MGoBallers

Submitted by Black Socks on

 

So there are a lot of good posters on this board.  And I've always wondered, who is an ex-football player?  Who played on the basketball team?

Also - if you are a corporate CEO, I'd be interested in hearing about that too.

Let's see what kind of talent we have on MGoBlog.

 

Myself - I played on a non-revenue sport and graduated in 2001.  Currently in sales.

JimLahey

February 25th, 2014 at 10:38 PM ^

I'm the boss of the apple sauce at Sunnyvale Trailer Park. 16.5K a year, a double-wide trailer, and my very own omgshirtless personal assistant. I drive around all day in a convertible getting hammered and using walkie talkies.

That's ballin. Nothin' but net.

BlueDragon

February 25th, 2014 at 11:11 PM ^

Varsity chess 4 years of high school, including state title. Made Symphony Band (varsity) senior year at the school of music. I can out-DM people in TF2 pubs and I play a mean game of Settlers of Catan.

MGomaha

February 25th, 2014 at 11:24 PM ^

Won a state championship in 2011 in Nebraska, had some looks from D-1 schools (Kansas, Drake were biggest suitors) but I was forced to move back to my hometown in Indiana (because my new house was outside my school's district), got hurt twice and didn't play like I knew I could have.

Best offer was from Minnesota State Mankato after my senior year, decided to just be a student. But in the fall I hope to transfer from my current school in Indiana to the University of Nebraska (get in state tuition since my mom lives there) and hopefully walk onto the football team, as I have a couple teammates that play on the team and I think I can still play.

gwkrlghl

February 25th, 2014 at 11:31 PM ^

But in all seriousness, I know there's at least one lacrosse alum lurking. Football alums have showed up once in a while (most notably Odoms, V Smith, Brandon Smith). Can't recall any hockey alums posting. I want to say a recent basketball alum posted once (Novak?).

 

tdcarl

February 25th, 2014 at 11:37 PM ^

Currently racing bikes for the club team here (road and cyclocross). We just had our first race  of the season this past weekend down in Kentucky and had a great showing. 

In high school I played football (left tackle) 2 years till I got a nice avulsion fracture in my pelvis and decided that was enough for me since I'd be at risk to do it again. Basketball 1 year since I got cut my senior year. Baseball 1 year and golf 3 years. Was decent at everything, but not really stellar at anything. The highlight of my high school sports career was dropping 19 points including 5 3 pointers in the first YMCA high school league game after getting cut. 

 

buddhafrog

February 26th, 2014 at 3:20 AM ^

This is sort of a bragging post - opportunity to anonymously say why I'm a baller.  And I'm going to take it because I haven't been able to tell anyone this news yet except for my wife.  I want to tell someone!

My family lives in Korea (and are happy here) and recently got a new job as a Client Relations Director (이사)  with an oil & gas company and my salary increased by 50% and the job is awesome!...  However, a couple days ago I was recruited for a new job - an HR manager position for an MNC in Myanmar of all places.  It would double my new salary plus have all expenses paid (house will be across from ann san suu kyi's home).

Myanmar?!  I'm super excited as the country has gone through reforms the past couple years and it is one of the few mostly-untouched nations on earth.  It is like Thailand pre-1990.  For many people, that sounds odd or aweful. To me and my wife, we're thrilled.  It's now one of the safest, cleanest, friendliest, most unspoiled countries in Asia (Buddhist, of course). We'll be able to really travel and explore as a family and our kids will be exposed to a fantasticly inspiring and thoughtful experience (and they'll be provided top-notch private schooling which cost almost the equivalent as UM out-of-state tuition.)

I used to work in non-profits throughout AA - I'm sure some of you have volunteered at organizations I worked at.  I loved what I did. Loved it, gained great experience, did important work helping the least fortunate, and learned a lot.  But we needed to make a change for financial reasons a few years back and right now things are falling into place like I dreamed they might - but wasn't sure that they could.

I haven't told anyone yet until it becomes official, so thanks for letting me share my excitement with someone.

In many ways I was actually more of a baller working at the non-profits.  For those out there still fighting the good fight - you got my respect and gratitude.

sadeto

February 26th, 2014 at 7:59 AM ^

Congratulations on the offer, I hope it works out for the best. As someone who has lived and worked in several countries emerging from martial law and from communism over the years, I share your excitement. But regarding your statement about safety, the situation there is not exactly settled politically, and outside of Yangon and Mandalay, there are areas that are not controlled by the central government and which you should not visit. I'm sure you've read up on this, but I've been to part of Myanmar near the Chinese border while I was traveling in Yunnan, and it is a sketchy, scary situation. There are other areas which have experienced violence between Buddhists and Muslims, that you should avoid. Yes, Myanmar has violent Buddhists. 

My advice would be to situate yourself for a month or so to get the lay of the land before bringing your family over. I've done this when setting up shop in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. My wife and young son stayed in our home in Japan while I situated myself in a new city, established my routines, made relationships, figured out what was OK and what wasn't, met and got to know well the people who would be interacting with my family. Hopefully the MNC will be generous and flexible in relocating you and your family. 

Good luck to you. I'll be in Yunnan again later this year and if I have time I want to visit Yangon. I'll look for "Buddhafrog" at the alumni club. 

buddhafrog

February 26th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^

Thanks for the thoughts - I do agree with some of them.  I traveled there 15 years ago and am excited to see how it has changed.  Even in the past 12 months, things have changed greatly. I'm hopeful for the adventure.

MGoBender

February 26th, 2014 at 7:00 AM ^

I almost won an IM t-shirt in every team sport.  In order, from what I can remember:

Soccer, Football, Broomball, Mini-Soccer, Softball, Basketball, Dodgeball, Innertube Water-Polo

I think there was another dodgeball and broomball in there.  Possibly another softball during a summer term.  Maybe another mini-soccer.  I got so many t-shirts I forget. I know - baller.

The volleyball one eluded me though.  I WILL GO TO THE GRAVE REGRETTING MY LACK OF A VOLLEYBALL IM T-SHIRT.  And wallyball.  I guess that counts to.  Don't have one of those.

Huma

February 26th, 2014 at 8:38 AM ^

I used to be pretty awesome at Mario Kart back in the day. I can vividly remember running the "gauntlet" across all courses and not blinking for minutes at a time.

OysterMonkey

February 26th, 2014 at 8:50 AM ^

I once scored 38 in an intramural basketball game without making a 2.

I also once dribbled the ball off my foot and out of bounds down 1 with six seconds to go, all while having a clear lane for a layup.

Yeah, I'm a baller.

maize-blue

February 26th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^

Played football for 6 seasons in middle and high school.

Also played basketball and baseball for a majority of those years as well. It was sports year round and didn't really know anything different.

The highlight of my sports career was going undefeated my senior year in football. It was our high school's first and only undefeated regular season.

I've also played some slow pitch here and there after HS but currently stay active by riding off road dirt bikes alot.

 

JeepinBen

February 26th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^

I played IM hockey at Michigan (at the Cube 2005-2009, goalie for the Hillel team). Now I design car parts. there's a very, very good chance that my company has at least 1 part in your vehicle, and a decent chance that a part from my plant is in your car too.

CLord

February 26th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^

Holy catharsis...

I've been a baller most of my life but less so now.

Top 6 in Michigan at the 50 butterfly for 12 and under.

High school prom king  and senior treasurer.

Mr. Greek Week at UM.

Same height, weight and shoe size as Michael Jordan, so I played ball, but not much in high school since I went to high school overseas where socceer and volleyball were the priority.  Regardless, I got dunked on by Rumeal and Glen Rice at the CCRB, but I dunked on Voskuil once.

Had a hole-in-one in front of 12 colleagues at my law firm on a par 3 140 yard hole - 9 iron.  Paid dearly at the 19th hole.

At my peak, I dated 3 Redksins cheerleaders, 1 49ers cheerleader and a Ms. Mexico, not that any of that matters because like me, most of them weren't rocket scientists.

But it was all been pretty downhill from there.  My 3 serious ex-girlfriends (none of which were said cheerleaders of beauty queens) went on to marry the founder of a popular food chain (won't name names to protect the innocent), a hedge fund manager worth 100s of millions who's tight with Steve Ballmer, and a Yale law professor who is the Editor in Chief of a popular wealth magazine.

Now I'm just a schlub who keeps about 5 pairs of jeans that don't fit any more in the feint hope that some day I'll diet my way back down into them, and who finds Michigan sports so much more important than before, I guess because so many other interests and hobbies (cough, girls, cough) have gone by the way side as I am now a loyal husband.

Where once I balled, I now ball vicariously through the boys in Blue.

buddhafrog

February 26th, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^

My sports ballin' claim to fame was politely allowing Chris Weber to score 50 points over me in high school.

An even 50.  At the time, it wasn't too fun.  Now 25 years in the future, I'm glad I he totally abused me and I can tell the story.