Joc Pederson and Tommy Pham provided sports media and fandom with an unexpected surprise last Friday night (May 27), adding some sizzle to a holiday weekend that included the Indianapolis 500 and a Game 7 between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
But the most entertaining and absurd sports story involved two Major League Baseball players that had nothing to do with anything on the field. Well, "on the field" meaning "during a game." The incident in question did actually occur on the Great American Ballpark field in Cincinnati during batting practice.
If you unplugged from sports over Memorial Day weekend or still aren't following the MLB season closely, the Reds' Pham slapped Pederson across the face before Friday's game versus the Giants.
Reports quickly circulated that the incident stemmed from a fantasy football league in which Pham and Pederson were both involved last season. Really. In reporting the story, The Athletic's C. Trent Rosecrans and Andrew Baggarly wrote sentences and compiled quotes they likely never would've imagined typing out during their sportswriting careers.
"The beef, Pederson said, stems from a fantasy football argument," Rosecrans and Baggarly wrote. "According to Pederson, Pham accused Pederson of cheating because he was 'stashing players on my bench.' Pederson said he looked up the rules the league used and he was in the right. Disagreements ensued on a group text for the league, which sources said, includes MLB players from several teams."
This wasn't from The Onion. It wasn't a fictitious story created for April Fool's Day.
One major-league player slapping another was a serious enough matter for the Giants to request that Pham be taken out of Friday's lineup, which the Reds agreed to after a two-hour rain delay. Eventually, MLB announced that Pham was being suspended for three games.
It's sometimes said that sports echo everyday life. Skills need to be developed to succeed. Dues must be paid to earn higher positions. Struggles can't always be overcome. Yet working through such obstacles and learning from mistakes can lead to triumph.
Here, we have a much less lofty, less resonant example of sports resembling real-life occurrences. This was a clash of personalities. A lack of decorum. An act of violence. Earlier this year, another slap dominated news and pop culture when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards. What many initially thought was a gag because it seemed so preposterous turned out to be shockingly real.
A baseball player slapping an opponent because of a dispute in a fantasy football league seemed nonsensical. Yet as Pederson revealed to reporters as they pursued the story further, the sequence of events that led to the slap turned out to be ludicrously real. He still had a record of the group text exchange which upset Pham on his phone.
Part of the group chat included a GIF making fun of the San Diego Padres, with whom Pham played last season. Projected to be a top contender in the National League and possible challenger to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, the Padres performed far below expectations. The team eventually finished with a 79-83 record and 28 games behind the Giants.
Naturally, there were two sides to this story. So what was Pham's view of the situation? He didn't dispute Pederson's account of their dispute. But according to the Mercury News's Evan Webeck, Pham's issue was with the money he believed Pederson cost him. The dig at the Padres' performance inflamed the situation.
However, in attempting to show how serious he was about betting money in fantasy sports and gambling, Pham provided an unintentionally hilarious quote.
"I'm a big dog in Vegas," Pham said. "I'm a high roller at many casinos."
With that "high roller" line, Pham sounded like the character Will Ferrell played in a 1998 Saturday Night Live skit, boasting that he deserves respect from his family because he's a division manager in charge of 29 people who drives a Dodge Stratus.
Yet as funny as the quote is, it also reveals an insight into Pham's personality. He takes himself so seriously that a teasing joke was viewed as a personal affront. And just like Will Smith did at the Oscars, he resorted to violence as a defense. Both showed themselves to be irrational bordering on unhinged, and both were suspended for their conduct.
That's the grim undertone to what is still a crazy story. Pham slapping Pederson likely would have received more attention had it not occurred on a Friday night going into a holiday weekend. This could be quickly forgotten as the sports news cycle keeps churning with the NBA Finals coming up and baseball season moving on.
But as sports radio and TV catch up on what hosts and fans may have missed over the past three days, this incident could gain more life. "What's the craziest thing that happened in your fantasy league?" or "What's the angriest you've ever gotten over fantasy sports and why?" are two topics that could pop up for discussion this week.
And if that happens, Tommy Pham and Joc Pederson will have done sports media a favor. Nothing helps create better content than the absurd.
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