Better than you

duff · Post by **duff** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:23 pm

Going off of the MLB thread, list the best players you played against.

Baseball: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minor ... ban-001jef" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 1st rounder, but that is it. His dad was one of my HS football coaches.
Basketball: http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... sbo01.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eal01.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - They both were outstanding in HS.
Football: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... riBr20.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - although it was in a summer basketball league. Can't think of any others from football.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:06 pm

Outdoor Soccer based on actual success
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_Cooks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Thornton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (but this was a campers v. coaches thing at soccer camp)

Outdoor Soccer based on potential that got derailed due to Cancer
http://www.virginiasports.com/sports/m- ... rel52.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/cont ... w/3064/32/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Indoor Soccer
http://220digital.com/samples/blastwww/ ... ntoro.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lacrosse (I have played against a fair number of Hall of Famers, Pros, All World, and All Americans):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gait" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pickup Basketball during NBA Strike (the game was not very long)
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... oga01.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Post by **brian** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:16 pm

I never played against anyone good in anything other than Derek Jeter in baseball. I'm not even sure I even played against any D-I football players during two years of high school. At best someone who played for like Grand Valley State maybe.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:26 pm

I don't think anyone ever did anything of note. There was a guy named Dan Smith who went undefeated in 4 years of wrestling in high school - 4 time state champ; 4 time New England champ. Somehow, dude was such a good athlete that he played #1 singles for his school's tennis team his senior year. I think he got maybe 2 games in 3 matches against me but I realize this doesn't count and he would have broken my neck in a fight.

Some guy I played from another high school is one of the lead pros at Bolletieri now.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:33 pm

Elton Brand was in my conference, but that might have been the year after I graduated, and I didn't play basketball. He was very good.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:43 pm

Never competed against anyone that talented.

Closest I can claim is to having got drunk a couple of times with members of the McGill Hockey team which included Mike Babcock.

Nice guy.

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:15 pm

Pruitt wrote:Never competed against anyone that talented.

Closest I can claim is to having got drunk a couple of times with members of the McGill Hockey team which included Mike Babcock.

Nice guy.

holy fuck, you're old.

Post by **Shirley** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:31 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote:Lacrosse (I have played against a fair number of Hall of Famers, Pros, All World, and All Americans):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gait" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's pretty awesome. It's going to be hard for anyone to beat playing with someone widely considered the greatest in his sport's history. How and when did you play against Gary Gait? And what about Paul?

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:54 pm

Bill Cartwright in hoops. Will Venable's dad, Max in baseball. Yeah, I'm old.

Dave Sax in baseball too, but more notable, Steve Sax would've caused me to be cut from the Legion team, but the brothers decided to play on a different team that year. Notable because I was 18, Steve was 15 (and clearly better than me.)

(same Legion team Pedroia played on like 50 years later.)

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:09 am

cerrano wrote:
Pruitt wrote:Never competed against anyone that talented.

Closest I can claim is to having got drunk a couple of times with members of the McGill Hockey team which included Mike Babcock.

Nice guy.
holy fuck, you're old.

As the mirror told me this morning.

One day son, you will know the agony of seeing the hot girls from your high school start to resemble how you remember your great aunts looking when you were a kid.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:26 am

Pruitt wrote:
cerrano wrote:
Pruitt wrote:Never competed against anyone that talented.

Closest I can claim is to having got drunk a couple of times with members of the McGill Hockey team which included Mike Babcock.

Nice guy.
holy fuck, you're old.
As the mirror told me this morning.

One day son, you will know the agony of seeing the hot girls from your high school start to resemble how you remember your great aunts looking when you were a kid.

That's why cerrano is a HS teacher.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:34 am

Missed Matt Bonner by one year - that's pretty much it

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:47 am

Shirley wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:Lacrosse (I have played against a fair number of Hall of Famers, Pros, All World, and All Americans):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gait" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
That's pretty awesome. It's going to be hard for anyone to beat playing with someone widely considered the greatest in his sport's history. How and when did you play against Gary Gait? And what about Paul?

Vail Lacrosse Shootout. Their team was stacked. On that team alone there were 5 or 6 members of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 7:50 am

I played against a couple of guys who went on to play tennis at UK, but I think they both flamed out after a year or two. Played OK against one them and the other destroyed me badly.

Same thing in baseball, there was one guy who went to play college ball but it didn't take.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 8:30 am

howard wrote:Will Venable's dad, Max in baseball. Yeah, I'm old.

Max Venable being called Will's dad makes me feel old.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 8:31 am

Ryan wrote:Missed Ma... Bo...ner by one year - that's pretty much it

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 8:32 am

And can we please fix the typo in the subject before I have an aneurysm?

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:02 am

mister d wrote:And can we please fix the typo in the subject before I have an aneurysm?

Better then you're?

Post by **Sabo** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:31 am

mister d wrote:And can we please fix the typo in the subject before I have an aneurysm?

You're welcome, Mr. OCD.

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 4:03 pm

mister d wrote:And can we please fix the typo in the subject before I have an aneurysm?

check the subject in the post i am currently quoting. mwahahahahaha.

eta: or this post. if you're quoting a post under the original spelling in the subject, it keeps the original spelling, even after the spelling has been corrected. weird.

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 4:07 pm

I was on my junior high basketball team that had a year older than me Darrin Horn as the star. Although I only played in mop up time in like 3 or 4 games and didn't make the team the next year, so I didn't play against or with him much.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 9:45 am

I don't have a terrible impressive list.

Soccer - In high school, I played against Rob Ukrop, who went on to lead the NCAA in scoring one year while taking Davidson to the Final Four. He played a lot of second-tier pro soccer and had a cup of coffee in the MLS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ukrop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In summer league, being in Charlottesville, I played against a bunch of UVA players, including Tony Meola and even Bruce Arena. I scored on Arena when he was in goal.

Lacrosse - I played against and with (a little) a number of pro players and college all americans in various club tournaments, but I can't remember names.

Basketball - I played pickup ball one night at my gym with former Michigan star LaVell Blanchard. I blocked his shot once (from behind. He picked up the loose ball and dunked it.).

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:03 am

Football would be Steve Breaston, who stood out on a team with 5 or so future NFL players on it. He was insane.

That was a JV game but the most ridiculous run I've ever seen.

Didn't play baseball long enough to play anybody good, Drew Schifino was the best basketball player but got kicked out of WVU and probably would have made the NBA if he hadn't, and nobody from the track meets ever went on to be recognizable.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:04 am

I got one for you, Shirley. Remember Doug Smith, a 3-point shooter who came off the bench for the UVA Brian Stith team? He lit me up in a pickup game at the Y one day; after that I knew better than to try and check him. I had seen him do the same to Nick Van Exel in a tourney game, so I didn't feel that bad.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:11 am

howard wrote:I got one for you, Shirley. Remember Doug Smith, a 3-point shooter who came off the bench for the UVA Brian Stith team? He lit me up in a pickup game at the Y one day; after that I knew better than to try and check him. I had seen him do the same to Nick Van Exel in a tourney game, so I didn't feel that bad.

I do remember Doug Smith. I thought he was a bit after the Stith and Crotty years though. He came through Juco, right?

Looking him up... ah, THAT guy. I was thinking of a different dude (Devin Smith). Yeah, Doug Smith backed up Crotty, but I seem to remember that he was pretty good. Quick.

So you got lit up by a little (relatively) white dude, huh? It happens.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:17 am

I was about 38 yo at the time, it was one of those moments I was forced to recognize that age is more than just a number.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:49 am

So not the Doug Smith who was the power forward version of Big Daddy Kane?

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:46 am

Baseball - Played with a guy that had a cup of coffee with the Reds (Keith Gordon). The fact that he was barely MLB-caliber has always stood as a reminder of just how good those guys are. Keith was fucking RIDICULOUS in all aspects of the game. He once got fooled on a looping curveball to the extent he'd already planted his front foot and begun his hip torque, and with just his arms and upper body hit the ball over the rightfield fence, which was about 340 if I recall.

Soccer - I played with or against a bunch of guys who kicked around in professional indoor soccer (Irad Young, Dewan Bader), and a few guys that had stints in MLS (AJ Wood (asshole) and Dante Washington come to mind). The most notable guy was Dennis Hamlet who played for Chicago and then I think coached for awhile. ETA - Played on a coed team with a guy named Shawn Kuykendall, who was an incredible guy, who died of cancer about a year ago. It got a lot of pub because he was so well-liked and well-known in the soccer community and he chronicled his experience, so a lot of people became vested.

My Over 30 team was full of guys that played USL, A-League or other rough equivalents. When we made our run to the national semi-finals, we played a team that was rumored to have Tab Ramos on the roster, but that wound up being bunk. Oh, we played a team with Phillip Gyua on it. He was ridiculous, his supporting cast was terrible.

Basketball - Went to college with and once played pick-up against Andy Endfield, who is now the head coach at USC. He's the guy that coached FGCU to string of March Madness wins... and has a hot wife.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:03 pm

I'm on a plain. I can't complain.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:55 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote:AJ Wood (asshole)

I remember his name growing up. So I googled him. Interesting that at UVA he was never 1st or 2nd team all american but was Soccer America Player of the Year. Wonder if that goes to some of your commentary on him.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 1:11 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote:
Nonlinear FC wrote:AJ Wood (asshole)
I remember his name growing up. So I googled him. Interesting that at UVA he was never 1st or 2nd team all american but was Soccer America Player of the Year. Wonder if that goes to some of your commentary on him.

To be fair to him, I only interacted with him one time. It was a summer league game while I was home from college. I was asked last minute by one of my high school buddies to play because they were "playing a stacked team" and their regular goalie wasn't really up to the task.

These guys were just pricks. It's a silly summer league and these guys are taking it WAY too seriously and more importantly running their mouths non-stop. So, being me, I start talking back. Game is still level pretty deep in the game (I'm having a pretty good game, fwiw) until their forward, who had been talking the most shit, turns our CB around, takes another touch and slams it into the side netting. Nice goal, tip my hat to him.

Forward: "I fucking TOLD you I'd put one past you!"

Me: "..." "WTF... Where do you go to school?"

Douche: "UVA... Full ride, baby."
His teammate: *laughs in my face* "That's AJ WOOD, dude!"

Me: "I'm super impressed. And I'm sure your coaches would be really proud of their star player acting like a fucking asshole in a meaningless game. Stay classy A.Hole."

That earned me a yellow. Well worth it. He played at G. Prep, and I assume his team was full of private school dudes. No offense to any swampers that went that route, but in the DC area, those guys can be the absolute worst.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:37 pm

Just a lucky goal.

TT2.0 · Post by **TT2.0** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 2:23 am

Brandon backe and stephen drew in baseball, david price in poker. In the poker world, chris ferguson, paul quack quack mcgrill, craig marquis and once briefly mike matusow for 20ish minutes.

Post by **Shirley** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 9:50 am

wlu_lax6 wrote:
Nonlinear FC wrote:AJ Wood (asshole)
I remember his name growing up. So I googled him. Interesting that at UVA he was never 1st or 2nd team all american but was Soccer America Player of the Year. Wonder if that goes to some of your commentary on him.

I remember him at UVA. He was a pretty good goal scorer during a time that UVA was pretty dominant. It's possible that he missed games to play with the national team. That happens a lot with elite players and then the year-end awards can get weird. Some factor in the lower stats due to missing games for a "good" reason and some don't. A similar thing happened this year with Morgan Brian at UVA. She missed something like a third of the season playing with the national team, but still won some college awards.

testuser2 · Post by **testuser2** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:15 am

Soccer:
Brett Conway - played on some rec soccer teams while he was a football kicker. Didn't move, but could shoot from anywhere.

Wrestling:
Wade Miller - He was a much better baseball player than a wrestler.
Cary Kolat - Undefeated (137-0) record and four Pennsylvania state titles. During this time he was named Outstanding Wrestler four times at state meets, an honor no one else had achieved even twice. I had him in the 2nd round of an offseason tournament. I don't think he even warmed up first.

The Swamp

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