All’s fair in fantasy football, apparently. Cincinnati Reds left fielder Tommy Pham has no regrets for slapping San Francisco Giants outfilder Joc Pederson upside the head for a poor ruling in their fantasy football league. The slap took place on May 27, and Pham said Pederson deserved it.
Tommy Pham slapped Joc Pederson across the head and was suspended for three games because lingering resentment from a rule regarding IR designation in their fantasy football league spilled over into real life and led to Pham’s attack.
Baseball is not real. It’s a Mad Lib. pic.twitter.com/0a41Yi0DGD
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 28, 2022
“You know what, I’ve got no regrets,” Pham told USA Today Sports. “None at all. Joc deserved to be slapped.”
This is crazy. Two 30-something year-old professional athletes beefing over fantasy football, causing one to slap the other. Are we in grade school? High school?
Pham accused Pederson of illegally stashing players because he put a player who was listed as out in one of his IR spots and added another player. Pham apparently thought that move was out of bounds, and addressed Pederson.
“He said some sh-t I don’t condone. I had to address it,” Pham said to the media. “It was regarding my former team. I didn’t like that and I didn’t like the sketchy sh-t going on in the fantasy. We had too much money on the line, so I look at it like there’s a code. You’re f-cking with my money, then you’re going to say some disrespectful sh-t; there’s a code to this.”
So there was a significant amount of money on the line? Not surprising with pro athletes. Was Pham in a position to win? He said “my money”?
See when you enter into a gambling enterprise like a fantasy league or whatever, depending on the rules, it’s no longer your money. There is no guarantee you will win, unless you’ve worked against the rules to predetermine the outcome. If not, then it’s no longer “your” money once you enter.
Pham also said he looks at it “like there’s a code.” Well, he is a professional athlete in a sport known for its “unwritten rules”, so he probably does believe in a code. But what is this code? Who adheres to it? Who metes out violations of this code? Are code rules subject to interpretation?
Major League Baseball suspended Pham three games and fined him $5,000 for slapping Pederson. The Giants considered pressing charges against Pham.
“They were talking about pressing charges,” Pham said. “I’m like, ‘Go ahead. Assault for a slap? OK. People do way worse.”
This is sometimes the byproduct of the professionalization of kids games. Adults in age, but children in mentality and behavior, acting out on public stages because this type of behavior is acceptable by segments of society.
Pham slapped Pederson over a fantasy football league rule and possibly some disrespectful words about one of Pham’s former teams. Pederson’s employers, the Giants, threatened to press charges.
“There were about 100 people that thanked me after I slapped him,” Pham said. “Players, coaches, trainers, reporters. What does that say? I was like, ‘Damn, I didn’t know Joc was this disliked.'”
The Reds will begin a three-game series against the Giants June 24-26 in San Francisco at Oracle Park. It will be interesting to see if these two continue their beef or the series goes by without incident.
