Best athlete you ever played against?

[WaylonJennings]

So I played in a charity basketball, Grad Students vs. The Faculty game the other night. The faculty shows up with a surprise ringer: Michigan Fab Five member Jimmy King.

Yeah, we lost. He was actually cool about it, didn't hang 60 on us or anything. Just played well enough when he had to in order to make sure his team didn't lose. But when he wanted to score or wanted to clamp down on defense, we were unable to do anything about it. And we had a couple of Division I athletes on our side, a woman who played at Penn and a guy who played football at Notre Dame. No comparison.

It was sure fun to be on the same court of someone who played in the NBA, even for just a cup of coffee. It gave me some insight into how much better guys like that actually are than even the best among us weekend warriors.

 

[mustangj17]

How random is it that before I read your story, I was thinking that my story would involve Jimmy King?

I played against him at Lifetime Fitness about a year ago. He didn't even do much, just sort of jogged around the entire time.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/52229/

 

[User 1019]

Played high school ball against Dewayne White, who went on to be a star d-lineman at Louisville and wound up playing for Tampa and now Detroit. I was a senior when he was a sophomore at two very small, rural schools.

Great story. He was raised by his grandmother and worked nearly 40 hours a week after school and football practice to support the family. Blew out his knee his senior year, causing some bigger schools to pass him up.

 

[outofplace]

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/52229/

To be fair, that thread hasn't had a post on it for over two years.

 

[slappy4428]

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/52229/

To be fair, that thread hasn't had a post on it for over two years.

Not like we've had a call to update it. Although, I did get suckered into a halftime shootout with another member of sj.nation at halftime of one of our state's championship games. It's nice to know that while he sucked as bad as i did, we both would have preferred a closest-to-the-pin contest instead of airballing 3-pointers.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Jason Kidd. Kid could play. :D

Needless to say, my team lost. ;D

 

[txsportsscribe]

spud webb in high school. a foot shorter than me and yes, he dunked.

 

[forever_town]

I played a game of flag football against former NFL players. Needless to say, our team didn't even score a point. But I did catch a pass. :D

And there's proof of my playing on Facebook for those of you who are in the know. ;D

 

[lantaur]

In college, played a pickup game with Adrian Branch, who had come to our gym. Got caught on defense against him on a 2-on-1 break. He went up for a layup and for some reason - I guess natural reaction - I went up for a "block" and as I'm in the air I said, "Yeah, right." I think I hit the bottom of his elbow. Branch did give me a smile and a high-five after that and made some complimentary mark I have since forgotten.

Once played softball against Byron Larkin (Barry's brother, played college hoops) and some ex-Bengals player whom I forget. Larkin I believe hit one of my pitches like 300 feet, if not longer.

 

[93Devil]

I played a round of golf last year with a woman on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, and if anyone has a chance to play a round of golf with a pro, do it.

She was probably 115 pounds dripping wet and just destroyed all of us distance-wise. I was expecting her to be 1000 times more accurate, but her power just blew me away.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Played college baseball against Warren Newson and Sean Hillegas. Played high school football against David McCluskey (played TB at Georgia) and Keith Henderson (also played TB at Georgia and won a Super Bowl with the 49ers).

 

[Trey Beamon]

I never played against Nick Punto. But I hid in a closet until his team's bus left our high school.

 

[93Devil]

Paging IJAG in 3... 2...

WTF were you doing the closet? So many easy jokes to be typed, but I will not do that route.

 

[EStreetJoe]

Wound up in a pickup game one time with Greg Grant during his senior year of college (I was only a sophomore at the time)
Grant had a 6-year NBA career. But in college (Division III) he scored 2,611 points in three seasons, including a best in the nation 1,044 (32.6 ppg) his senior year.

 

[bjot]

I played a pick up game of hoops the other day against the back up point gaurd for the University of Maine at Orono. Kid could flat out shoot.

 

[JC]

Steve Nash, and numerous NHLers.

Played against Nash in 3 different sports, Basketball, Soccer and Rugby, he was the best player in all of them

 

[kingcreole]

Scott Vermillion. Would have been a regular on the US soccer team had he stayed away from injuries.

Championship game of the Governor's Cup in 1995, we're tied 3-3 in overtime. Vermillion takes a free kick from 25 yards out. I'm the outside man of the wall, lined up with the goalpost. Sonofabitch bends the ball at least a yard around me and into the goal. Unreal.

 

[Den1983]

In college, I played pickup ball with Antonio Falu, a Houston high school hoops star who spent time at Valparaiso and somewhere else before flaming out. Great, great talent. Had great work ethic, good size, could shoot and score from anywhere and a great passer. Not sure what exactly went wrong for him, but, man, could that man ball.

 

[playthrough]

I played a round of golf last year with a woman on the Duramed FUTURES Tour, and if anyone has a chance to play a round of golf with a pro, do it.

She was probably 115 pounds dripping wet and just destroyed all of us distance-wise. I was expecting her to be 1000 times more accurate, but her power just blew me away.

I played a round with a guy who knocked it around the mini-tours for years, never could get past first stage of Q School. He made it look so damn easy.