Meh, reading the NFL and NBA threads the last week or so, it reminds me that there are some sports I follow that I don't really play, or at least not at any competitive level. So that asks my question, what ORGANIZED sports have/do you play? Anyone who's played has to have some stories of glory won/lost. For me:
Soccer - Let's see, I played soccer for like 8 years. From 6-14 pretty much. Started off playing fullback. Went from being forgotten on the bench in my first game (the coach had to apologized since he played everyone but me) to permanent starter by my third game. That was in the Bahamas with probably all the white kids on the island. :lol They were all European and really good. I played in the 12 and under class, so a lot of kids bigger than me. We went undefeated, won the league and the cup. I scored no goals, but I was the anchor at right fullback. No one got past me. Then again, not many people came near me either. I was all balls and no brains. Just run in, stick my foot in there to stop the ball, and then blast it up field blindly. :lol
When I came to the US, they made me a forward b/c of my speed. I was basic striker, although I would rotate to left and right wing. The last couple of seasons they moved me to midfield. I lacked the dribbling skills needed to be a good striker when I got older, and so my speed and hustle saw me at left mid a lot. I'm a righty by nature, but like most kids, you get good with both legs in soccer, and I was one of the few lefties really. I quit in high school to "rebel" against my folks. Kinda stupid b/c it's the best sport ever. I scored 8 goals in my brief career. Those all came in two seasons though. I scores 2 goals in '89 and 6 in '90, which earned me the most improved player award that year. I wanted the MVP, but I was only the 2nd highest scorer on the team.
My soccer career highlight came in our first playoff game in 1990. We were tied 2-2 late in the game. Pressuring hard in our opponent's zone, I had cycled back to the top of the box while the ball went over to the right sideline. Suddenly, my teammate breaks free and spots me, and sends a nice cross to me from near the right corner. I didn't even trap it since there were guys coming hard from my left. I one-timed it into the top right corner of the net, and I could see the goalie's outstretched hand as he dove to stop it. No chance, it put us up 3-2 for the win like 10 minutes later. Fucking awesome. We then lost two straight games and got ousted, but that was a hell of a shot at a hell of a time.
Baseball - Played for 3 years in hs. This is after quitting soccer. I had played a few games of Little League the year before, but our coach quit on us after like 5 or 6 games of being no-/1-hit.
I swear, I've never seen a coach quit on his team, but this douchebag did. WORST COACH EVER!!! I mean, we had two kids with cancer on our team and everything. We sucked, but we just wanted to play, and that chump walked on us. I'll never forget that since it's the most shameful thing I've ever experienced from a grown-up. That said, in hs I was still bad. I can't hit. I could make brilliant grabs in the field, but also was prone to bonehead mistakes. I think I collected fewer than 5 hits in those 3 seasons. I was actually leadoff man for the first game my sophmore year, but then the coach put me back to 9th by my third at-bat when he realized I was not a game hitter. :lol Had a few nice, diving grabs, but probably close to 20 errors in that span as well. Played all the OF those three years, and also 2B for part of my sophmore year. I skipped my senior year when I could have been a captain, b/c I realized how much baseball sucked. :lol
My baseball career moment was playing against Alex Rodriguez when he was at Westminster. I shook his hand. That's the only thing I did that he would have noticed. He took two strikes from our best pitcher (mid 80's), winked at him and then sent one into the swimming pool in LF. The ump called it foul, eventhough anyone with a set of eyes saw the ball clearly hook around the foul pole. He then roped the next pitch off the fence in CF. Playing baseball at that level with his fucking godlike skill must have been like playing around the world with a bunch of retarded kids. Just no contest. No challenge to him at all. I am still in awe.
Basketball - I did infact play this for one year in 8th grade. I tried out for the team every year, and got cut every year. I only made it my last year b/c I was in 8th grade. The coach was a real prick, but he at least gave the older kids some pity. Anyway, I played all of 5 minutes b/c they were punishing the kids who were failing one year. So I get in there and I was apparently the 2 guard. :lol I say "apparently" b/c I didn't have a clue what positions were or what they each did or anything. I just knew when I got the ball, I'd try to shoot it. :lol So that's what I did...which isn't really what I should have done. We watched the gametape the next week, and they inbounded to me near the 3-point line and I shot it and bricked it off the backboard real nasty. Then I ran around really confused-like for the next few minutes, forgetting when I had to handle the inbound and so hanging down in the paint with my friend at forward. I coulda used a map to find a clue. :lol I think someone then got confused and passed me the ball again, at which point I totally froze. Two guys rushed in to crowd me, and I tried to quickly pass it off my another teammate but one of the guys hit me and fouled me. I fell on my ass and everyone went, "ooooh". So my boys help me up, and I walk nervously to the foul line. All of a sudden, my best friends Val and Jerry get up and start chanting, "L! L! L! L! L!". I'd given myself the nickname L Capone that year, and so they started chanting it and throwing up the "L" sign with their hands. All of a sudden, all our fans are doing it, and then the whole place is going nuts. This is before the ref even gives me the ball. I have no shot, so I take the ball, bounce it nervously a couple of times...man, this thing got extra air in it or something? Pause...look up *silence* shoot..........swish....nothing but air. "OH!" from the stands. I am about to fucking cry inside, but I'm smiling on the outside. They chant again, he gives me the ball and I bounce it more confidently this time. Look up *silence* shoot.....*CLANG*. No happy ending, no fantastic finish. I airballed the first, and bricked the second. Then the coach benched me and I never played another minute the entire season. Oh well, I really do suck as basketball, so I understand why he did it.
I've gotten much better at hoops lately. My handle still sucks, but it'll let my take it to the hole if I see an opening or if I'm in transition. I'm just not gonna create seperation on my own just yet. I still have no shot, but that's all practice...which I never do.
OK, I think this has been long enough. It's a lame excuse for me to brag about the little sports competition I've had in my life. What's everyone else done to feed their sports jones growing up? PEACE.
Soccer - Let's see, I played soccer for like 8 years. From 6-14 pretty much. Started off playing fullback. Went from being forgotten on the bench in my first game (the coach had to apologized since he played everyone but me) to permanent starter by my third game. That was in the Bahamas with probably all the white kids on the island. :lol They were all European and really good. I played in the 12 and under class, so a lot of kids bigger than me. We went undefeated, won the league and the cup. I scored no goals, but I was the anchor at right fullback. No one got past me. Then again, not many people came near me either. I was all balls and no brains. Just run in, stick my foot in there to stop the ball, and then blast it up field blindly. :lol
When I came to the US, they made me a forward b/c of my speed. I was basic striker, although I would rotate to left and right wing. The last couple of seasons they moved me to midfield. I lacked the dribbling skills needed to be a good striker when I got older, and so my speed and hustle saw me at left mid a lot. I'm a righty by nature, but like most kids, you get good with both legs in soccer, and I was one of the few lefties really. I quit in high school to "rebel" against my folks. Kinda stupid b/c it's the best sport ever. I scored 8 goals in my brief career. Those all came in two seasons though. I scores 2 goals in '89 and 6 in '90, which earned me the most improved player award that year. I wanted the MVP, but I was only the 2nd highest scorer on the team.
My soccer career highlight came in our first playoff game in 1990. We were tied 2-2 late in the game. Pressuring hard in our opponent's zone, I had cycled back to the top of the box while the ball went over to the right sideline. Suddenly, my teammate breaks free and spots me, and sends a nice cross to me from near the right corner. I didn't even trap it since there were guys coming hard from my left. I one-timed it into the top right corner of the net, and I could see the goalie's outstretched hand as he dove to stop it. No chance, it put us up 3-2 for the win like 10 minutes later. Fucking awesome. We then lost two straight games and got ousted, but that was a hell of a shot at a hell of a time.
Baseball - Played for 3 years in hs. This is after quitting soccer. I had played a few games of Little League the year before, but our coach quit on us after like 5 or 6 games of being no-/1-hit.
I swear, I've never seen a coach quit on his team, but this douchebag did. WORST COACH EVER!!! I mean, we had two kids with cancer on our team and everything. We sucked, but we just wanted to play, and that chump walked on us. I'll never forget that since it's the most shameful thing I've ever experienced from a grown-up. That said, in hs I was still bad. I can't hit. I could make brilliant grabs in the field, but also was prone to bonehead mistakes. I think I collected fewer than 5 hits in those 3 seasons. I was actually leadoff man for the first game my sophmore year, but then the coach put me back to 9th by my third at-bat when he realized I was not a game hitter. :lol Had a few nice, diving grabs, but probably close to 20 errors in that span as well. Played all the OF those three years, and also 2B for part of my sophmore year. I skipped my senior year when I could have been a captain, b/c I realized how much baseball sucked. :lolMy baseball career moment was playing against Alex Rodriguez when he was at Westminster. I shook his hand. That's the only thing I did that he would have noticed. He took two strikes from our best pitcher (mid 80's), winked at him and then sent one into the swimming pool in LF. The ump called it foul, eventhough anyone with a set of eyes saw the ball clearly hook around the foul pole. He then roped the next pitch off the fence in CF. Playing baseball at that level with his fucking godlike skill must have been like playing around the world with a bunch of retarded kids. Just no contest. No challenge to him at all. I am still in awe.
Basketball - I did infact play this for one year in 8th grade. I tried out for the team every year, and got cut every year. I only made it my last year b/c I was in 8th grade. The coach was a real prick, but he at least gave the older kids some pity. Anyway, I played all of 5 minutes b/c they were punishing the kids who were failing one year. So I get in there and I was apparently the 2 guard. :lol I say "apparently" b/c I didn't have a clue what positions were or what they each did or anything. I just knew when I got the ball, I'd try to shoot it. :lol So that's what I did...which isn't really what I should have done. We watched the gametape the next week, and they inbounded to me near the 3-point line and I shot it and bricked it off the backboard real nasty. Then I ran around really confused-like for the next few minutes, forgetting when I had to handle the inbound and so hanging down in the paint with my friend at forward. I coulda used a map to find a clue. :lol I think someone then got confused and passed me the ball again, at which point I totally froze. Two guys rushed in to crowd me, and I tried to quickly pass it off my another teammate but one of the guys hit me and fouled me. I fell on my ass and everyone went, "ooooh". So my boys help me up, and I walk nervously to the foul line. All of a sudden, my best friends Val and Jerry get up and start chanting, "L! L! L! L! L!". I'd given myself the nickname L Capone that year, and so they started chanting it and throwing up the "L" sign with their hands. All of a sudden, all our fans are doing it, and then the whole place is going nuts. This is before the ref even gives me the ball. I have no shot, so I take the ball, bounce it nervously a couple of times...man, this thing got extra air in it or something? Pause...look up *silence* shoot..........swish....nothing but air. "OH!" from the stands. I am about to fucking cry inside, but I'm smiling on the outside. They chant again, he gives me the ball and I bounce it more confidently this time. Look up *silence* shoot.....*CLANG*. No happy ending, no fantastic finish. I airballed the first, and bricked the second. Then the coach benched me and I never played another minute the entire season. Oh well, I really do suck as basketball, so I understand why he did it.
I've gotten much better at hoops lately. My handle still sucks, but it'll let my take it to the hole if I see an opening or if I'm in transition. I'm just not gonna create seperation on my own just yet. I still have no shot, but that's all practice...which I never do.
OK, I think this has been long enough. It's a lame excuse for me to brag about the little sports competition I've had in my life. What's everyone else done to feed their sports jones growing up? PEACE.
