Did anyone play organized sports?

[papsrus]

I am by no means an athlete. But, putting aside the fact that I didn't make the little league team the first time out and so gave up, and putting aside also that I was unsuccessfully recruited by my high school basketball coach (I'm 6-1, and have been since high school) largely because practices took place BEFORE classes began in the morning (zzzzzzzzzz), I have somehow stumbled my way onto two organized sports teams in my life (so far):

1) Pee Wee football. I played tight end. We went undefeated the first year and lost a single game the next. Won the championship both years.

2) Adult in-line hockey team. It was a mish-mash of a league -- no contact, supposedly, but that seemed to vary game to game -- but, we won the championship the only year I played on the team.

In both cases I had very little to do with the outcomes. I was an average player who happened to be on teams with some skilled players. But nonetheless, my claim to fame is that I have never failed to win a championship when I've played organized sports.

(so don't pick me last in pickup basketball, I'm just sayin' ...)

That's my organized sports experience. Anybody else?

[Dan Gould]

Little League from age 8 to 15. I had a great knack for alternating great years with horrible ones - I was an All-Star my first year, then (on the same team with the same coach) dropped from starting third baseman to part-time right fielder. When we moved to CT, I dominated the Comet league, but never made the "Star" league and ended up being a 12 year old in a league made up (almost entirely) of 10 and 11 year olds, and I usually played only the league-mandated minimum number of innings.

The 13-15 league was more of the same, with scattered good days here and there. Did I mention that my deteriorating vision wasn't diagnosed immediately?

Played 1 season of JV tennis. Had a 3-1 match record.

Intramural softball at FSU and Washington University in St. Louis. At FSU, I came up with our team name: The (Undersexed) Sex Gods. Seemed appropriate for most of the players.

At WashU, intramural softball was divided into the "B" and "A" league, so in hopes of winning a championship, the Poli-Sci department fielded an "A" team that was registered in the "B" league. We made it to the Championship game, where in the first inning I attempted to bare hand a hot smash hit to me at third base. It hit my bare hand so hard, I thought it took my ring finger with it into left field. But it only dislocated and fractured the finger. I left for the hospital, we won the game, and I got my long sought after Intramural Champion t-shirt.

Or, as one of my fellow students put it, "Dan got hurt, and then we won," as if there was a cause and effect relationship.

[JSngry]

Little League baseball - played it as a kid, loved it (wasn't very good at it, but loved it anyway), and coached as my son played.

Was recruited for HS track but was in a place & time where music & athletics could not be accommodated into the same schedule. But I dug track back then, and still do now.

No real adult athletics for me, no time when I was semi-fit, and now that arthritis/etc is setting in... I regret not finding the time, actually.

Love the sports, not so fond of the bullshit. But you can get it like that if you' re lucky, and I pretty much was.

[BeBop]

Sport was my first career. I never really made it. And so...

I think the rigor has stuck with me; I'm still up at 2:30AM everyday, and conscientious about what I eat. Okay, fanatical. I train like a dog.

The dominant effect on me, however, would be my utter distaste for spectator sports. The mere thought of watching a baseball, soccer, football...whatever...game repulses me. And, by the way, the first thing I do when I get up at 2:30AM is throw away the sports section.

I still participate and compete. Obviously, fans/spectators are an important financial lifeblood, but I always wonder if they don't really have something better to do than watch me.

Like listen to Trane.

[BeBop]

Sport was my first career. I never really made it. And so...

Or was it music? Makes no difference. Fail is fail. Or flail.

[7/4]

I was in little league baseball, didn't dig it.

dB

[rockefeller center]

I still do. Wouldn't want to miss the joy of losing matches. S§&@! Love this sport!

[Jim Alfredson]

I am one of the most unathletic persons you'll ever meet.

That said, I could run a mile in just over 4 minutes (4:30 or so) in high school. They wanted me to do track, but I was too shy (and too much into going home, putting the headphones on, and either listening or writing or practicing music).

[T.D.]

Little League, Pony League baseball

YMCA basketball, soccer, flag football

Various youth, intramural (college) and adult recreational hockey leagues

Some track, cross-country in Jr. High and HS.

Basketball in the one year I attended a small (international overseas) high school, also a (very) little rugby.

Occasional intramural/adult softball leagues, though I really don't like the game.

Few games in a NYC corporate basketball league (don't dig the game).

Never truly had the team sports mentality, though I really enjoyed playing hockey, and participated in it the most of any sport (until just after 40). As I got older, I got into distance running (marathons), and later cycling (recreational only). Now that I'm middle-aged, feeble and nursing a lot of old injuries, I do some yoga to stay flexible and keep weight down (yeah, I know it seems ridiculous, but it's fairly effective and also promotes a healthy diet).

[Dave James]

Little League, Babe Ruth, High School baseball. Intramural softball and basketball in college. 25 years of slo-pitch, everything from fully sponsored traveling teams to beer league mushball on Sundays. Once played 150 games in a Summer when I was on four different teams and had no life outside of ball. 10 years of ice hockey in the Portland City League. Played mostly defense. Scored 17 goals one season and had a hat trick, but that was as good as it got. In the last few games of my final season I had five teeth knocked out and 70 stitches. That was enough. In my teens, I also played hockey on roller skates. In 1966, when I was 17, the team I was on from the Oaks Park Roller Rink took third place in the country in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was the goalie. Also played tennis pretty seriously for about six years.

I miss team sports a bunch. I'm retiring at the start of next year, so I've been thinking a little about playing some over 60 slo-pitch come next Spring.

Up over and out.

Edited November 26, 2008 by Dave James

[sheldonm]

Little League through High School baseball....high school wrestling (9th & 10th grade).

Lots of basketball/softball since then.

m

[Noj]

I had problems with authority figures, a very short fuse, and a foul-mouthed temper. This led to technical fouls, ejections for throwing helmets, fights, etc. I learned to control it but it soured my reputation with a lot of people. I played basketball (guard), baseball (left field), and football (halfback and safety).

At about 11 I picked up skateboarding and by the time I was 14 I quit all the organized sports to skateboard. I got back into hoops in high school and was furious to not make the team despite being told by the coach that I was his best defender. I actually played my best basketball in my 20s, long after any of the team stuff mattered. There was a long stretch where I shot around every day for my exercise, and I didn't ride my skateboard all that often.

Then at the beginning of this year, skateboarding was calling to me again. I thought, "if I don't do it now, I'll never feel that again." I've been going to a concrete skatepark several times a week all year. No referees. No competition. It really suits me more than any other sport.

[Larry Kart]

Not much since I was a kid (baseball then) except golf, which I think I'll have to give up (lower back/hip/knee problems). But I thought I'd mention that the very good alto saxophonist Andy Fusco (ex-Buddy Rich, has recorded on Criss Cross as a leader and as a frequent sideman with Walt Weiskopf) was an offensive lineman at Syracuse and was drafted by, and played for a while for, the New York Jets. A friend once said to Fusco: "You're probably the only guy to line up against Penn State who knew the changes to 'Stablemates.'"

[Big Wheel]

Not much since I was a kid (baseball then) except golf, which I think I'll have to give up (lower back/hip/knee problems). But I thought I'd mention that the very good alto saxophonist Andy Fusco (ex-Buddy Rich, has recorded on Criss Cross as a leader and as a frequent sideman with Walt Weiskopf) was an offensive lineman at Syracuse and was drafted by, and played for a while for, the New York Jets. A friend once said to Fusco: "You're probably the only guy to line up against Penn State who knew the changes to 'Stablemates.'"

Also probably the only guy in the band not intimidated in the least by Buddy mid-tantrum.

[Jazzmoose]

I played football through junior high. Unfortunately, my 5'9'' heighth in the seventh grade was not a stop on the way, but my final destination. Not much call for midget linemen who aren't that fast anyway...

I lettered in tennis (not exactly a high-glory sport in those days!), playing my junior and senior year, the first years our school had a team. Looking back, I'd say my sucess in the sport was due more to the fact that tennis was just arriving as a known sport to the masses here rather than any ability on my part.

The dominant effect on me, however, would be my utter distaste for spectator sports.

I can relate to a degree. The one sport I enjoy watching is hockey, one I never played. I used to enjoy watching football, spending most of Sunday watching the two games that were broadcast back then. Once I quite playing the game (not just organized, but at all, after college), it seemed like the most retarded activity imaginable.

I'll say this about organized sports: the adults in charge seemed to be having a lot more fun than we were. Most of my good memories about sports involve pick up games rather than any of the organized crap.

Edited November 26, 2008 by Jazzmoose

[JSngry]

Not much since I was a kid (baseball then) except golf, which I think I'll have to give up (lower back/hip/knee problems). But I thought I'd mention that the very good alto saxophonist Andy Fusco (ex-Buddy Rich, has recorded on Criss Cross as a leader and as a frequent sideman with Walt Weiskopf) was an offensive lineman at Syracuse and was drafted by, and played for a while for, the New York Jets. A friend once said to Fusco: "You're probably the only guy to line up against Penn State who knew the changes to 'Stablemates.'"

Also probably the only guy in the band not intimidated in the least by Buddy mid-tantrum.

[papsrus]

I'll say this about organized sports: the adults in charge seemed to be having a lot more fun than we were. Most of my good memories about sports involve pick up games rather than any of the organized crap.

So true. When I was playing inline hockey back about 12 years ago or so, a friend of mine and I went to this empty outdoor high school basketball court on a Sunday morning just to skate around and practice passing a tennis ball around, and all of a sudden a couple of pickup trucks pull up with a bunch of guys and some nets and they all piled out and put on their roller blades and grabbed their hockey sticks and next thing you know we have a full on game going for a couple of hours. People flying all over the place. It was like a beer commercial or something. Out of the blue -- poof -- a pickup game of inline hockey on a basketball court in florida. Only time it ever happened. It was a blast.

[connoisseur series500]

Competitive chess.

Don't laugh. It's as bloodthirsty as boxing.

I'm still trying to get better and imagine I am doing so even at my age....

[connoisseur series500]

Play in USCF rated events. I'm actually ranked in the top 1500 in the country. Would be higher if not for all these immigrants.

Here's the link.

http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?12672331

[Randy Twizzle]

I always liked baseball and had some success in little league, even making an all star team one year. Unfortunately as I got older, I badly needed glasses, but didn't want to wear them or even tell my parents that I needed them. By the time I was a HS sophomore I couldn't see the ball half the time and ended up quitting. . Pop Warner Football was a total disaster. The coaches were sad little men, living out their Vince Lombard fantasy by browbeating 11 year old boys. I hated it and quit after one game. Since I was a third string offensive lineman, nobody noticed or cared, except for the guy who called my home several months after the season ended demanding that I return my uniform.

[Hot Ptah]

I won the Heisman Trophy. Other than that, not much.

[Indestructible!]

I won the Heisman Trophy. Other than that, not much.

Mnytime, is that you???

[Indestructible!]

I think the rigor has stuck with me; I'm still up at 2:30AM everyday, and conscientious about what I eat. Okay, fanatical. I train like a dog.

Damn, man... don't you travel something like 350 days per year? How do you find the time to do all of that training?

Cheers,

Shane

[Jazzmoose]

I won the Heisman Trophy. Other than that, not much.

Mnytime, is that you???

[Jazzmoose]

I think the rigor has stuck with me; I'm still up at 2:30AM everyday, and conscientious about what I eat. Okay, fanatical. I train like a dog.

Damn. At 2:30 AM, all I can do is play dead. Forget practicing 'roll over' or 'fetch'.