TunneySide of Sports

On the TunneySide of Sports November 8, 2021 #873 Up next… Not Giving Up On A Dream

Congratulations to the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball as the 2021 World Champions! The Braves of the National League defeated the Houston Astros 7-0 in the sixth game of the best-of-seven World Series. The Braves had a 3-2 game lead as they headed to Minute Maid Park, home of the Astros. The excitement was at least a 12 on a scale of 1-10. Astros manager Dusty Baker was going to start pitcher Luis Garcia, a rookie on only three days’ rest. That superstitious right-hander with his funny little “dance step” in his wind-up, was Baker’s best choice.

Braves Manager Brian Snitker was giving his pitcher, Max Fried (“Freed”), a loser in game 3, a second chance. Fried as a Little Leaguer had a dream of pitching in the major leagues. Most kids do. How do I know, you ask? Well, it just so happens that my grandson, Nash Oldach, played on that same Little League team in Encino with Fried. In fact, they both shared the same mound at one time! While they went to different schools, they all gathered at that Little League park run by Reggie Smith. Yes, that Reggie Smith, who played for the Dodgers under Tommy Lasorda.

The sign still hangs at that Encino Little League Park with Max Fried and Nash Oldach as teammates along with dad’s Jonathan Fried and John Oldach. Moreover, my wife Linda and I often sat in those bleachers to watch Jake Oldach, Nash’s older brother, play superb baseball there, as only a proud granddad would say! Nash and Max’s Little League team went on to win their division and finished just short of going to Williamsport. Both Max and Nash were selected to the All-Star team!

Fried was picked out of Harvard-Westlake High School seventh overall in the first round of the 2012 draft by the San Diego Padres, although he had a scholarship offer from UCLA. The Padres sent Fried to the Arizona Padres, their minor league team. Back in 2014,  Fried had Tommy John surgery on his (left) throwing arm. Sitting out a year, in 2015, one begins to wonder if he’ll ever get back to the majors. Never give up!

It’s easy to doubt one’s abilities. Fried didn’t. In 2019 he won 17 games. In 2020, during MLB’s slowdown due to the pandemic, he was 7-0 and won the Golden Glove Award. Although he did well, it was the 2021 World Series sixth game where he shined as he struck out six, allowing only four hits in six innings as the Braves shut out the Astros 7-0 to become world champs! Well done “Maximus!” – his nickname.

Will you never give up should setbacks come your way?

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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.

On 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.