The average time for a shift in ice hockey is between 30 and 45 seconds. It begins when a player steps over the bench and takes the ice, charging up and down the rink at full speed. They throw their body at the puck, opponents and the boards, giving everything they have. When the shift ends, the player returns to the bench, dripping with sweat and exhausted, chest heaving as their lungs work overtime.
An average fan watching a hockey game takes between six and 10 breaths during the length of a hockey shift. A player, however, probably takes closer to 12 to 14 breaths per shift. While nobody in the arena is counting their breaths, there’s no one more attuned to the power of breath than Gunnar Esiason.
Gunnar Esiason isn’t like most hockey players — his ability to complete a shift often depended on how his cystic fibrosis was affecting him that day. Throughout his journey with CF, hockey became a lifeline during some of his darkest moments.
“In some ways, to me there was like some … normalcy that was driven into my life, despite everything I had to manage,” Gunnar told ESPN. “Hockey gave me that opportunity, right? When I was at my sickest, it was sort of like the release from CF.”
Gunnar, son of former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and broadcasting legend Boomer Esiason, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 25 months old. His story is chronicled in the latest E60 film, “Second Wind,” which airs on Dec. 24 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Cystic fibrosis, or CF, is a genetic disorder that causes the body to produce a thick mucus that can plug up the pancreas and lungs, making it extremely difficult to breathe. There are also digestive complications that accompany the diagnosis. Around 40,000 people in the United States and 100,000 people worldwide suffer from the disorder. At the time of Gunnar’s diagnosis, CF patients typically died before reaching adulthood.
There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but the condition can be treated with daily medications and therapy.
“As I got older, [hockey] was actually kind of like the barometer of my health,” Gunnar said. “I could tell that I was feeling well when I was able to enjoy playing.”
Coming from a notable sports family, Gunnar’s passion and participation were encouraged from an early age — chronic condition be damned.
“My parents were very deliberate in encouraging me to have whatever life I wanted to have,” Gunnar recalled. “When I was playing youth hockey, my dad would be the dad banging on the glass while I was out there on the ice. I remember just having so much fun and thinking, okay, it was worth it.”
During the majority of Gunnar’s hockey career, he was only able to manage shorter shifts than the rest of his teammates, and he would frequently cough and spit up mucus onto the ice. But despite the highs and lows, hockey was always there for him.
“I think the way to look at it … he was able to play hockey, and so it was just kind of like small victories, you know, so he had a great hockey season, it was healthy for him to be out there skating,” said Gunnar’s mother, Cheryl.
While Boomer and Cheryl were exploring treatments for Gunnar’s disorder, Boomer would also take him to New York Rangers games, including playoff games and a Stanley Cup Final during the Rangers’ legendary 1994 run.
“ I just wanted to make sure that he had a fulfilling life, given the fact that we were told that it was going to be somewhat condensed when he was born,” Boomer said.
Outside of his skills on the ice, Gunnar followed his famous dad’s footsteps and joined his high school football team. But despite Gunnar’s passion, Boomer saw something that his son didn’t.
“He knew I was a much better hockey player, so he very candidly told me, ‘You’re not a really good football player,'” Gunnar shared. “Let’s think about hockey season in three or four months, and then let’s think about college in 12 months.”
The hockey passion in the Esiason clan doesn’t stop with Gunnar. His sister, Sydney, is married to NHL player Matt Martin, who’s currently rostered with the crosstown rival New York Islanders.
No matter whom the Esiasons are cheering for, the family has always rooted for Gunnar in his fight with cystic fibrosis. But the trajectory of his battle with CF was never a straight line. While sports remained an important aspect of Gunnar’s life, CF caused him to miss his senior year of high school football.
Gunnar managed to play hockey during college, but his health took a downturn in his early 20s. He took solace in coaching high school hockey at Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York, where he attended high school, making sure he set goals for himself.
“I wanted to grow participation in the team. I wanted to retain players all through all four years of high school. … So I developed those metrics for myself, and I put every ounce of remaining health that I had into making that vision happen. … And I think that’s how I coped with my CF for a long time.”
As with every phase of Gunnar’s life, hockey played an early role in his relationship with his wife, Darcy.
“Gunnar and I met in 2015, and our first date was a Ranger game,” Darcy told ESPN. “And I grew up in New York, and I played hockey as a kid and was a Ranger fan, so of course, I said yes.” Gunnar even proposed to Darcy while ice skating.
After a few particularly nasty years battling CF, Gunnar entered into a clinical trial in 2018 for a drug called Trikafta, which had received funding from the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Gunnar noticed a change in his breathing and respiratory system overnight but didn’t realize the full impact until he was playing in a recreational hockey game with his dad. In his first shift back on the ice, Gunnar skated for nearly two minutes with ease.
“Everyone was like, what the heck is going on with Gunnar?” he said. “I didn’t cough a single time the entire game. I didn’t spit anything out. I just kept going on the ice for these marathon shifts over and over and over again. Someone like finally built up the courage to ask … ‘what is going on with you?'”
Gunnar said that after the game, he and his dad shared a moment, knowing that Trikafta was really working and that Gunnar’s life had changed forever. In 2019, Trikafta was approved by the FDA, and it has been effective for about 90% of CF patients. The drug has also increased patients’ life expectancy to the mid-70s.
Trikafta has opened up a world of possibilities for Gunnar, who described a conversation he shared with his wife while stuck in traffic on a road trip.
“It was almost like a, ‘What do you wanna be when you grow up?’ question. And it brought back so many different memories from, you know, being a high school football player and then being a high school ice hockey player, and thinking that, maybe being a high school ice hockey coach is my career … Suddenly, my mind turned into a blank whiteboard, and it occurred to me that I could do whatever I wanted.”
Now, Darcy says Gunnar is passing on his love of hockey to his children, Kaspar and Mieke, without the intrusion of cystic fibrosis. “There are CF parents older than us who have kids, have had to bear witness to a little bit more of the struggle. But we’re just so lucky that our kids for now don’t have to see that, that piece of CF, and Daddy’s just Daddy, who will play hockey in the driveway for hours and play the monkey game and throw them over his shoulder and things like that …”
Something as simple as playing hockey in the driveway, or as complicated as having a family, once seemed impossible for Gunnar. But now, he and his dad Boomer can share in the joys — and pains — of parenting and grandparenting.
”It’s been awesome for me, but I think it’s been even more special to see how my dad looks at my son when we play. I think for him, this is my opinion … he must feel like … there’s a little boy in his life now who has a body that works and gets to use it as he wants, without anything holding him back. And it’s like, you can see the twinkle in his eye in some ways.”
Gunnar is still playing recreational hockey, coaching a high school team, rooting for the Rangers, and taking on life with the passion and resilience that’s always carried him. What’s next? Coaching his kids, someday.
“Gunnar’s always the dad who’s down to do everything, and he can’t wait to coach,” Darcy says. “I don’t know if there’s anyone else who’s more excited for a 5:00 a.m. mites hockey practice on a Saturday than Gunnar.”
This weekend, tens of thousands of fans are expected to travel to Cooperstown, New York, as they do annually, to pay homage to new inductees and returning members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, visit the Hall and see an array of artifacts from the greats of the game — including Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader, Pete Rose.
But Rose’s presence in the Hall’s exhibits didn’t require the action of a commissioner. The legendary “Charlie Hustle” has been there for decades, a constant in the museum’s presentation of the history of the game, with numerous pieces that he donated to the Hall. Rose, of course, is not a Hall of Famer, but fans have long been able to see him and his accomplishments represented in at least a dozen items on display, including bats and a ball, a cap, cleats, a jersey and more connected with his 4,256 hits, record numbers of games played and at-bats and myriad awards. The 17-time All-Star at a record five positions won three World Series titles and proudly referred to himself as the winningest player ever.
MLB banished Rose in 1989 after an investigation it commissioned found Rose, then the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, had bet on the sport and his own team’s games. Two years later, the Hall of Fame’s board decided anyone on MLB’s permanently ineligible list would also be ineligible for election to the Hall. That became known as “the Pete Rose rule.”
For nearly 15 years after baseball banned him, Rose repeatedly denied that he had bet on the sport. Before, and long after, his 2004 admission to having gambled on baseball games — including Reds games — during part of his managerial tenure with Cincinnati, Rose was a fixture in Cooperstown for induction weekends, signing and selling his autographs at a memorabilia store.
Just a block away at the Hall were Sparky Anderson, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez of the 1975 and ’76 “Big Red Machine” championship teams with Rose, and Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt of the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies with whom Rose won a championship, as well as several other teammates from his 24 seasons.
The Hall’s “Whole New Ballgame” exhibit, devoted to the era from 1970 to the present, features a Rose jersey from the 1973 season, when he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award; the ball and a ticket from the 1981 game when he tied Stan Musial’s National League hits record; and a 1978 can of a chocolate-flavored beverage named “Pete,” bearing a Rose action photo.
The section of the Hall that chronicles many of the game’s most hallowed records is titled “One for the Books.” It showcases Rose’s shoes and a scoresheet from his crowning achievement, Sept. 11, 1985, when he broke Ty Cobb’s career hits record. Also displayed is a pair of Rose bats from 1978, when he reached the 3,000-hit milestone and later tied the 1897 National League-record 44-game hitting streak by Wee Willie Keeler, and Rose’s Montreal Expos cap from 1984 when he broke Carl Yastrzemski’s record for games played.
In “Shoebox Treasures,” which examines the baseball cards phenomenon, visitors can see the Rose Topps card from 1975 and two Topps cards — one authentic and one counterfeit — from ’63, when he was named National League Rookie of the Year.
There is also an interactive exhibit on the subject of gambling that includes the Rose saga.
And according to the Hall, its archives contain dozens of holdings pertaining to Rose, from recorded interviews — including with Howard Stern — to correspondence and collectibles, as well as the investigative file from MLB’s 1989 probe of Rose’s gambling led by special counsel John Dowd.
Rose visited the Hall when he was 26 and a fifth-year star for Cincinnati. It was July 24, 1967, and the Reds toured the museum before losing to the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 in the then-annual Hall of Fame exhibition game, in which Rose went 0-for-3.
“This is really great,” Rose said as he looked around the Hall, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. “This is what baseball is all about.”
Rose marveled at the multitude of mementos from Babe Ruth, a member of Cooperstown’s inaugural 1936 class, and at the vast space specifically for the “Bambino” and his larger-than-life exploits on the diamond and beyond.
Dayton (Ohio) Daily News columnist Si Burick, who eventually would be selected to the Hall’s writers wing, recounted a moment from the visit in his column the next day:
When a fellow suggested to an awestruck Rose that he, too, might some day grace the Hall of Fame, if he continued at his present pace, the irrepressible Cincinnatian had a typical answer. Peter pointed to a cubicle filled with Ruth gadgets, and suggested, “There’s my chance to get in — with my bowling ball.”
Ruth’s bowling ball was on display and Rose was a winner four months earlier during spring training at a “Base-Bowl” event in a Tampa bowling alley that paired MLB and Professional Bowlers Association stars. Rose and Dick Weber edged Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals and Wayne Zahn. Of the four, only Rose isn’t enshrined in either the baseball or PBA Hall of Fame.
“I got all the records, so you can throw me into the sea, but the records are still going to come to the top,” Rose said in a 2019 interview for ESPN’s “Backstory” program. “You can walk into the Hall of Fame, you see my name in things everywhere, which is fine. It’s good for me. It’s good for the Hall of Fame. The greatest thing for baseball is the history of baseball.”
With Rose now eligible for election, his Hall candidacy is to be considered by the Historical Overview Committee, which develops a ballot of eight names for the Classic Era Committee that is next scheduled to meet in December 2027. That era committee handles candidates whose greatest impact was prior to 1980, including Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues stars. Its 16 members, comprising Hall of Famers, executives and veteran media members, are charged with weighing the eight candidates’ résumés, integrity, sportsmanship and character — 12 votes are needed for election.
The long-running debates over Rose surely will continue well past 2027. Regardless of whether he’s added to the Plaques Gallery signifying membership in the Hall — there will be 351 plaques as of Sunday, including the day’s five new inductees — there’s no disputing that Rose will continue to have places in the building.
ESPN senior writer Don Van Natta Jr. contributed to this report.
CLEVELAND — Baltimore Orioles closer Felix Bautista, who is tied for sixth in the American League with 19 saves, was placed on the 15-day injured list Thursday with right shoulder discomfort.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino said the right-hander felt uncomfortable while stretching in the bullpen Wednesday during a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. Bautista will undergo an MRI when the Orioles return home Friday.
“The (dugout) phone rang in the seventh inning last night and I thought, ‘That is not good,'” Mansolino said. “Then I heard it get slammed down and knew it wasn’t good.
“Félix had started his process of getting loose and that’s when it flared up.”
Bautista did not pitch in the first three games of the series in Cleveland, last seeing action on Sunday at Tampa Bay when he earned his 19th save in 20 opportunities. He missed the entire 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The 30-year-old Dominican has a 1-1 record and 2.60 ERA in 35 appearances, limiting opponents to a .134 batting average over 34 2/3 innings. Bautista has struck out 50 and walked 23.
“We just have to hope it’s not too serious,” Mansolino said.
The Orioles will use a closer-by-committee in the short term with righty setup men Seranthony Dominguez and Yennier Cano at the front of the line.
“We’re going to have to bump up their roles,” Mansolino said. “We’ll figure it out.”
Bautista will not enter free agency until 2028, but is eligible for arbitration following this season. The 6-foot-8, 285-pounder is in the final year of a two-year, $2 million contract.
With the Orioles out of wild-card contention, they are expected to be active sellers before the July 31 trade deadline.
“For as long as I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was play baseball,” Ahmed wrote on social media. “I got to live out my childhood dream and play for a very long time! After 15 professional seasons and over a decade in the big leagues I am officially hanging up my spikes and retiring from playing.”
“To all of the organizations I got to play for… Atlanta, thank you for drafting me! Arizona… calling me up to the big leagues, and believing in me for 10 seasons! SF, LA, SD and TEX… thank you for giving me chances to continue doing what I loved!”
A Gold Glove winner in 2018 and 2019 while playing at shortstop, Ahmed batted .233 with 72 homers and 339 RBIs in 964 career games.
“I will always love the game of baseball,” he added. “I am excited for my next chapter and the [opportunity] to give the best of me to this game that we all love!”