Talking Smack

May 29, 2022  /  0 Comments
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Talking Smack (Photo from Google Images)

If you are not talking smack in fantasy football, then you are not doing it right. I still can’t understand (or stop laughing) at Cincinnati Reds outfielder, Tommy Pham, for how long he held on to his anger for current San Francisco Giant outfielder, Joc Pederson.

Rewind

Not last season of the NFL, but go back to the 2020-2021 NFL season. This is this Fantasy Football league that has caused Pham to smack Pederson in the face during batting practice on Friday night.

These are professional athletes, they play in the big leagues so naturally, they play with big league money and egos on the line. It’s all legal and it’s supposed to be fun, unless you are Tommy Pham.

Pederson told reporters that Pham was still upset about IR rules. Pederson said “We were in a fantasy league together. I put somebody, a player, on the injured reserve when they were listed as out and added another player. There was a text message in the group saying that I was cheating because I was stashing players on my bench. I looked up the rules and sent a screenshot of the rules, how it says when a player is ruled out, you’re allowed to put him on the IR. That’s all I was doing.

It just so happened that he had a player, Jeff Wilson, that was out, and he had him on IR. I said, ‘you literally have the same thing on your team, on your bench.’ I guess he was in two leagues and in one of them (Wilson) was on the IR and in one of them, he wasn’t, so maybe that was a confusion. In the ESPN league we were in, it was listed as out. It feels very similar to what I did. That was basically all of it, there’s not much more to it.”

How did Pederson kept a straight face during this interview?

Friday Night

The two have not spoken since Pham dropped out of the fantasy league, but Pederson said Pham came up to him during batting practice and said:
Pham ‘You remember from last year?‘
Pederson said, ‘Fantasy football?‘
Pham, ‘Yeah’ and … yeah’ and then chose violence by smacking Pederson.

Pederson, an adult, walked away. Pham was scratched from the game.

Saturday Night

On Saturday, Major League Baseball suspended Pham for three games. Reports asked Pham for his side of the story and Pham said “Pederson mocked the Padres” (Pham’s former team). Pham said that Pederson had conveniently left out the ‘disrespectful’ message that Pederson said in the Fantasy Football group text. This “disrespectful” message as was a GIF of a weak weightlifter with the Padres background. Pham told reporters:

“There was some s*** that went on in fantasy, but what he forgot to tell you guys he said some disrespectful s*** in a text message and I called him out on it. It was regarding my former team … I didn’t like that and I didn’t like the sketchy s*** going on in the fantasy. You have too much money on the line, so I look at it like there’s a code. F***ing with my money and you’re going to say some disrespectful s***, there’s a code to this.”

Codes

That code is called grow the bleeeep up, Tommy Pham! Pham is clearly still upset because he didn’t know the rules in his Fantasy Football league. What grown man holds a grudge for this long and then slaps another grown man? A man smacking another man is disrespectful to all grown men. And how do you let your feelings stay hurt for this long over your own lack of understanding how to play Fantasy Football? It hasn’t been reported who else was in the league, who won the league or how much money was on the line and that’s called bro-code.

Pham told reporters that “this was strictly just about some money or winning some money.” He also reportedly added “I’m a big dog in Vegas. I’m a high roller at many casinos.” Okay, big dog, if you are as cool as you think you are, then why are you so emotional about losing money in Fantasy Football? And adding to his losses, Pham will not be paid for the three-game suspension (a six-figure amount from a pro-rated portion of his $7.5 million salary).

Summary 

Basically, if you play Fantasy Football and someone can’t handle a little smack talk, then get them out of your league. Pham was stabbed in 2020 at a bar in San Diego, tried to fight a fan, tried to fight Luke Voit back in April. Pham can now add assault and battery to his resume.

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