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Sportsbook Consigliere

23 Apr, 27 tweets, 6 min read

Story time from the book:

I often remember sporting events from days spent in the book over the years..

Games, bets or moments that were shared with people.

Dates & numbers that are etched into my memory.

April 23 is a date I will never forget but it was not for a game..

or a bet but it involves both in a way..

Eight years ago today, on a Tuesday, I was off from the book when my phone rang at 6:38am..

Mama Consig was calling..

“Hey, Ma. Good morning. It’s a little early. What’s up?”

There was a long pause.

“David, I woke up this morning..

and your father wasn’t breathing. I called him, shook him, tried everything. He is gone.”

I jumped up to my feet immediately.

“WHAT? What did you say?”

She repeated her words, and I dropped to the floor from the worst gut punch I’ve ever taken.

The noises that came out of..

me woke the entire Consig house and drowned out what my Mom was saying..

Tears flowed while I tried to stay strong for all the Consig women in the house and Mama Consig on the phone..

My dad, the Big E, was gone..Elliott Sharapan was the OG Consigliere to so many people over..

the years, but he was Dad to me..

my best friend, my counsel and my biggest fan passed away in his sleep, in his recliner, watching highlights of games from the night before..

So many thoughts rushed through my head..all the games he watched me play, him catching me, telling..

me to “bend my back” and “use your legs like Tom Seaver.”

Our one and only father/son hockey game when he laced up the skates, fell on the opening face off and never took another shift while I skated circles all over at age 5.

All the trips in the car to go to fields & rinks..

all over the Pittsburgh area.

Penguin games and leaving early to “beat the traffic” despite having a better parking spot than Mario Lemieux.

The Pirate games all blend together, but I remember him getting choked up when the Buccos retired number 8 on Willie Stargell Day at..

Three Rivers with us in the stands..

Big E was a catcher growing up, and he lived with a catcher’s mindset his whole life..

Think the game through, love the grind and be a leader..

There’s gonna be foul tips and balls in the dirt..block it, pick it up and fire it back every..

damn time..and if you try to steal, let alone get a little far away from the bag, fire it “from the ear” and throw em out..

Big E gave me so much, and, along with Mama Consig, is the reason I am who I am today..

I loved sports from the day I was born. My childhood is filled..

with memories from Peter Puck to the Baseball Bunch and This Week in Baseball.

We all share sports in our own way, and being in the book, making plays, taking bets or just watching the games connects us..

My first bet ever was with my hero, my Consig, the Big E..

It was..

Super Bowl X, the hometown Pittsburgh Steelers against the hated Dallas Cowboys..

I was 5 years old, and I “knew” the Steelers were going to win..

They went 12-2 in the regular season, and we watched every game together, as a family, at our house, with Nonny too..

The two..

home playoff games were played at Three Rivers Stadium, 10 minutes from our house, in freezing cold weather, but I watched them on TV, next to my dad. And all the Steelers did was win.

So I knew that even in sunny Miami, the Steelers were going to do it again..

As a dad now..

I look back and see the lessons that he taught me everyday.

Unbeknownst to me, I was in class every day even when I wasn’t in school..Big E was a professor in life, and I was his number one student..

“You think the Steelers are going to win, huh?”

I nodded and said “Yes..

they are gonna beat the Cowboys.”

He leaned over and softly whispered “Ok, Daveeeeeee. You want to bet?

Bet? What does that mean?

“You get the Steelers. I get the Cowboys. Whoever wins gets a dollar. Yes or no?”

WHAT? A dollar for me if MY team, the BEST team, wins the..

SUPER BOWL?!?!?!?

Hell YEAH, I’m in..I’m gonna be rich!! A whole dollar!?!? I know I had that in my Steeler helmet piggy bank in my room, so it’s on.

But wait, does that mean you are rooting for the Cowboys, Dad? How could you do that?

“Let’s just watch the game and see..

what happens,” he said as he smiled.

The Cowboys scored first as Drew Pearson went into the end zone in those sweet ass, baby blue pants to go up 7-0.

The Steelers answered with a TD by number 84, Randy Grossman, who became a family friend and asked Big E to be his best man..

in his second wedding years later..

A late Dallas field goal in the first half had them leading at halftime 10-7, and my sure thing was not so sure..

Nonny and Mama Consig had a spread bigger than Franco’s Army, but I couldn’t eat a strand of spaghetti..

Could the Steelers..

actually lose??

Nothing happened in the third quarter, and I was sweating my ass off in my black and gold footie pajamas..

Then, it happened. Something I don’t remember seeing before. A blocked punt by the Steelers. The ball went out of the end zone.

A safety?!? What does..

that mean? Two points. I thought you could only get 3 or 6 in football and that extra point thing after a touchdown.

And we get the ball?? I like safeties, especially that bald, bad ass Mel Blount!

After the deuce, Roy Gerela and his single bar face mask added not one but..

two field goals, and I was feeling better.

Late in the game, Bradshaw hit Swann on a bomb, Gerela’s Gorillas missed the PAT, but I was counting that whole 100 cents!! STEELERS are going to win the Super Bowl.

Where my money at, Daddy?

With one minute left, some guy named..

Howard caught a pass from Staubach to make it 21-17.

Big E let out that little Dad laugh but I wasn’t worried.

After the onside kick was secure, I jumped up and down, victory and my buck all locked up..

Big E reached into his pocket and pulled out his rubber band, which..

he carried with him everywhere.

He peeled off a crisp George Washington and handed it to me..

“Good bet, Dave. You won cause you had the Steelers.”

Damn right I did, Dad!! He paused. And then, he goes,

“Remind me to tell you when you get a little bit older about this thing..

called the point spread. And the over/under. Don’t forget, ok?”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where are Nonny’s pizzelles?? It’s dessert time!!

The points spread in that game was Pit-7, and the total was 37.

I never did have that talk with Big E about the game. I don’t know what he..

had or if he had anything at all.

Knowing him, he had the dog. He loved our dogs Cagney and Lacy almost as much as he loved my Mom and his five kids.

One of my favorite “Elliottisms” that he used to say and I didn’t understand until I was grown up was “I don’t need more..

money. I am a millionaire 5 times over with my kids, and I hit the jackpot everyday with my wife.”

Eight years ago today, he passed, but the Big E lives on and is still teaching every day..

We make bets everyday or sometimes not at all, but it is the time and memories we..