I got worked in a 4x200m leg by Bernard Williams, and blown off the track in workouts by Pascal Dobert and Balazs Koranyi. But only one of those guys is a big deal, and it's track so there's not much of a story beyond "Bernard Williams got the baton in front of me and handed it off to his teammates much further in front of me."

But the team I coach has to deal with a kid who just ran the best Penn relays 400m split in years at 45.09, and just set the US all-time #3 for freshmen at 46.really-low. When he races, it looks like somebody has edited so he's moving faster than everybody else. Like, it almost literally looks fake. Lots of freshmen prodigies don't pan out, obviously - but if the standard here is "legend" and not "NCAA All-American" or "Olympian" or something similarly tangible then this guy is pretty much already a legend. Obea Moore knows that doing something amazing at Penn Relays means you'll be remembered forever.

Anyhow, beating him is probably impossible. Beating his team will take a lot of good luck. But I bet a few of my kids will be telling people they lost to Quincy Wilson in a few years.

All of whom could be described as useful role players.

Played against Jon Nunnally all through youth baseball and high school. He was pretty legendary as a kid. Rumor was he hit 90 on the gun as a 13 year old, but he only rarely pitched, because his coaches realized that wasn't really fair, and plus he was pretty wild and children may have died. He was a beast in high school too, but when I pitched against him then I didn't have too much problem with him, I think just because I'd been playing against him since we were 10 and wasn't intimidated because I'd seen him so often. So my major athletic claim to fame is that I struck out a future runner-up MLB rookie of the year many times. Of course, he also may have hit a few into the next county...

Played against Eric Owens a tiny bit, in summer leagues. Don't really remember him very well, because he sort of was just really good, but not freakishly athletic or so obviously MLB-bound as a teenager.

In college I ran against John Crotty in pickup games a couple of times, but I was terrible at basketball so not really "played against" but "happened to be on the same court at the same time because one side needed a warm body to occasionally inbound the ball and otherwise stay the hell out the way."

Yet the best player I ever played on the same field with, on the same team for a couple of years, was Al Shirley. He was astonishingly good at baseball as a 14-15 year old. Big, ripped, unbelievably fast, massive power, cannon arm, and a really funny, nice kid. I remember standing in the on-deck circle (he was cleanup, I hit 5th) in some youth league game when he hit a shot to left-center that conservatively went 450. As a 14-year-old. And I remember thinking then, okay, so that's what real major-league talent looks like. And then: man, I don't have anywhere near that talent. Both awe-inspiring and dream-crushing.

But I don't know what happened to him. I know he got a full ride to play linebacker at UVA, but he also got drafted first round by (I think) the Mets, in maybe '92? '93? Can't be bothered to check right now. So he went into the Mets system, and then vanished. Injuries maybe, or just didn't have the focus. I guess raw talent only takes you so far. But he was the single best player I ever played with or against, and certainly a legend in our little hometown.

>And I remember thinking then, okay, so
>that's what real major-league talent looks like. And then:
>man, I don't have anywhere near that talent. Both
>awe-inspiring and dream-crushing.

I was pretty oblivious to the distinction between me and somebody like that until I was in later high-school. And then I was in denial about it.

Regarding the "might have killed a kid" pitcher, we had one of those too. He actually played in the NBA for a little while, Lonny Baxter. But he only pitched for our little league team in very rare appearances, one of which made a kid cry and refuse to finish the at bat.

>I was pretty oblivious to the distinction between me and
>somebody like that until I was in later high-school. And then
>I was in denial about it.

I was used to being the best or second-best player on every team I'd ever been on, and if you ranked that 14/15 YO squad 1-10, I'd be like a 9, 9.5. But Al came along and was about a 30. Just worlds beyond.

Even a couple of years later, playing Legion ball and coming up against guys who had already been drafted or had a year of D1 under their belt, never saw that kind of talent disparity again. Really wish I knew why he fizzled out.

>Regarding the "might have killed a kid" pitcher, we had one of
>those too. He actually played in the NBA for a little while,
>Lonny Baxter. But he only pitched for our little league team
>in very rare appearances, one of which made a kid cry and
>refuse to finish the at bat.

That's both hilarious and sad. I remember when Nunnally was also around 14-15, he'd get brought in to finish up the 7th in blowouts, that kind of thing. And if an opposing hitter at least got the bat on the ball, even a weak dribbler to first, everybody would cheer like he'd homered—both teams, parents...damn triumph of the underdog.

Interestingly, 10-15 years ago when that big MiLB steroid bust went down, he was one of the players who tested positive and got suspended. Think he then played in Japan for a bit, and last I knew was a hitting coach in the Red Sox system.

Amazing how long ago that was now...man does time pass....

>
>Really wish I knew why he fizzled out.
>

I looked at his minor league stats. 1967 at bats, 854 strikeouts.

That's a strikeout every 2.3 at bats. Which would easily be the worst ever rate for the majors...and he never played above AA.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=shirle001alf

...at a very young age can actually hold you back as you get older and everybody else starts catching up to you. You don't have to work hard to be better if you're already miles ahead of everybody around you, whereas maybe a guy with less raw athleticism goes farther in the end. Big fish in a small pond problem.

Realizing you can launch the other 14 year old's heater a mile, so just waiting on that, never developing the subtlety of eye needed at higher levels.

Like how a big fish, little pool basketball player, who can get to the basket at will, may never develop a jumper...or his weak hand. Or if someone grows up playing on a soft-ass forgiving rim, the ball will start clanging out on a regulation hoop.

Applies in other areas... Smart kid in bad school district gets good grades without effort, then gets to college and doesn't have a solid foundation in the fundamentals and/or the discipline needed.

Optimizing to the local maxima. What worked then, doesn't anymore.

...come to think about it, you see it on online forums...

I stood no chance at making that A team 4 x 4.
It ended up being him, Robert Quiroga (Baylor track and football, NFL UDFA), Robert Parham (LSU track and football, NFL UDFA), and James Boykin ... the slowest on the relay who could hit 48s. First alternate was Cedric Griffin (Texas Longhorns, Vikings)

I stood no chance at making that A team

I don't even feel like we practiced the same.

We've got one in the area that's paid off recently with a bunch of really strong 400-1500m runners, but nothing like this:

>I stood no chance at making that A team 4 x 4.
>It ended up being him, Robert Quiroga (Baylor track and
>football, NFL UDFA), Robert Parham (LSU track and football,
>NFL UDFA), and James Boykin ... the slowest on the relay who
>could hit 48s. First alternate was Cedric Griffin (Texas
>Longhorns, Vikings)

My sister ran at the lowest age group her peers at the time … Philip Gaines (KC Chiefs for a while) and Jordan Clarkson
Just talent all up and down the club

Playing a pick-up game with my boys at Villianova's gym. Kobe comes through. His name is out there so he's Kobe but not "KOBE" yet of course. My best friend was crazy athletic, probably could have made the league if not for health issues related to Lupus. As for me I was average at best, I just always rode his coat tails LOL! Any way they went head to head, my friend held his own but Kobe was UNSTOPPABLE. Kobe's team beat us by 6, but at one point my homie posterized Kobe something NASTY. Straight chest to chest with it and Kobe fell afterward. We all still talk about that play to this day. Not many civilians can say they caught a body on a legend. Too bad there was no cell phones cameras back then lol.

>Too bad there was no cell phones cameras back then lol.

This one was really good. Thanks!

Feels like recently(ish) rolling over into the 40+ age range means starting to demand that an oral history be done on the fact that I was once young and athletic. Because there is no evidence of that, beyond my memory. And if I don't keep alive the time I walked down the 4x400m anchor for Quince Orchard High School, then who will? WHO?

>Feels like recently(ish) rolling over into the 40+ age range
>means starting to demand that an oral history be done on the
>fact that I was once young and athletic. Because there is no
>evidence of that, beyond my memory. And if I don't keep alive
>the time I walked down the 4x400m anchor for Quince Orchard
>High School, then who will? WHO?

Im 45. In my prime I could jump out the building! Never had much of a jump shot, but could do any dunk you can think of (freethrow line, 360s, etc.) I have a 6 year old son and realized last year that he will never know just how athletic I was aside from my friends telling him stories. Last summer I tried to dunk for the first time in years and did it surprisingly easily. So I gave someone my phone so they could record it for me, and not only did I miss the dunk, I also blew my acl. SMH

No country for old men I guess.....

>Im 45. In my prime I could jump out the building! Never had
>much of a jump shot, but could do any dunk you can think of
>(freethrow line, 360s, etc.) I have a 6 year old son and
>realized last year that he will never know just how athletic I
>was aside from my friends telling him stories. Last summer I
>tried to dunk for the first time in years and did it
>surprisingly easily. So I gave someone my phone so they could
>record it for me, and not only did I miss the dunk, I also
>blew my acl. SMH
>
>No country for old men I guess.....

Oh no! Man that's sad. Im the same age and was never at your level of athleticism, but was a pretty good HS bball player. Would love to have some video from back then to relive. Hope the rehab has gone well

Like bench guys who still destroy in pickup games. Thomas Gardner when he was a Bull is probably the most name worthy.

I have two instances:

In the first one I played against a future Super Bowl starting QB and a future NBA Champion. Played against Rex Grossman and Tayshun Prince in an AAU tournament back in 92-93 in Utah. Can't tell you anything about the games cause I don't remember them too much, but some years after that I still had the program and the rosters of the teams we played and we played both of their teams. *wouldn't call Rex a legend, but it was pretty cool to see that lol


The second one I played against a HOFer, 3 high first round draft picks, and a second round pick (who should've been a first). My hs coach is real tight with Penny, so when Penny would have his charity games in the off-season they practiced in our gym. Each year our coach let the seniors play in the pick up games as sort of a gift/thanks for the season. So my senior year I was on the court with Gary Payton, Penny, Nick Anderson, Lorenzen Wright, and Nick Van Exel. One play I was guarding Tony Harris (Tennessee) on the perimeter and our guard was on Lorenzen (I was a severely undersized 4/5 lol) and as I slacked off Lorenzen came and set a pick on my left. I called switch and then my mind went off into la la land as I just aimlessly backed off. Tony threw a lob and as I turned around Lorenzen caught me under the basket lol. Embarrassed but not embarrassed.

then leaned back when I read Rex Grossman

I once played a pickup game with Todd Blackledge

had no idea until someone pointed it out. He was big as hell.. nothing special on the court but made me realize how big a QB could be.

But for real...he did start in a SB how ever you look at it.


*shrugs*

man was fast back in the day

I had played against Tony since we were kids and I remember his uncle Frank. The city is still upset that he chose UT over Memphis, but from playing against all those guys around that time, you couldn't have him and Marcus Moody on the same squad, and Moody's linage has Tiger blood so it was a no-brainer he was going to go there. Seeing him and Tony battle it out on the AAU circuit at that time had Tiger fans salivating lol. But yeah Tony and Frank were cool people.

we were juniors in HS on an HBCU tour at FAMU. The gym was open so we had a pickup game. We had 9 people and then a woman from the basketball team asked to run with us.

She was STRONG. I tried to go left and she just pushed me in my chest and my whole body stopped. WTF? We had some dudes who could really ball on that court and she had all of us rethinking our game. Doing pushups in the hotel and shit.

That brings back a memory. I did play against Ray Zellers in a scrimmage. He took a sweep to the house on me when I didnt set the edge at CB. They called the WR for clipping me on that play.. lol. Dude was huge and fast AF.

He was also lm that HBCU tour.. he was an asshole.

>we were juniors in HS on an HBCU tour at FAMU. The gym was
>open so we had a pickup game. We had 9 people and then a woman
>from the basketball team asked to run with us.
>
>She was STRONG. I tried to go left and she just pushed me in
>my chest and my whole body stopped. WTF? We had some dudes who
>could really ball on that court and she had all of us
>rethinking our game. Doing pushups in the hotel and shit.
>

I just remember she was fine and strong af

https://famu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/famu%3A135/datastream/OBJ/view/FAMU_Rattlerette_Guide__1989-90.pdf

https://texassports.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/1990-91

She must have made an impression on the court...and yeah, she is pretty cute.

Still haven’t met him, lol.

But I have a good relationship with his pops. We talk a gang of shit to each other, and Jimmy’s sister doesn’t like it😂

His pops loves me though. He doesn’t know my wife and I are separated, but I doubt that would change anything.

The story i got is the superbowl. I don’t rock with the football like that but my boys are die hard 49ers fans, so when I catch a superbowl, I watch it with them.

I was with them when the Ravens beat the 9ers.

And when Jimmy held Crabtree on a critical play toward the end, I caught allllllll the smoke in the room for it. I celebrated the Ravens win and said I had a superbowl champ in the family, even though

My friends were not pleased.

Beyond that, My coworker’s husband is Paul Pierce’s cousin. They spent a 4th of July at Paul’s crib, and I tried to get an invite but her husband wasn’t with it.

Lastly, a friend of mine (RIP, June) used to cook Jamal Tinsley at the park. I was only present for one game, but my other friend swears he ate him up every time they played.

all I have are these little auxiliary stories.

vegas? blackjack table? and that he was incredibly friendly/personable..

Vegas the weekend he got his HOF nod and he was throwing parties.

I still cannot believe I had all the drunken confidence in the world to plop right down next to him and just order a drink like he wasn't there.

Does that count?
Just me & him for like an hour at Whiskey Blue on Poydras St.
His body guard stopped me from trying to introduce myself and Chuck says, seriously? you think that lil white boy gonna hurt me? LMAO.
I was about 24.

He got there quick after the game. Nobody was even in the spot yet.
We talked hoop for a good hour, let me buy him a couple rounds and he bought me a couple rounds.

Think I remember your post.

He wasn’t your typical spazzy football player butchering the game of hoops, the way all the college intramural football guys playing hoops were. The type you’re worried about getting hurt because they don’t do natural b-ball things.

Smith was actually a solid b-ball player.

…instead these pussy defenses we churn out now

>He wasn’t your typical spazzy football player butchering
>the game of hoops, the way all the college intramural football
>guys playing hoops were. The type you’re worried about
>getting hurt because they don’t do natural b-ball things.
>
>Smith was actually a solid b-ball player.

in 2010 I was on an MTV reality show called "Bully Beatdown"...the premise of the show is kids who are getting bullied hire a pro MMA fighter to beat up their bully

I knew a guy who was in casting at MTV and he asked me to audition. I pretended to be a total prick, and brought two buddies to act like weak little victims. Every story we told in the audition and later on the show was fake.

Fast forward a month and I'm in a warehouse in Salt Lake Utah gearing up for my mma "debut". The "fight" was in Utah because, at least at the time, Utah was the only state where an amateur could fight a professional.

I didn't see the arena or my opponent , I was just kept in a trailer and then brought into a huge dark warehouse. I waited a really long time in the dark and then I was told it was go time and a giant airplane hangar like door opened and there was an arena of people screaming and cussing at me. That's when the nerves set in, when I walked out and realized that these people thought I was really a bully.

When they brought Cormier out there was a ton of smoke and lights, and he was announced as a Strikeforce heavyweight and two-time Olympian. He hadn't even made it to the UFC yet. I was nervous but not scared because literally -everything- we had filmed for the show prior to this point was bogus. At several points in shooting I was even fed lines to say.

But the fight was way real.

I wrestled in high school and college, but I hadn't ever been 1) so nervous in my life or 2) against someone this accomplished. The "fight" went for two rounds - the first was wrestling and grappling and the second was striking. Right away Cormier gets his hands on me, heaves me over his shoulder and parades around the cage, slams me hard as FUCK, and puts his hands on my neck for a push choke. When I realized that this was real I was just terrified , like I'd had a gun pulled on me. I couldn't think or move.

The second round starts and Cormier jabbed me in the face and he probably thought he was barely touching me but he touched me alright. The end came when he kicked me in the stomach...it really felt like Sammy Sosa swung a bat across my mid-section. I was fat then too , when I got back to the hotel I noticed I had a red print of two toe outlines on my side.

I was paid $1,000 and was supposed to get another $1,000 if my episode aired in the season but they never aired it. The explanation I got from the handler guy who babysat me in Utah was the bully stories came off too mean in editing (one of the stories I told was that I pissed on one my "victims" while he was asleep). I was sent a DVD of the show a year later and I watched it for the first time with my Dad...when it was over he said "you should be glad that didn't air on TV" and he was right, I came off like a total fucking redneck dickhead. It was totally bogus but a TV audience may not have known that, ya know?

Anyway, I know this comes off insane. Apparently my episode was in rotation in South America but only played once as part of a Bully Beatdown marathon on MTV2. That's fine with me.

Cormier would go on to be one of the best UFC fighters ever and a major fixture in the sport after retirement, so he's made my story more important with the passage of time.

I saw Cormier at a UFC fight years later and he let me on the floor and we even took a picture together that he put on his Insta. Here's the post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQjWzHDgkXb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

so there's my story. I was royally fucked up by a UFC hall of famer as part of a ridiculous MTV reality show.

______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

but I vaguely remember John McCarthy served as a referee to I guess lend some air of reality to the show.

Were there medical staff on hand as well? It sounds as if this craziness was sanctioned by a Utah Athletic Commission, so I'm assuming medical staff was on hand.

Reading your story knowing what I know about MMA rings so many alarms in terms of things potentially going way wrong, especially with grappling being involved. I'm hoping the professional fighters knew enough to not injure the real/fake bullies.

and the cage was a really small circle, there was nowhere to run or else I would have

That show used to be like appointment television for me, lol. I knew it was fake, but it was so dumb and good. That was an amazing story you laid out. Can't even imagine getting hit in the face by CC, even at partial strength. I would have been pissed I didn't get my other grand!!

cuz with everything being so phony, if i was in your shoes i'd be expecting the fight to be phony too.

glad you didn't get REALLY hurt but you could have.

crazy.

I started this thread so I could talk a little about my silly track team getting destroyed by a future Olympian, and what I got was so much more. Thank you!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We got our asses handed to us all the time on my driveway by Shane and his D1 friends

(Everyone in Michigan was furious when he chose to attend Duke lol)


>I got worked in a 4x200m leg by Bernard Williams, and blown
>off the track in workouts by Pascal Dobert and Balazs Koranyi.
>But only one of those guys is a big deal, and it's track so
>there's not much of a story beyond "Bernard Williams got the
>baton in front of me and handed it off to his teammates much
>further in front of me."
>
>But the team I coach has to deal with a kid who just ran the
>best Penn relays 400m split in years at 45.09, and just set
>the US all-time #3 for freshmen at 46.really-low. When he
>races, it looks like somebody has edited so he's moving faster
>than everybody else. Like, it almost literally looks fake.
>Lots of freshmen prodigies don't pan out, obviously - but if
>the standard here is "legend" and not "NCAA All-American" or
>"Olympian" or something similarly tangible then this guy is
>pretty much already a legend. Obea Moore knows that doing
>something amazing at Penn Relays means you'll be remembered
>forever.
>
>Anyhow, beating him is probably impossible. Beating his team
>will take a lot of good luck. But I bet a few of my kids will
>be telling people they lost to Quincy Wilson in a few years.

i played TE at CC and coach wanted me to do a day with the WRs while i was there

Jeremy Battier and some other big light skinned dude from St. X in Cincinnati that could have been his twin were just taking turns embarrassing ppl

>i played TE at CC and coach wanted me to do a day with the
>WRs while i was there
>
>Jeremy Battier and some other big light skinned dude from St.
>X in Cincinnati that could have been his twin were just taking
>turns embarrassing ppl

He had torn his achilles and I was there because I tore my acl and some other stuff.

he was pretty chill. he'd encourage me when I was working out and I'd do the same.

he was dating T-Boz at the time, whom I went to high school with. She's come to therapy with him sometimes. She and I weren't friends. However, I'd see her around town when TLC was big and she recognized my face and we'd speak. By the time I saw her with Spikes, many years had passed and she no longer remembered me.

when me and some of my guys ended up playing pick-up ball with Ilo Mutombo...Dikembe's older brother.

My memory of this is fading, as I was 18 at the time...but here it goes:
Freshman year in college. We go to dinner, like any other day and after chilling for a minute...head over to the rec center to get in some run.

There are a couple of courts going at once. One is two games playing half-court and the other is full-court. I throw my name on the list and we're one game down for the full-court joint. I see this guy who I had never seen there before, but that happens. The squad he's on is pushing after a missed shot and he's trailing. He yells "Here I come!!" I look at my boy and kind of laugh and say...dude sounds like Mutombo. A guy who was already there turns and says "that's because it is". We are looking at him like, aight man. So we proceed to watch the game and the dude is DEVASTATING! He's getting putbacks, catching oops, you name it. They dust off the team they were playing and the next team...then we're up. On the court with him....he was EVEN better. Dude is erasing any layup on the defensive end. Offensively, he's unguardable....just an array of moves. At one point, he legit went baseline and did the Tom Chambers dunk from Lakers vs. Celtics. We got the story after the fact and were amazed to hear that he was TWENTY-SIX years old at that time and that he played ball for Southern Indiana...which sort of explained why he was hooping at the Southeast Missouri State Rec center on a random weekday. Turns out he was a super sweet guy and friends with quite a few non-sports-related famous people. The world is so random.

> At one point, he legit
>went baseline and did the Tom Chambers dunk from Lakers vs.
>Celtics.

if dude got anywhere near the free throw line...it was a wrap.

>At one point, he legit
>went baseline and did the Tom Chambers dunk from Lakers vs.
>Celtics.

And thank you for pressing the exact spot in my brain to indicate that we are approximately the same age.

>when me and some of my guys ended up playing pick-up ball
>with Ilo Mutombo...Dikembe's older brother.
>
>My memory of this is fading, as I was 18 at the time...but
>here it goes:
>Freshman year in college. We go to dinner, like any other day
>and after chilling for a minute...head over to the rec center
>to get in some run.
>
>There are a couple of courts going at once. One is two games
>playing half-court and the other is full-court. I throw my
>name on the list and we're one game down for the full-court
>joint. I see this guy who I had never seen there before, but
>that happens. The squad he's on is pushing after a missed
>shot and he's trailing. He yells "Here I come!!" I look at
>my boy and kind of laugh and say...dude sounds like Mutombo.
>A guy who was already there turns and says "that's because it
>is". We are looking at him like, aight man. So we proceed to
>watch the game and the dude is DEVASTATING! He's getting
>putbacks, catching oops, you name it. They dust off the team
>they were playing and the next team...then we're up. On the
>court with him....he was EVEN better. Dude is erasing any
>layup on the defensive end. Offensively, he's
>unguardable....just an array of moves. At one point, he legit
>went baseline and did the Tom Chambers dunk from Lakers vs.
>Celtics. We got the story after the fact and were amazed to
>hear that he was TWENTY-SIX years old at that time and that he
>played ball for Southern Indiana...which sort of explained why
>he was hooping at the Southeast Missouri State Rec center on a
>random weekday. Turns out he was a super sweet guy and
>friends with quite a few non-sports-related famous people.
>The world is so random.

Definitely had to get some starstruck kids to re-focus yesterday though. Probably didn't help that the meet is on their home track and every time he raced, the announcer loudly drew everybody's attention to his presence, name, and resume.

First time I've seen him race in person. Ran a 4x800m leg and cruised to a 200m prelim victory by nearly a second. It was really impressive. I hope he stays healthy and keeps progressing. I've seen dominant freshmen before who were basically adults physically but he still looks like a high school freshman. He's capable of some really special things if he continues making progress.

And lemme tell you, that dude could definitely run in the NBA if he wanted to.

>And lemme tell you, that dude could definitely run in the NBA
>if he wanted to.

Nicely done.

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A marine being as good as an NBA player is at least in the realm of possibility.

But picturing a botanist who knows he’s good enough to be on an NBA bench and chooses the green life instead… hilarious.

When Aston Villa did a US tour in the States in 2012, they stopped off in Philadelphia to play a friendly against the Union. As part of the festivities for that match, some fans were invited to see an open training session, meet a few of the players, and then a group of us were able to go onto the field at Subaru (then PPL) Park to play against a group of Union supporters. The Villa side, however, got a ringer: Ian Taylor, who scored for Villa in the 1996 League Cup Final, and has since worked for the club as an ambassador, played in midfield. He did his very best, but we were by and large older, slower and less coherent as a team than the Union lads, and the scoreline showed that.

In the first half I tried to hero ball it from left back, bypassing a wide-open Tayls in midfield, and Philly broke off of that turnover to score. I saved some face with a goal-saving slide tackle in the second half that Taylor said was "tackle of the night."

I'm going to date myself here but I played college baseball. I took Eric Milton deep twice in one game. I also took Scott Schoeneweis deep.

Also played against Sean Casey (he was a talker when you got to first, dude was a true cut up) and Gary Matthews Jr. in college.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Eric Milton who threw a no-hitter against the Angels at, like, 11am because the Gophers needed the field in the evening ?

Yes, that Eric Milton.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was two years older than her, but from Junior year to Senior year, I played against her multiple times outside of Don Lugo High. I knew her sister better than her, and her sister balled too (got both to sign my yearbook), but nowhere near the level that Diana was on. You could tell she was going to make the WNBA then.


I was also at an LA Fitness when Adam Morrison showed up. Not Gonzaga Morrison. Laker bench warming, bum looking Morrison. He would pull up from the half court and swish. He never missed and he made everyone look like chumps. That might have been the first time I knew for sure that the worst player in the L would make non pros look like orange cones.

I was surprised at how small he was. I'm only 5'9 he was my height. I don't remember being destroyed but he was shifty as expected.