Strange Bedfellows

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Jim Tunney Ed.D

Pete RoseOn the TunneySide of Sports November 1, 2021 #872 Up next… Strange Bedfellows

If you have ever been to Las Vegas, and perhaps each of you has, you are immediately impressed by the beautiful hotels and casinos adorning the “strip” (the main drag of Las Vegas). Those hotels were built with gamblers’ money – not the owners. Gamblers have been in existence forever and will be here long after they have torn down those dusty walls. So, it’s interesting that gambling and sports leagues have become “strange bedfellows.”

In case you haven’t noticed the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL are daily advertising Draft Kinga and betting sportsbooks along with Flo’s Progressive Insurance, Liberty Mutual’s Ostrich and Sugar-Free Pepsi.

Have I missed something? In every dugout and locker room in a professional ballpark, there was always a sign that read “Gambling Prohibited!” Pete Rose, arguable one of the best professional major league baseball players in all major league history, is not in the MLB Hall of Fame since being banned by MLB Commissioner A. Bart Giamatti in 1989. Now more than 30 years later the “Big Red Machine” still has not been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Rose saw that sign in the Reds dugout and ignored it by illegally wagering with bookmakers on MLB games – including the Reds. Nearly 60 years ago, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Green Bay Packer running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive lineman Alex Karras for betting, with gamblers, on NFL games, although not with or against their own team. They were both reinstated the following year and subsequently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Tim Donaghy, the former NBA on-court referee was dismissed, fined, and served 15 months in prison for his gambling scheme with known gamblers. NBA Commissioner David Stern immediately refined the restrictions for on-court officials that limited their involvement in outside gambling. During my 31-year career in the NFL, the league restricted all on-field officials from being in Las Vegas during the season. I appealed to our supervisor requesting permission to attend conventions that had hired me as a speaker some three to five times each year. My request was granted but required that I avoid casinos and gambling sites.

Today, in 2021 we have not only teams (Raiders and Golden Knights) but game officials who are required to officiate their games check-in to those hotels and are in Las Vegas for more than just a few hours. While I have the utmost confidence in those officials, the exposure and connection between sports books’ operators, gamblers, and professional sports teams set the bar pretty high.

Will you log in your thoughts about gambling influence and sporting events?

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Jim’s books include many messages about rules and regulations (remember he was a referee). His bobblehead on your desk or shelf will be a treasure in your office or home.

Shop here.

To contact Jim, go to www.jimtunney.com  or email jim@jimtunney.com.

Posted in Sports, Tunney Side of Sports Columns | 1 Comment

Remembering Mr. Irrelevant

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Jim Tunney Ed.D

Paul Salata - Mr. IrrelevantOn the TunneySide of Sports October 25, 2021 #871 Up next… Remembering Mr. Irrelevant

I had recently moved to Newport Beach in 1975 to start my new job as assistant superintendent in the Bellflower Unified School District when there was a knock on my front door.

The visitor said to me “Welcome to Newport Beach – I want to do something for someone for no  good reason.”

I responded, “Sounds good to me, come on in.”

It was a friend who I had known since 1955 – Paul Salata. He and Jim Hardy, a USC teammate, gathered friends and ex-jocks together in the 1950s once a month. They called themselves the Pasadena Sports Ambassadors. I was invited to join them about that time. Salata was the master of ceremonies and provided a lively event.

As we sat in my living room, I asked what his plan was for doing “something for someone for no good reason?”

Salata said “I want to honor the last draft choice in the NFL. I mean, that guy never gets any recognition and has a short tenure in the NFL.”

“Like yours,” I said, teasing.

Salata had played at USC with two appearances in New Years’ Rose Bowl games. Then in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts and the 49ers. He had a successful business career as a sewer contractor which he morphed into a fun career as a humorous keynote speaker.

“How will you support this and what activities will you have in store for this guy?” I asked.

“We’ll call him ‘Mr. Irrelevant,’” Salata replied. “I mean, what could be more irrelevant than the last NFL draft choice? I’m sure we can get financial backing to entertain and support him.”

We didn’t.

Salata personally funded all activities, which made for a fun week in Newport Beach. It started with an airplane trip to LAX, a helicopter ride to the John Wayne Airport in Orange County with Mr. Irrelevant and wife or girlfriend, but not both (Salata’s morals were high); then a limo ride to a first-class resort in Newport Beach; a day at Disneyland in his honor; a thoroughbred horse race at Hollywood Racetrack with a special race called, of course, Mr. Irrelevant; lots of gifts; ending it all with a banquet in his honor with 15-20 roasters – NFL ex-players, coaches, sports-agent Leigh Steinberg; USC song leaders and their marching band. The evening concluded with the presentation of the ‘Lowsman Trophy’ (as opposed to the Heisman) showing the player fumbling the football. All Salata’s creation.

Salata organized and supported Mr. Irrelevant week for more than 40 years, appearing on stage every year at the NFL draft to present Mr. Irrelevant with his jersey number usually in the high 300s. My friend died Oct. 16 at the age of 94, a day short of his 95th birthday. His daughter Melanie Salata Fitch will carry on the Mr. Irrelevant tradition. Ryan Succop, the current Bucs field-goal kicker was Mr. Irrelevant #256 in the 2009 NFL draft.

Will you do something for someone for “no good reason”?

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Jim’s books include many messages about rules and regulations (remember he was a referee). His bobblehead on your desk or shelf will be a treasure in your office or home.

Shop here.

To contact Jim, go to www.jimtunney.com  or email jim@jimtunney.com.

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Is It Pride or Hubris?

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Jim Tunney Ed.D

On the TunneySide of Sports October 18, 2021 #870 Up next… Is it Pride or Hubris?

Perhaps you have noticed lately, as have I, that at times when a defensive player intercepts a pass, most of the defensive unit on the field gathers together and runs to the end zone for a “photo op.”  Some have defined this as that defensive unit taking great pride in that interception. A fan wrote me recently deriding that this maneuver was just showmanship and unnecessary. Maybe so. The fan went on to ask how to explain to his teenager what pride is and how he should define it.

I responded:

Pride is like faith, you can’t touch it, but you can see it if you know what to look for. A simile might be is that it is like carbon monoxide: colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Intoxicating might be an apt word in that pride can be good or bad. The definition of pride starts with a belief in oneself, appropriately called self-esteem. How, then, does one develop self-confidence? One method might be to observe others who display a sense of pride. As it was once said, “you can observe a lot, just be watching.” However, it is important to be discriminating.

Pride can be displayed properly or wrongly. It can be described as showing excessive self-esteem meaning arrogance or a lack of concern for others. Being proud needs to follow a path of caring for others. If hubris develops, you lose the value of what pride is all about.

Pride is easy to develop when you are successful in everything you do, with no failures. It’s hard to find that person. Pride can take a hit when a failure occurs. When that happens, you need to rebuild your self-esteem through positive affirmations or experiences. Experience, they say, is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it again. Development of pride then can come from experience.

At one time I produced a video called “P*R*I*D*E in Action” in which I used the word PRIDE as sort of an acronym. ”P” was for personal power; “R” for responsibility (not blaming others); “I” for innovation (you predict the future by creating it); “D” is to design (an action plan to achieve); “E” is for everyone as in (T*E*A*M -Together Everyone Accomplishes More). Each of us needs all of us!

Will you put your pride in action today?

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Jim’s books include many messages about rules and regulations (remember he was a referee). His bobblehead on your desk or shelf will be a treasure in your office or home.

Shop here.

To contact Jim, go to www.jimtunney.com  or email jim@jimtunney.com.

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