Best athlete you played with or against

Very good soccer player, he was also a provincial MVP rugby player.

 

I played Little League baseball against Brian McAnn, the Braves catcher. Got a double off him in the city tournament, in fact. I know that because my dad was our team's scorekeeper and he kept all the scorebooks from when I was in LL. What's funny is that his older brother was always a much better athlete, at least as I remember it. Don't know whatever happened to him though.

Also, I played pickup basketball with Woody Harrelson once. He came by our college to give a speech about hemp (no joke) and stopped by the Rec to play basketball beforehand. He wasn't very good, but you could tell he was probably decent when he was younger, in his White Men Can't Jump days.

 

Just can't resist this one ...

As a kid (17, I think) I was lucky enough to play goal in a Sabres pre-camp skate for a week. Very informal, but still ...

What a great experience -- Gil Perreault, Tony McKegney, Mike Foligno, Lindy Ruff, JF Sauve, Richie Dunn ... and a bunch more I couldn't remember. All of these NHLers, with me and another guy in nets. I was this wide-eyed kid trying not to show how awed (and scared) I really was!

Well, anyway, once the scrimmage started, they basically spent the first day's skate shooting at my pads ... even "stopped" Perreault on a breakaway. On the second day Bob Sauve showed up, so the goalies worked a three-man rotation, and I got put in my place. I got scored on from EVERY which way, from every angle imaginable. Perreault made me look stupid with an unimaginable deke.

So when Sauve takes me out, he puts his arm around me, and with his thick French dialect says, "Don't worry about those fah-king ass-holes ... You play good!"

Bless you Bobby! Still one of the classiest men in hockey!

 

Played in our club league against Kenny Dennard ('78 Duke with Gminski, Nuggets, etc.) and he was at least 60 lbs over his playing weight but watching the way he moved and finished at the rim, you just knew what a difference the NBA was, "WOW!!"

Played LL with a former ML 1st Round pick, Alex Sanchez (UCLA, Blue Jays), I was a 12 yr old 2 time all-star, he was just 9. He was such a stud he immediately started in CF for us and my buddy and I (SS and 2b) were similarly saying "Wow, what a stud.)

 

I played high-school football two years in a row against LaMont Jordan—running back for the Oakland Raiders.

He killed us both years, over 150 yards I think, but I tackled him a few times playing cornerback. We even knocked him out of the game for a brief period my senior year.

 

James "Little Man" Stewart ran all over us.

Buddy of mine to this day once a weeks says "You remember when I tackled Little Man Stewart on kickoff coverage?"


I say, "Dude, it was 20 years ago. Let it go."

 

The star pitcher on my high school baseball team was Tony Ferreira, who was drafted by the Royals in 1981. He played a few games in 1985 before getting traded. He then bounced around the minors before blowing his arm out.

I was in the same graduating class as former All-Pro cornerback Mark Collins.

Played on the same court as Reggie and Cheryl Miller, at a little park called The Settlement in Riverside, CA.

 

A former teammate of mine was a Big 10 javelin champ at Penn State who went on to win a long drive championship several years later. But since that's not that great...

A good friend of mine grew up in South Jersey and played football, hoops and track. In the latter, he competed against Donovin Darius (Syracuse/Jacksonville safety). After some minor statistical analysis, it was discovered that Darius running the 400 hurdles would have beaten my friend (a D-III football player) in the 400, sans the hurdles.

 

As a defensive end, I was run over by Rob Konrad on the football field my freshman year of high school. Still have the cleat marks.

 

This'll tell you:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2977687

 

How is Al Bundy doing these days?

 

Grew up with Jermaine Phillips (safety for Tampa Bay).
Dude was unstoppable in basketball from the time he was 8 all the way through high school.

Also grew up with Scott Pohlman, who was a four-year starter on the Auburn basketball team.
Kid torched Doug Gottlieb and OSU for 31 in the NCAA Tournament in 2000.

Didn't really play against any big-name baseball guys even though there are a bunch from the area.
Only one that comes to mind is Bobby Scales, who is currently in Triple A for the Phillies.