2 Sports Questions For You

1. What was your most disappointing or embarrassing sports moment? My late uncle was a famous CEO and business turnaround king who played golf with and at the invitation of a handful of US Presidents inter alia. He showed up to watch me play HS football once and, as Murphy visited, I had lost nearly 20lbs that week, mostly watery crap, due to suspected food poisoning. I could barely stand up but Coach Ike made me play anyway. I experienced the worst athletic performance of my life, in tremendous pain, in front of my famous uncle, who asked my dad why I bothered to play football, the marching band tuba section was tougher. So there was that. 2. What was your favorite, most memorable sports moment? I've personally won several team games single-handedly by a dramatic last minute performance where I did the deed that won it all. 25 years later when I bump into the children of folks who attended a contest, when they find out my name, they ask me if I was that guy. Politely I admit that, yes, I was a part of that team and I did my best, as they should always do going forward. And so there is that. The team. The Team. The team.

1.  Posting about a 3-25 record (or something like that) as captain of high school tennis team at #1 singles. 

2a.  Leading team as goalie to high school JV state championship at Joe Louis.

2b.  Representing UM on club table tennis team in a tournament at Ohio State.

Almost forgot about this and it may qualify for both best and worst in a strange way. I threw a no-hitter in the front end of a double header vs Cadillac. The team celebrated, signed the ball and I was in the clouds thinking my right arm was something special until my teammate hit the mound for game two and no-hit Cadillac too. They sucked.

Happened early on.  First year playing Little League (around 2nd or 3rd grade) and striking out with the bases loaded to end the game.  I think I did the spaz can't breathe crying for about an hour.

One of best moments was making my first ever field goal attempt in high school, 44 yards.  The equipment manager who picked up my tee after every kickoff?  None other than Bo's son, Schemy.

 

Most embarrassing was high school football, Junior year. I was MLB and we played against this kid Donald Winston who was a badass RB. (He went to Purdue and they made him a WR who never did anything). His 1st two carries in the game were TD's from like 60 and 70 yards. The next time I got out on defense They ran play action and I was gonna just light this dude up. Now, he was about 5'6" and had won the state high jump, had accolades is several sports, but I was 6' 225lbs and lived for big hits. I sized him up and gave it all I had and this little guy hit me so hard I saw two of him wobbling out in either direction. The worst was watching it over and over on the coaches tape on Sunday with the team. Hardest hit of my life I ever received by far. Best moment was when my highchool spent the weekend at Culver Military academy to play them. My girlfriend at the time went there and I was soooo pumped for it. The starting RB got hurt in the 1st QTR so I played starting RB along with MLB and had a crazy game. 13 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TD's running and over 100 yards. I found out later my girl was sick and missed it. Was still awesome though - we were not a great team that year but we won by over 50 that day.

...I was first into the chute during a dual meet. Raised an arm in the air in celebration, then suddenly felt the need to puke. I doubled over heaving, which provoked a calf cramp. Still puking, I buckled onto the grass while the rest of the runners came in on top of me. Everyone behind me was getting funneled into the ropes and pushed by the pack, and I'm still on my side unable to move and with vomit all over my singlet. I can't think of an embarrassing moment, but that one was definitely memorable and now that the shame has mostly worn off I think it might be getting replaced with price.

With a diving catch in the endzone for a touchdown. We were two private schools that would rarely ever see the h.s. highlights on a Friday night, but since we were Saint This versus Saint That, and the Pope was visiting the US, they decided to lead off with us.

That catch was so good I think the Pope shat in the woods. 

On a punt my senior year. I was long snapper and usually one of the first guys down the field. Anyway, it rolled "dead", we all gathered round it but no one downed it. As we were running off the field, we turned to see a guy running a 75 yard touchdown. 

Fortunately, we still won but the gassers we ran hurt.

 

Best was probably a fly ball in HS. We had shifted right and a guy hit a liner to far left field. They must have doubted my wheels and had the runners go. I covered the ground and made a diving catch and doubled them up on the throw to end the game.

and having to match up on offense and defense against Tyrone Wheatley...and playing to a draw. (2) Losing a 5 on 5 game in the IM Building to 5 Varsity Women's Basketball Players

Best moment: throwing the ball to those mountains Worst: taping myself throwing in front of my trailer Signed Uncle Rico

One time in t-ball after a game, everyone was eating ice cream sandwiches on the bench while celebrating a win or loss (I don't remember for soon to be obvious reasons). I wanted an ice cream sandwich so freaking much, but I had to poop like I've never had to poop before. All I could do was sit there and hold it in and watch everyone eat their ice cream sandwiches. I saw a porta potty way in the back, so I went up to my dad (the coach) and told him I needed to go to the bathroom. He in turn responded, "No, you can wait. We are leaving." Of course I'm pinching my little butt cheeks as tightly as I can pinch. It hurt so bad. Finally dad heads to the vehicle, and so I gratefully follow, leaving my ice cream sandwich behind. But honestly I didn't even care at this point about the ice cream sandwich. I just wanted relief. Two steps after I started, and what do you know. I have a complete blowout. Parents are all around me. Thankfully my friends were already behind me, so I could avoid that travesty. I decide to continue walking gracefully to my dad's vehicle despite the feeling of mushy poo running down my pants leg. Just pretend everything is fine and no-one will notice. I get in the vehicle. "Dad, I just pooped my pants." I remember feeling extremely embarrassed, but now I know he must have felt something awful inside knowing it was his fault since he wouldn't let me go. Of course that thought never crossed my mind at the time (maybe it would have if he would have actually apologized). I just felt ashamed. I was the poopy pants kid. Nobody ever wants to be the poopy pants kid, especially at t-ball age. I went home, and thankfully my mom loved me enough to wash all my sins away in the shower. The shame of being a naked boy in front of your mom nearly tormented me for life, but the salvation of my lower half after a nice hot shower washing all the poo away just was too satisfying to care as much as I should have. Mom's are the best. Their hearts and words are rarely filled with judgment. Except for the first time they catch you masturbating. Ugh.

Worst: losing 66-8 my first year of basketball. Best: beating the same team 2 years later to become league champs as an 8th grader.

Favorite sports moment was when I was a junior in high school, our soccer team was ranked 4th in the state, we were 17-0, and it was senior night against the second best team in the league.

We were up 2-0 with 10 minutes left in the game. We let off the gas, and penn yan tied the game up 2-2 with 4 minutes to play. Our field went through a renovation prior to the season, and we had state of the art lights, it was truly a great field. As such the crowds were really impressive for a soccer game at our football / wrestling school.

With 2 minutes left we got a corner kick and I scored on a diving header. Then with 40 seconds left we had a fast break and I scored another diving header to put the game away. I ran as fast as I could and slid head first on the grass, stood up and saw the entire crowd on their feet cheering. It gave me chills. When the final whistle blew the entire team swarmed me and piled on top of me, I loved those seniors, and I'll never forget that moment. As I walked off the field I had parents, classmates, and others coming up to me and congratulating me. Definitely one of the highlights of my sports career.


Most memorable sports moment was as a wrestler taking 5th place in the nation at 125 lbs. Got to meet bill Clinton, which was pretty cool. It was awesome getting to stand on the podium with the giant American flag behind me hearing the national anthem play.


Most disappointing sports moment was losing on MY senior night to our arch rivals on a botched call by the ref. I can remember walking off the field and crying, knowing I'd never play on that field again. I love sports!!!!

Most disappointing... i worked for a team which recorded the highest number of ACL's recorded (reported to league office) in a regular season for professional football. All do respect, but that teams motto was shit-for-luck. Most memorable..... watching my Granded and his 1928 teammates (those that were still alive) receive halftime accolades at a Muskegon football game for their state championship. (I have his leather helmet)

Worst: I whiffed on a slap shot in high school cruising down the ice in the Alpena tournament on Friday night when everyone in town was in the old barn. Full-on Fulton Reed slap shot whiff, fell on my face. Best: Game winner in high school with 2 minutes left at home against our rivals who had been talking shit all summer league/workouts about how "this was their year". It was not their year.

Most embarrassing: We were on the power play and I was not really paying attention in net. Defender flipped the puck down the ice from behind his net, I saw it just in time to fall back on my ass and watch the puck slide by me into the net. Thankfully, I was only 12 years old at the time so I got over it pretty quick. It helped we won the game anyways. Best Moment: played Russia's u18 team in the title game of a tournament. We were the only team to hold them under 10 goals all tourney long. Scored like 6 goals on me on 70-something shots. We got routed. After the game, they were handing all the Russian kids their 1st place medals and one of their players skated over to me and gave me his stick and basically said, in broken English, I was the best goalie he'd ever seen in our age group. Stick still hangs on the wall in my man cave. I wasn't happy then but in retrospect, that was better than all the big wins I had over the years.