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For everyone who watches games and says "I could do that..."

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For everyone who watches games and says "I could do that..."

Postby PonyPride » Tue Dec 12, 2006 1:37 am

Like a lot of people on this board, I grew up playing sports -- a lot of sports, but my main sport was soccer. When I was in shape, I was .... almost average, I guess. Oh, I thought I was good, but I was wrong. Trust me.

So, because I'm too stubborn (or maybe too stupid) to realize that I'm not a high school athlete who can run all day, I still play soccer every week.

Very badly.

I play for the same reason most former athletes play. It's fun. I harbor no illusions of actual ability, and fitness abandoned me about the same time I discovered beer and cheese fries. Every week I feel older and slower, but it's a great game, so I give it a whirl every week.

• • • • • • • • • •

Earlier this season, I wrote that I was quickly becoming a fan of transfer midfielder Ben Shuleva on the SMU men's soccer team, and said that he reminded me of a former SMU midfielder, Bryan Thompson.

Tonight, I played against Thompson .... sort of.

When the game started, I watched No. 8 on the other team, and kept thinking "damn, that guy looks familiar," but I couldn't quite place him. Thompson was by far the best player on the field -- go figure -- and although he didn't set up every goal against us, he set up a lot of them, and we basically got undressed, 10-3 (and two of our goals were lucky as hell). That score isn't quite as dramatic as it would be in an outdoor game, but it's still every bit as much of a hide-tanning as it sounds like. We were outclassed. We were outmanned. We had two subs to their six, and the majority of their players were younger, and all of them were faster.

At the end of the game, we went to shake hands, and I remembered this guy had been a finalist for the Hermann Award (given annually to the nation's finest college player). Seeking verification, I asked him without re-introducing myself "weren't you nominated for the Hermann Award?"

His response: "Yeah, about 20 pounds ago."

Make no mistake, Thompson's 20 pounds does not make him anything like the rest of us. Another former SMU player, Billy Pettigrew, also was on the other team, and I think he had a couple of goals tonight. But Thompson is just in another world .... even after all of these years. He has a "real job" now, and plays these pick-up games, but he doesn't train anywhere near the level at which he once did. He claimed he isn't much of a player anymore, but the touch he had on the ball made it look like he had it on a string compared to the rest of us. At SMU, he was a very tough player who never got tired, played through pain and didn't blink when he got hit by a bigger opponent. We hit him a couple of times tonight -- not because we were trying to hit him, just because we're old and have no brakes when we crank up a little forward momentum -- and he didn't flinch. While the rest of us flailed and flopped around on the field, making a few decent plays all night, he made great plays. He made perfect passes all night, even taking the blame when one of his teammates overran the ball. He quarterbacked their team like he was still wearing his old No. 5 SMU jersey.

Wathing him play was like watching a recent NBA player in a pick-up game at the local gym -- he might be years removed from his playing days, but his sheer athletic ability and understanding of the game and technical skill means that when he's 80 years old, he'll still be schooling the mere mortals of the world.

Because I have absolutely no life, I thought of this website while Thompson and Pettigrew and the rest of those guys were using us as cones at an afternoon practice. I thought of everyone who writes "how hard is it to do (fill in the blank)? I could do that!" Um .... no, you can't. There's a reason that guys like Bryan Thompson are finalists for national Player of the Year awards, and the rest of us aren't. I've covered a lot of sports for a lot of years, and I've watched sports even longer, long enough that I like to think I know what I'm talking about a lot of the time. But I'll try to refrain from making it sound like something that goes wrong for the Ponies is something easy. It's not. There's nothing easy about what SMU's athletes in ALL sports do. Hell, there's nothing POSSIBLE in what many of them do, but somehow they do it. And when those athletes have "SMU" on the front of their jerseys, I'm glad they have the ability and the coaching and the work ethic needed to compete for SMU the way they do.
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Postby ponyplayer » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:49 am

the real athletes load up the ice chest in the cart and play golf.............
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Postby Water Pony » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:35 am

Pony Pride,

I loved your post. As a serious amateur, your experience mirrors mine. You can certainly admire the talent, when you share a field, court, pool or road with them.

As a swimmer, the difference between a dedicated athlete and a world class one is one way to take personal measure of yourself, while admiring the skills of the others.

I cycle now and am better than most everyone at my age, but, compared to a professional, I am in awe.

Thanks.
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