I wonder whether Ryan Tunniclife knew that his debut on Wednesday as a Manchester United midfielder would make his dad Mick Tunnicliffe $16,000 richer. Tunnicliffe was introduced to Manchested United fans in the 76th minute of the Capital One Cup, but it was good enough for a 10-year-old bet his dad made to pay off.
When Tunnicliffe was just 9 years old, his dad placed two bets: one that his son would one day play for Manchester United and the other that the younger Tunnicliffe would be a member of the national soccer team. The bookies said the chances of Tunnicliffe making it to join Manchester United were about 100 to 1 and 350 to 1 for playing for the national team.
Who knows how that gets figured out, but at that point, Tunnicliffe had already been scouted by Manchester United to play for their academy. Of course, anything can happen between now and then, including injury.
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Would I place a bet that my baseball playing son will one day make it to the majors? Probably. It'd be my sign that I support and believe he is talented. Whether a child is really good or not, I'd wager that most parents would, too.
From my experience, playing sports at that level (or on any serious level) is expensive. We pay for travel and hotel stays–and that's on top of equipment and training. I'm a little extra change helps the elder Tunnicliffe, but the real joy is watching his son fulfill his dreams.
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