The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[Scribe]

It's like my neighbor saying he could take on Tyson. Sure buddy.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wish I was half as smart as you think you are.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It's like my neighbor saying he could take on Tyson. Sure buddy.

One of my favorite recurring themes is the idea that people who see something performed at a high level by professionals (who, obviously, are making it look easy) don't understand how insanely difficult it is to reach that level, and how much talent and work it takes to just get to that level.

So you have the rando couch potatoes saying, "Yeah, I could do that better."

High school kid challenges retired NBA player, and it goes exactly how you'd expect

The lesson: Do not challenge a professional athlete to a contest.

sports.yahoo.com

TLDR; yes, even a "bad" NBA bench player, retired for nine years and past their prime, is a lot better than you at basketball.

 

[Ryujin]

It's like my neighbor saying he could take on Tyson. Sure buddy.

Depends. Does he mean "take on" in a fighting context, or "take on" in the A-Ha context?

 

[Velderan]

One of my favorite recurring themes is the idea that people who see something performed at a high level by professionals (who, obviously, are making it look easy) don't understand how insanely difficult it is to reach that level, and how much talent and work it takes to just get to that level.

So you have the rando couch potatoes saying, "Yeah, I could do that better."

High school kid challenges retired NBA player, and it goes exactly how you'd expect

The lesson: Do not challenge a professional athlete to a contest.

sports.yahoo.com

TLDR; yes, even a "bad" NBA bench player, retired for nine years and past their prime, is a lot better than you at basketball.

The Minnesota Wild posted a video 5 or 6 years ago of Ryan Carter after he had retired from the league joining a beer league hockey game. He spent the first part of the game acting like he couldn’t skate or pass, before flipping the on switch and making the other players look silly. Not sure if you’re familiar with Ryan Carter, but he was basically a 4th line grinder type. So yep, even the less skilled professional athletes are amazingly skilled players compared to the average person.

I think a missed opportunity for whoever has the Olympic broadcast rights is to air footage of normal people doing each event before the people who trained their whole life to do that event compete to set the tone for just how amazing these people are.

 

[trappedslider]

It's like my neighbor saying he could take on Tyson. Sure buddy.

Does he not have ears?

 

[Ryujin]

The Minnesota Wild posted a video 5 or 6 years ago of Ryan Carter after he had retired from the league joining a beer league hockey game. He spent the first part of the game acting like he couldn’t skate or pass, before flipping the on switch and making the other players look silly. Not sure if you’re familiar with Ryan Carter, but he was basically a 4th line grinder type. So yep, even the less skilled professional athletes are amazingly skilled players compared to the average person.

I think a missed opportunity for whoever has the Olympic broadcast rights is to air footage of normal people doing each event before the people who trained their whole life to do that event compete to set the tone for just how amazing these people are.

I was the catalyst for a similar incident. A ladyfriend of mine was a professional 125GP* motorcycle racer. Canadian Professional Champ, in fact. She had never gone to a track day before because she had taken the same racing school that I did, which qualifies entrants for a racing license, then she went straight into racing. I suggested that she accompany me to a track day that was being hosted by some friends, at a local track. We got there and set up in the pits. A woman came by and remarked on how "cute" her bike was and said "it would be perfect for my 14 year old son."

We went walking around the pits so that I could introduce her to various people I knew there. Two of my friends looked at her and one said, "Is that...", just letting the sentence trail off. I nodded and they walked off, barely holding in their laughter, knowing what was to come. You see, their group had several members who were firmly convinced that they could just decide to go racing and clean up. One of them had raced at an amateur level, but not much, on a 600cc Sportbike.

My friend went out with the group that included the amateur racer and racer wannabes. (Groups are arranged based on relative ability and I'm generally in the 'mid' group, unless faster folks want passing practice ) By the third lap she had passed all of the wannabes, without any real effort, and was chasing down racer-boy. She stuck to his tail for 4 or 5 more laps and when she was lining up to pass him, he pulled off the track. By that time the pit wall was crowded, with pretty much everyone who wasn't actually out on the track, watching the show.

* A 125GP bike is a 125cc, 2-stroke, purpose-made race bike, that was never designed to be used on the street. They are tiny by comparison to street bikes, or other race bikes that are based on street bikes. When she crashed on a race weekend I picked her bike up and carried it into the back of my pickup truck.

 

[Umbran]

* A 125GP bike is a...

...bike that costs 125 Gold Pieces.

 

[darjr]

too on the nose. saw the warning.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I wish I was half as smart as you think you are.

You want an IQ of 73? Well, okay...