Know What You Are Doing
Know What You Are Doing.
In the early 1960’s, professional football was becoming very popular. The National Football league
(NFL) was the dominant league but the new American Football League (AFL) was gaining popularity.
Everyone wanted to watch football, College Pro, anything. In the days before cable was wide-spread, you
got what your antenna, attached to your house, was able to bring in by signal. Usually, the antenna was
able to acquire a signal of up to 60-90 miles away.
I lived in a town right next to Atlantic City, NJ and the best signal came out of Philadelphia, PA. Our
antenna brought in Channel 3 (NBC, the National Broadcasting System), Channel (ABC, the American
Broadcasting System) and Channel 10 (CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System).
So football was a ratings winner and all of these stations would broadcast any professional games they
could.
As you can imagine, football was all over the place.
I remember watching football games starting at about 9 AM on Sunday mornings. They were semi-
professional games, I don’t know what league they were, just that they were not college games.
My Dad was a great guy, served his country for 3 years during World War II, crazy in love with my
Mom, raised 3 children, respected and admired by his friends and, not afraid of placing a wager on a
sporting event. He got it from his Father, my Grandfather Thomas Quirk Senior, who was, in the 1920’s and 1930’s in
Philadelphia, PA, an off-track betting consultant (Bookie).
So one Sunday I am watching a game in the morning, I had my own massive, 12” Black and White TV in
my bedroom, my Grandfather Nick Almo bought for me for $9.00 and team A is ahead of team B. So I go
upstairs to the living room where my Dad is watching the same game and I ask “”Who do you think is
going to win, the game is in the 3rd quarter and team A is winning by 10 points’?
He reflected for a moment and said, “If you want to bet, I will give you 7 points on team A, but I think
team B will win”
I know what points meant. So to get points when the team was leading was a big deal.
So I said fine to my Dad, and bet ten (10) cents, which was a lot of money for me.
I finished watching the game and team B rallied to win the game by 1 point so I had to pay my Dad the
ten cents I bet him. He had a small smile and put my dime in his pocket.
Next week, on Sunday morning, same thing, this time team A was winning by 6 points over team B in the
3rd quarter. My Dad said He would give me 3 points and team A but that he thought team B would win. I
took the bet and team B rallied to win by a point so I lost. I paid him the ten cents and he put my money
in his pocket.
The following week, same thing, Sunday morning, team A winning by 7 points in the late 3rd quarter, Dad
gave me 3 points but he said he thought team B would win. I took team A, bet ten cents, team B comes
back to win by 4 points. I paid Dad the ten cents once again.
The next week, I got up early and read the newspaper on Sunday morning before Dad got up and what do
you think I found out?
The games we were watching on Sunday mornings were replays of games played on Saturday, the day
before! That is how Dad knew who was going to win, he knew the final score before he would bet me.
This is what is known in the betting world as “past-posting”, later made famous in the movie “The Sting”
staring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
So Dad gets up, I show him the newspaper and basically say, “What’s going on?”
I’ll never forget what he said.
“He said, you just learned a valuable lesson. Never get involved in anything until you know enough to be
successful. Be prepared. I never lied to you. I always said I thought team B would win and I told you that.
The fact that that I knew the final score and you didn’t was not my fault, it was yours.”
And that was that.
Dad was right. And he kept my money.
Ever since then, I have always done my best to be prepared as much as possible. Now, I have failed
sometimes and taken my lumps but usually I get it right.
It was a lesson well learned.
And it only cost me three thin dimes.
Thanks for reading this.
Tom
October 19, 2020