The Swamp

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 11:50 am Shaq and Kobe are probably it for me. In college, I saw Iverson, Ray Allen, and Kerry Kittles.

For hockey, there were a significant list of choices from the late 1990's-early 2000's Red Wings.

I pretty much ruled out any Kentucky player since I started college as I would wager I've seen all of the possible answers live on multiple occasions.

College BB --- Derrick Rose

Pro BB --- Lebron

MLB -- prob Sammy Sosa in his prime before the juicing - (Barry Larkin was also an amazing athlete and saw him a ton). Deion Sanders when he was with the Reds would be prob be on this list. Athletes. I did see the Big Red Machine guys back in the day. Oooo, maybe Eric Davis should be number one here.

NFL -- Anthony Munoz (great player version of interpretation of this question). Did see Peyton Manning. Did see Dan Marino.

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:09 pm Shaq is a giant and seeing him from that close distance against other NBA players emphasized it, but Priest Lauderdale of the Nuggets was bigger (listed 7'4", 325). It was mind-blowing to see a human that size from less than 20 feet.

I was in the same room as Shaq (dressed in street clothes) back in 2011. He was still playing so in much better shape than now. You aren’t kidding about how insanely huge he is up close — legitimately looked like a different species of human. Also it was funny because he was with a girlfriend who was probably like 5’5”, 130.

NCAA BB: Vince. Stackhouse. Wallace. Overflowing with riches.

NFL: Brady

MLB: Pedro. Saw vintage Pedro beat old Roger in the ALCS. And saw vintage Roger a fair amount growing up.

NBA: Isiah Thomas (the other one) had the best performance ive seen live. Garden was a tough ticket. Seem to recall watching the Globetrotters a lot more than the Cs.

Yeah I saw Shaq at Turner a few years back. Very large human.

Michaels Jordan and Johnson

Using TurdRyan’s up close “whoa this guy is different” metric rookie year Manny Machado stands out.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:38 pm College BB --- Derrick Rose

Pro BB --- Lebron

MLB -- prob Sammy Sosa in his prime before the juicing - (Barry Larkin was also an amazing athlete and saw him a ton). Deion Sanders when he was with the Reds would be prob be on this list. Athletes. I did see the Big Red Machine guys back in the day. Oooo, maybe Eric Davis should be number one here.

NFL -- Anthony Munoz (great player version of interpretation of this question). Did see Peyton Manning. Did see Dan Marino.

Totally forgot I saw Deion play at FSU. He was amazing, and definitely makes this list for me. At UF, Jevon Kearse was a freak, as was Bluegrass Badass, Brad Wilkerson.

A_B wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:15 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 11:50 am Shaq and Kobe are probably it for me. In college, I saw Iverson, Ray Allen, and Kerry Kittles.

For hockey, there were a significant list of choices from the late 1990's-early 2000's Red Wings.

I pretty much ruled out any Kentucky player since I started college as I would wager I've seen all of the possible answers live on multiple occasions.

They came to Syracuse while I was in school (and left with a loss), but their best on that team was Tony Delk.

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:08 pm

A_B wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:15 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 11:50 am Shaq and Kobe are probably it for me. In college, I saw Iverson, Ray Allen, and Kerry Kittles.

For hockey, there were a significant list of choices from the late 1990's-early 2000's Red Wings.

I pretty much ruled out any Kentucky player since I started college as I would wager I've seen all of the possible answers live on multiple occasions.

They came to Syracuse while I was in school (and left with a loss), but their best on that team was Tony Delk.

He's my all-time favorite player.

If I were to rank UK players by pure athleticism I'd probably have to put Kalenna Azuibike and Alex Poythress near the top (I never saw Mashburn). Ron Mercer was pretty good, too.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:12 pm I played soccer and baseball against a deaf kid that was easily the best athlete I've seen up close. Curtis Pride. He had a decent run in the League, but he might actually have been a better soccer player. He was on the national team's radar, having been called up for a few youth tournaments in the mid-80s. I think he also played varsity basketball. In fact, if memory served, he played basketball in college, before leaving to go pro in baseball.

=-=-=
Here's Curtis hitting a dinger for the Yankees.

Okay so never heard of him but a quick google....Wow.

mister d wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:26 pm Using TurdRyan’s up close “whoa this guy is different” metric rookie year Manny Machado stands out.

Completely slipped my mind until I read this, but I just posted a few weeks ago about sitting second row directly behind Dominik Hasek's net. While he was great, it was more a spectacle of bizarre form and acrobatics on a Cirque Du Soleil level, even on what should have been routine saves. It was always fun to watch him on TV, but from that close, it was truly incredible.

Speaking of Smits, and I know I've told this before, but I was standing next to him while he was sitting near the locker room. His hands were right near my face, and it was freak show spooky seeing hands that large. I also remember being creeped out by his enormous knees. they just looked so strange.

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:18 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 12:12 pm I played soccer and baseball against a deaf kid that was easily the best athlete I've seen up close. Curtis Pride. He had a decent run in the League, but he might actually have been a better soccer player. He was on the national team's radar, having been called up for a few youth tournaments in the mid-80s. I think he also played varsity basketball. In fact, if memory served, he played basketball in college, before leaving to go pro in baseball.

=-=-=
Here's Curtis hitting a dinger for the Yankees.

Okay so never heard of him but a quick google....Wow.

I don't know how much you know about MD high school soccer, but he single-handedly took Kennedy to the state finals (85 or 86). Their entire tactic was putting him in space and he was simply too fast for anyone to cover.

Kennedy was (and remains) a team that routinely missed the playoffs, let alone made runs at a title. It was remarkable to watch, quite frankly. He had that team in the final 4 or championship game every year but his freshmen.

For like, LIVE live it's Steve Breaston. That dude was otherworldly in high school.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:30 pm

mister d wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:26 pm Using TurdRyan’s up close “whoa this guy is different” metric rookie year Manny Machado stands out.

Completely slipped my mind until I read this, but I just posted a few weeks ago about sitting second row directly behind Dominik Hasek's net. While he was great, it was more a spectacle of bizarre form and acrobatics on a Cirque Du Soleil level, even on what should have been routine saves. It was always fun to watch him on TV, but from that close, it was truly incredible.

Speaking of Smits, and I know I've told this before, but I was standing next to him while he was sitting near the locker room. His hands were right near my face, and it was freak show spooky seeing hands that large. I also remember being creeped out by his enormous knees. they just looked so strange.

Have had the pleasure of meeting Rik twice. Once was at a concert. Just crazy how tall he is. He also attends, or did, tons of car swap meets around central Indiana. My friend's dad always got a big kick out of Smits exiting these super small cars.

Tom Brady.

Saw him methodically destroy the Bills a half dozen or so times.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2020 4:10 pm

This is what I had in mind when I posted.

Danny Ainge, '79 (?) Blue Jays - exhibition stadium.

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:37 am Danny Ainge, '79 (?) Blue Jays - exhibition stadium.

Not Georges Laraque?

(I hope I'm not misremembering that one)

HA :D

your memory of my memories is better than my own memory.

yeah that was me haha.


ok let me think of this seriously for a minute... it's a tough question to define i guess.

Dominik Hasek - too many "how the...." moments in person

Sidney Crosby was the most immediately-recognizably-dominant player i've seen and this in junior - as in...if you'd never watched a hockey game in your life, you would 100% notice this kid literally the minute he stepped on the ice. it was insane. not sure whatever happened to him after that tho.

Bo Jackson is such a cliche. but. i remember a game at Fenway, i must have been in college - i was sitting down the left field stands, right in that part where it juts out (this was before RED SOX NATION (annoying) so tickets were easy and fng cheap). he was up and absolutely ripped a ball right at us - i naively tried to - ahem - catch it with my hat. yeah that didn't work out so well - that ball would have killed me haha.

(i didn't even end up with the ball.)

not really a direct answer but in a team-sense...i was at BC when Georgetown had (if i'm remembering this right) like Mutumbo and Mourning? someone else maybe... anyways BC had a rough team around 1990, v young, and all i remember is a complete circus of alley-oops and fast breaks. it was a mismatch (we might have upset them the next year at home, right when they had Curley/Abrams/Huckaby etc as freshmen, went pretty deep the next few years).

my first-ever football game as a little kid (irresponsible parents dragging me as maybe a 5yr old to a night game haha) i saw OJ, does that count?

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:26 am i saw OJ, does that count?

This is Al Michaels. Lest anybody believe that is someone who was actually there, he said something indicative of a certain radio host.

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:37 am Danny Ainge, '79 (?) Blue Jays - exhibition stadium.

Heh. I actually have a distinct memory of seeing Danny Ainge in a game at Exhibition Stadium in 1979.

My god the Blue Jays were terrible then. They gave up 11 runs in one inning to lose 16-12.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxe ... 8060.shtml

maybe we were at the same game ha. I know we would hit a few each year for a while.

ye the Jays were special-awful in the Roy Hartsfield era. My first game/s there were in their first year maybe? was a scheduled doubleheader v the Red Sox, Sox swept in 2 blowout shutouts. I was v little and just remember eating a shittonne of food and my dad buying me like 5 team magnets, it was awesome. although even in retrospect the "souvenir stands" for an MLB team were almost literally high school level. was a cart in the hallway.

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 9:12 am

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:37 am Danny Ainge, '79 (?) Blue Jays - exhibition stadium.

Heh. I actually have a distinct memory of seeing Danny Ainge in a game at Exhibition Stadium in 1979.

My god the Blue Jays were terrible then. They gave up 11 runs in one inning to lose 16-12.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxe ... 8060.shtml

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 9:34 am maybe we were at the same game ha. I know we would hit a few each year for a while.

ye the Jays were special-awful in the Roy Hartsfield era. My first game/s there were in their first year maybe? was a scheduled doubleheader v the Red Sox, Sox swept in 2 blowout shutouts. I was v little and just remember eating a shittonne of food and my dad buying me like 5 team magnets, it was awesome. although even in retrospect the "souvenir stands" for an MLB team were almost literally high school level. was a cart in the hallway.

That team suited the stadium - definitely not major league calibre.

I should have remembered that I saw Reggie Jackson a bunch when he played for the A's in the early 70's.

I saw Danny Ainge play for BYU at the CSU gym. He was pretty good.

I saw Marshall Faulk when he was in college.

I got murdered in long jump by John Moffitt and by Walter Davis in triple jump at an indoor meet in college. Moffitt won silver in the olympics two years later and Davis was the world champion in triple jump a year after that.