Your own involvement in sports

[Rockstar Matt]

Well, I played football from the time I was 5 to about 17. My strong suit was defense and my favorite position was Linebacker, even though I am 5'9 and 150 pounds. I had great acceleration within the first 20 yards, and I was the most explosive in the first 10 yards for my entire team. I never had great top-speed. But, in high school, my coaches' insisted on putting me at corner because of my small stature. I have pretty good hops for a small white dude, I can almost dunk on a 10 ft rim. My biggest problem however, was that, I always thought too much. Meaning, I never just reacted, and I always over-thought every situation. Oh, and I have pretty good hands, so my coaches' tried to get me to play WR, but I stupidly, refused. If I didn't, I would have seen playing time on varsity. The times when I just reacted, that's when I played extremely well. I only played one year of JV then sat on the bench for Varsity, and I quit football my senior year because I needed to focus on my grades since they were dropping.

I also been playing basketball since I was really little, but I've only been seriously about it since I was 13. I play every Friday and Saturday at a local park where I play with dudes much older, faster, bigger and stronger than me. But, I still hold my own. My proudest moment playing sports was a couple of years back, when I was playing a bunch of adults, as a 16 year-old (I'm 19 now), my team was down 18-6 (and the game we were playing, 21 points wins the game, and playing with the point system where a two-pointer is 1 point and a 3 is a 2 pointer), I single-handedly scored my teams remaining 15 pts to win 21-20. So in a normal point system, I would have scored 30 pts (I made 9 inside the arc shots, and 4 outside the arc.)

I haven't been able to play in a couple of weeks though because I broke my finger while playing pretty badly. I blocked a dude's shot so bad, that I actually grabbed the ball out of the air with one arm instead of just merely hitting the ball towards the ground, but as I swung the ball towards my other arm to make sure I retained possession of the ball, my finger got caught in the way and from the middle knuckle, bent backwards so far, that the tip of my finger touched the back of my hand. Needless to say, that hurt like a mother f er!

But other than playing basketball now, my only involvement is watching sports from the comforts of my couch

[Lee.]

I tried to buy an ABA franchise with boardmembers' money.

You say board members like it was plural. I want my $4 -- and my dream -- back.

Next time I'm in Seattle, I'll buy you a sandwich at The Honey Hole. You don't even have to be there when I buy it. I'll pay for it, and leave a password at the counter. You can go in, say the password, and boom. Sandwich.

[Breakwood]

I played organized lacrosse for 8 years as a Goalie, and 5 years in hockey. My real passion and strong point was football. I played football for 4 years in high school and 4 years for the regional team as well. Since high school I've played in a few pickup soccer leagues, but my competitive days are behind me

[cameroncrazie07]

I played JV football this year and our team went 6-3, I played mostly slot WR, and a little Special Teams. Currently I'm running winter track as a distance runner. My best mile was 5:10 last year as a freshman, which puts me in the top 100 in the state for my class. Also I'm a 2nd baseman in baseball, but I didn't try out last year because of track. All of my friends on the team said I would've made it though.

[omnivore]

4 years of HS varsity tennis. A year of college tennis. I've coached HS and college for a few years, too. Save for that, nothing of note.

[Thad]

I played lacrosse for three years in HS and a year and a half in college before my ankles were ready to quit before I was. Other than that, I ran track for a couple years in HS and played Freshman basketball.

Now I coach the little tykes (3rd-4th grade) that my girlfriend teaches in basketball.

[Panhead1]

And now I just play pickup basketball with random people ranging between ages 15 and 30 once a week.

[DaRadniz29]

I played little league since teeball up until the Little League Big Leagues or Majors. I would say it would have to be around 14 seasons of LL Ball. Played Outfield, Third Base and then moved to First Base when I was 11-12 and stayed there since. Tried out for my high school team as a Junior, but coach had a rule that all upperclassmen had to have a GPA of 3.0 or better - I had a 2.7 or 2.8 so I didn't make the team, and was told I would have if I met that GPA mark.

In Little League, the later years 12-16, I was one of the best defensive players and first basemen in the league, but wasn't that great of a hitter. Had trouble making contact because my head would swing and take my eyes off the ball as I swung the bat. When I did make contact I could hit. I probably had 3-4 or 5 good hits in those years. Two of which I remember, one of which is on video. Played for the Pirates in a league in the San Jose (ORLL) and I remember the uniforms more than the hits. Black mesh shirts with button down front and the League logo on the shoulder - you might think what the big deal was, but only the Big League teams in our LL got the full button down uniforms, and cool caps. Though looking at the uni's the kids get now I feel cheated. Oh well.

I was selected to the League All-Star team twice. Once in the 11-3 division and once for the Major/Big Leagues division. Both times I didn't play. The first time it was due to a family vacation. For the Major I was actually ineligible to play in any tournament games as I was technically over the age limit. They allowed me to play the regular season after asking the league, but only on the condition that I not play on the tournament team aka the all star team - I agreed, after all, all I wanted to do was play baseball - this was the spring/summer where I didn't make the High School team.

Though one of my best memories was when we played the Camden League Orioles I think. After a couple of short hops that I scooped up, and a It's was the bottom of one of the innings and I was playing first base, the batter hit a sharp grounder to third or short and the throw to me took me off the bag, I spun and swipe the runner with my glove to tag him out. The next inning I walked and on a steal attempt I slid early to second and scraped up my knee really bad -how bad? giant scrape that tore some skin and hole in my jeans. I of course was tagged out. Back in the dugout my coach looked at my knee and looked at me and I told him I wanted to play. He said that was good because wasn't gonna take me out of the game. I d

on't remember much else, but I do remember and still have the MVP for best defense in a game that my coach gave me. I think I actually might have gotten a hit that day too, because I was also the game MVP voted by my teammates.

I also played Youth Basketball at YMCA growing up, wasn't very good, but was known for wild shots that sometimes went in. I used to have an unorthodox release where I would shoot the ball with both hands releasing from my chest and one or both of my hands would tap the ball a second time before it released. People were quite amazed that I made shots that way. I eventually taught myself how to shoot more traditionally and have since been a clutch shot. My dad taught me how to shoot free throws from an early age and I can and will beat ANY NBA player in a best of 10 free throw contest - OK maybe not Steve Nash. I'm not that good a defender and I'm not as quick as I once was, so I'd be primarily a perimeter shooter and free throw specialist.

Tried playing Youth Football once - yeah, a skinny 8 year old kid that hasn't grown into his helmet was not the wisest move. I played two games and decided baseball was better.

Played Street Hockey - not what street hockey is today. Street Hockey when I played was Roller hockey with inline skates, and we played on my culs de sac that had the lifted gravel road - you fall, it wasn't gonna feel very good. We use to allow checking into cars parked in the street until one of the parents was afraid we might dent a car or break a window. We rotated positions. Played Goalie mostly though. Wasn't bad, but wasn't good. Still proud of myself for stopping my friend that got me into hockey and he was once a name the Sharks were looking to scout. I invited him over for a game of hockey on the culs de sac and I was goalie and I knew he had a mad slapshot for defensemen. I think it was clocked at 97-98 MPH. We did Penalty shots for warm ups and he was up. We used both a roller ball and plastic street puck. He hit the slapshot and I don't know how fast it was going, but let me just say, all that was protecting my chest was a baseball catcher's chest protector (that's all I had) and the first one hit me right in the stomach, ah, it was plastic but I felt it. I stopped another but he scored on me a couple of times during the game.

[Jahgee]

When I was 8, we were outside for recess and I took out 3 of the pitcher's teeth with one swing during whiffleball, that's about it for me.

[Patchey13]

I play on two hockey teams. I'm a pretty talented player, too bad I'll never have any sort of career.

A little off topic, but my 8 year old cousin seems to be quite the Baseball prodigy so far. Throws as hard as the elite 12 year old groups (not lying, the bugger has a cannon) He's still really young, but if he keeps up at this pace, he'll be a monster in a few years. It's comical watching him play in his fun league with a bunch of 7-8 year olds. He gets triple plays all by himself at least twice a game.

[evanmaldonado]

I'm no longer involved in sports leagues, but I played ice hockey, baseball, and tennis in leagues and am teach ing myself basketball now.

Ice hockey I've played since 2002, and first joined a league in 2003. By 2005, I had made the switch to playing goalie. I've played varsity the past three years, but I'm not sure if I want to bring my stuff down to college this year. I most likely will.

Baseball I just finished today actually haha. I played rec for my entire life, due to the fact that my swing is very inconsistent, but I'm a damn good first baseman haha damn teaching myself sports.

Tennis I just picked up two years ago, and played for my school at the exhibition level (lower than JV ftw). I'm still trying to teach myself a consistent serve.

Basketball I just suck at. I used to play and was really good, but then I quit to play goalie in soccer. Of course, I was a good goalie in soccer, but I quit to play hockey.

[DPV713]

I play basketball year-round, whether it's pickup or competitive. I also run cross country.

[sc49erfan15]

My foremost athletic accomplishment is that I was Winthrop University's eagle mascot, "Big Stuff," for 4 years while I was there. The two most notable games I mascoted were the 2007 Preseason NIT - Winthrop vs. North Carolina in the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte. Winthrop was leading by as many as 12 in the 2nd half, but we ended up dropping the game by a few points. Don't remember the exact score. I also mascoted during the 2008 NCAA Tournament in the Pepsi Center in Denver vs. Washington State. The game was tied 29-29 at halftime...Winthrop lost 70-41. That "thin air = hard to breathe" stuff is NO JOKE. I performed for about a minute during a time-out and nearly passed out on the way back to the tunnel.

I was also hired to be the backup mascot for the Charlotte Knights in 2008. I signed paperwork, spent a few hours in the suit to get used to it, PR manager said he'd get back to me with a schedule of when I needed to work...and he never got back to me. I called and e-mailed multiple times, and nothing. Really disappointing.

Participation-wise:

Football - played for 3 years in middle school. Our team was terrible, we won 3 games in 3 years. I played DE/LB/TE and never touched the ball in a game. I was also 3rd string quarterback and was seconds from running a play, but that's entirely another story. My highlight is that I once tackled a current NFL player - 49ers CB Philip Adams.

Basketball - played church basketball for 9 years in high school and 1 year in college, church basketball is pretty big here as there are only 3 high schools in a town of around 75,000. Between freshman/JV/Varsity, there are only about 100 males in Rock Hill that wear a high school jersey - so church basketball is essentially the AAA level, basically on par with JV. Highlight would be a scoring 19 points against a very good team in college. Also played intramural basketball at Winthrop for 4 years.

Baseball - played 5 years in middle/high school. I pitched and played second base, no real talent to speak of, I was a decent contact hitter but never hit a home run. Only real highlight was a game where I struck out 9 and went 5/5 with a triple and 2 doubles from the plate.

Softball - church softball for 6 years during middle/high school. Only thing of note is that I won my only team championship in any sport at any level during my 6th grade church softball season.

Lacrosse - I joined Winthrop's club lacrosse team my junior year. I practiced with the team for about 2 months before quitting to devote more time to schoolwork and pledging a fraternity.

Currently, I am a high school social studies teacher. Last year, I filmed varsity/JV football games, ran the clock and scoreboard for boys/girls varsity basketball, and helped coach the varsity baseball team. I plan on becoming a full member of the basketball coaching staff next year.