Researching Scott Taylor

Taylor has aroused a certain amount of controversy during his career; described as "fiercely opinionated", his articles have attracted criticism for their often strongly polemical slant. He has been critical of the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence, and has also written in opposition to Western involvement in the Kosovo War, Iraq War and the Libyan Civil War. Taylor has won Press TV's ' Unembedded Journalist of the Year' Award for 2008.

Taylor is a regular op-ed contributor to the Halifax Herald newspaper, as well as the Embassy Magazine. He has also contributed to such publications as the Ottawa Citizen, 'Maclean’s magazine, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Sun, Reader's Digest and the Global television network. He has also appeared in several international journals such as Indian Defense Review, Mayar Nemzet and Al Jazeera. In 2006, Scott Taylor presented to the University of Western Ontario his Clissold Lecture titled From Belgrade to Baghdad. Taylor appears regularly in Canadian media as a military expert and analyst. In 1996 he received the Quill Award, as well as the Alexander MacKenzie Award for journalistic excellence.

In 2004, Taylor and a Turkish colleague Zeynep Tugrul were kidnapped in Iraq by Ansar al-Islam, a radical Islamist group and held for five days. His release generated a wave of international media coverage and he returned to Iraq in 2005, briefing the U.S soldiers stationed there on the Turkmen people of Iraq.

Drafted out of Bowling Green State University by the Boston Red Sox in 1988, Taylor made his major league debut for the Red Sox on September 17, 1992, at age 25. He pitched in parts of two seasons for the Red Sox, with his last appearance coming on October 3, 1993. Taylor continued to pitch in the minors until 1998, ending his career with the Rochester Red Wings in the Baltimore Orioles organization.

Taylor pitched a total of 25.2 innings in 20 major league games, striking out 15 batters. He had a career ERA of 6.31, allowing five home in 27 hits.

He broke his foot in his debut AFL game in 1996. He was delisted at the end of the 1997 season to allow for the rookie elevation of Adam Contessa, but was re-drafted in the 1998 Pre-season Draft. However he was again delisted at the end of the 1998 season, without playing any more games in the AFL.

Taylor won championships during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in the series that sanctioned off-road racing in the Midwestern United States. He racked up championships in Short-course Off-road Drivers Association (SODA), SCORE International, ESPN PRO Series, Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) and World Series of Off-Road Racing (WSORR). Taylor won six consecutive Pro 2 championships in CORR between 1999 and 2004. He was the first two-wheel-drive truck winner of the Heavy Metal Challenge (now AMSOIL Cup) world championship race at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway in 2002; he repeated the win in 2008.

Taylor raced with Ford Motor Company vehicles for much of his professional career and he joined the "Ford Rough Riders" group near the end of their five-year promotion in 1995. While a professional driver, he used Roush Racing engines (later Roush-Yates engines).