Free Speech!

On the TunneySide of Sports November 4, 2019, #768 … Free Speech!

After further review… With the political debacle in China about the rights of insurgents versus the Chinese government and with the NBA under the leadership of Commissioner Adam Silver being involved, the NBA is adopting a zerotolerance policy for fans.

The NBA is telling its fans they must zip their lips when it comes to abusive or hateful language toward players. It is targeting fans seated closest to the players, courtside.

Violators can expect ejections and possible further punishment due to their abhorrent verbal behavior. It’s about time. Wait-a-minute. You just paid $3,000 plus or more to sit at courtside.

Don’t you have a right to yell, scream and call your opponents names in order to “get into their heads” with your plan of disrupting their game?

If you have ever sat that close to the court, you hear and see players doing that to their opponents on a regular basis. So why can’t you? It’s called trash talking.

You might be thinking that it’s mostly black players who do the trash-talking, but there are plenty of white players who do it as well. It’s just most of the players in the NBA are black.

Further, unless you have been around players, you may not understand that it is part of a culture. There are more who rise above trash-talking and hateful behavior. It’s just that culture’s way of teasing.

The TunneySide has never believed that trash talking was necessary – let alone correct. As a player in my youth, I learned from my father (whose birthday would be today) to not talk to your opponents during a game and don’t listen to them, adding sports is not a talking game.

As a 31-year NFL referee as well as a 25-year college basketball official, I’ve heard more than my share of verbal abuse between players. Trash talking often results in physical confrontations, which may lead to fighting – followed by ejections.

Isn’t our society against bullying? In the case of ejections due to fans’ hateful behavior, how about starting with the players. Does the denigrating language players use toward opponents encourage fans to do likewise?

Should the NBA enforce players to set the example they expect fans to follow? The three on-court game officials often overlook some of that language, unless it progresses into the game getting out of control.

No one wants to see players ejected, so game officials do all they can to keep players on the court.

Will you comment about how to control fans’ behavior at athletic contests?

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If you were unable to attend the book signing at River House Book Store recently ”Yet Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports” is available there for $20 or by sending a check to Jim Tunney Youth Foundation (501c3) P.O Box 1440 Pebble Beach, Ca. 93953 includes personalized autograph and free shipping.

This offer is available to the continental United States only.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports

To contact Jim, go to JimTunney.com or email Jim@JimTunney.com. Jim’s books are full of inspiration and interesting stories. Please visit his online store to learn more. Be sure to get Jim’s book ‘Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports’ by clicking this link or using the email above to contact Jim directly. These TunneySides take issues from real-life situations and relate them as inspiration for the betterment of others. Jim is available for speaking engagements on leadership and T*E*A*M Building. His books are available for $20 which includes shipping and tax. The Tunney Bobblehead is available for $30. Please visit JimTunney.com. Thank you!

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Want An Easy Job?

On the TunneySide of Sports October 28, 2019 #767 Up next...Want an easy job?On the TunneySide of Sports October 21, 2019, #767 … Want An Easy Job?

After further review… For 31 seasons I was part of the National Football League officiating family as an on-field official, primarily in the position of Referee. As a crew-chief one of my responsibilities was the training of younger officials. Being a life-long educator, I accepted that challenge with eagerness. When an official in our crew made an incorrect call during a game, I took that challenge to help that official improve. Was it mechanics, that is, his position on a particular play that may have been responsible for that error? Or perhaps did he not see the entire action? In either case, we spent time reviewing that play.

The goal of every NFL game official is to work the perfect game, in concert with what every NFL player desires. Perfection, you may be thinking, is highly improbable. However, when one seeks perfection, excellence can be achieved. It is excellence that fans expect of every player and every official. After each game, coaches sit in a room with their players and review, frame-by-frame, every play pointing out how each player can improve. It’s often embarrassing for a player when his error is pointed-out with his teammates watching.

It happens to game officials as well. Not only does the Referee in the crew review and correct a crew member’s error(s), but the league supervisors do as well. Further, fans point out the error — mostly in the media. Want an easy job? It may not be working as an NFL game official.

A few years back, after I had retired from the field, I was invited to serve as a trainer/observer for current game officials, focusing especially on the Referee position. During their pre-season meetings which lasted three-days, I witnessed the dedication of all officials preparing to be at the top of their game mentally, physically and emotionally. The mental part is intensive with hundreds of play situations – both real and hypothetical – deciphering not just the rule as written, but the spirit of rule. Does every infraction merit being called? Did the official see the play and possible infraction in its entirety? If not, should only the part that the official saw be called? A given foul may last only 1-3 seconds in length; then the official must move-on.

The NFL game is a rapidly fluid activity, with 22 very large and quick players moving all at once. The seven NFL officials, somewhat older than the players, must move equally as quick to observe that every play is operated within the rules. Their concentration must not waver.

Will you comment on your observation of NFL game officials?

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If you were unable to attend the book signing at River House Book Store recently ”Yet Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports” is available there for $20 or by sending a check to Jim Tunney Youth Foundation (501c3) P.O Box 1440 Pebble Beach, Ca. 93953 includes personalized autograph and free shipping.

This offer is available to the continental United States only.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports

To contact Jim, go to JimTunney.com or email Jim@JimTunney.com. Jim’s books are full of inspiration and interesting stories. Please visit his online store to learn more. Be sure to get Jim’s book ‘Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports’ by clicking this link or using the email above to contact Jim directly. These TunneySides take issues from real-life situations and relate them as inspiration for the betterment of others. Jim is available for speaking engagements on leadership and T*E*A*M Building. His books are available for $20 which includes shipping and tax. The Tunney Bobblehead is available for $30. Please visit JimTunney.com. Thank you!

Posted in NFL, Sports | Leave a comment

Tanking

On the TunneySide of Sports October 21, 2019 #766 Up next...TankingOn the TunneySide of Sports October 21, 2019, #766 … Tanking

After further review… As the National Football League approaches its half-way point in the 2019 season, let’s hope your favorite T*E*A*M is in contention in its division to make the post-season playoffs. If not, have they considered tanking! Heavens no, I’m not suggesting it! From the TunneySide point of view, it is the ethics of the whole idea. By definition tanking is playing not to win or just not giving one’s best so that your team finishes at or near the bottom of the standing thereby creating an opportunity to select better players in next year’s NFL draft.

Tanking is morally reprehensible! Perhaps Herm Edwards said it best when he was the head coach of the New York Jets nearly 20 years ago. It was about mid-season and the Jets won-loss record had higher numbers in the loss column. In his weekly press conference, a reporter asked Edwards if he had thought about his team just not giving their best effort and finishing at or near the bottom of their division. Edwards “blew the roof off” as he exploded, “You play to win the game! You don’t just go out and play! Hello, you play to win the game!”

Tanking would never be considered by owners, coaches, and players who place “doing the right thing” versus a need to win-at-any-costs. Has winning overtaken just doing the right thing? The demand to select the highest draftee available is not necessarily the answer. Every team in the NFL has one or perhaps more players who were not high draft choices and who played well.

Here’s a couple of obvious examples:

Quarterback Tom Brady was drafted 199th in the 2000 NFL draft and has led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl victories. Quarterback Joe Montana, so often in the same conversation with Brady, led the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl victories playing 14 years with the Niners. Joe was a third-round pick in the 1979 draft.

Personnel knowledgeable about drafting players say that it is not necessarily how high the draft pick, but the quality of the individual drafted. Edwards in the book I authored titled “It’s the Will, Not the Skill” emphases the importance of drafting a player who embodies traits that will determine his and his team’s success: Passion! Desire! Effort!

Owners and coaches who focus on “win at any costs” do a disservice to their current players who are asked to give their all without an intent to win. The average tenure for an NFL player is three-plus years and many leave the game with injuries that cripple them later in life.

Will you log-in your comments about tanking?

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If you were unable to attend the book signing at River House Book Store recently ”Yet Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports” is available there for $20 or by sending a check to Jim Tunney Youth Foundation (501c3) P.O Box 1440 Pebble Beach, Ca. 93953 includes personalized autograph and free shipping.

This offer is available to the continental United States only.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports

To contact Jim, go to JimTunney.com or email Jim@JimTunney.com. Jim’s books are full of inspiration and interesting stories. Please visit his online store to learn more. Be sure to get Jim’s book ‘Another 101 Best of TunneySide of Sports’ by clicking this link or using the email above to contact Jim directly. These TunneySides take issues from real-life situations and relate them as inspiration for the betterment of others. Jim is available for speaking engagements on leadership and T*E*A*M Building. His books are available for $20 which includes shipping and tax. The Tunney Bobblehead is available for $30. Please visit JimTunney.com. Thank you!

Posted in NFL, Sports, Tunney Side of Sports Columns | Tagged , | Leave a comment