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The Random Thought Thread

rossihunter2 said:
it's wild to me that it can be expensive

literally a sport that requires zero equipment or set-up
can be played on the street with scrunched up leftover tin foil if that's all you've got - you don't even necessarily need a goal either, but if you do you just put 2 rocks or t-shirts or literally anything to make a goal
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Yeah but it’s America so everything, I mean EVERYTHING is designed for someone to make a buck at the working man’s expense.

Uniforms cost hundreds, registration fees in the thousands, traveling with hotel rooms at your expense, tournament fees, it’s insane. They charge you for every little thing and it’s gotta be marked up for the parents at least 3x what it actually costs the club.

Shit my son was going into year 2 of football and they charge you 350 for uniforms and then you have to buy the practice gear on your own, we get the helmets and they didn’t even have fucking chinstraps and all the dicks stores were sold out, they responded to me like I was crazy when I asked where’s the chinstraps we paid for, so we cut that season short on day one of padded practice. My son wasn’t really into football anyway so no big deal.

News just broke that the president of 1 of the 3 rec football clubs in Pasadena MD is going to court for embezzling over 100k from the club over many years for personal luxuries, my wife’s friend went to a fucking Disney vacation over a decade ago at the clubs expense(her aunt was the president). Shit makes me sick.
 
JoeyFlex5 said:
Yeah but it’s America so everything, I mean EVERYTHING is designed for someone to make a buck at the working man’s expense.

Uniforms cost hundreds, registration fees in the thousands, traveling with hotel rooms at your expense, tournament fees, it’s insane. They charge you for every little thing and it’s gotta be marked up for the parents at least 3x what it actually costs the club.

Shit my son was going into year 2 of football and they charge you 350 for uniforms and then you have to buy the practice gear on your own, we get the helmets and they didn’t even have fucking chinstraps and all the dicks stores were sold out, they responded to me like I was crazy when I asked where’s the chinstraps we paid for, so we cut that season short on day one of padded practice. My son wasn’t really into football anyway so no big deal.

News just broke that the president of 1 of the 3 rec football clubs in Pasadena MD is going to court for embezzling over 100k from the club over many years for personal luxuries, my wife’s friend went to a fucking Disney vacation over a decade ago at the clubs expense(her aunt was the president). Shit makes me sick.
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It was expensive when I was a kid. Can’t imagine how expensive it is now.

I certainly didn’t grow up poor but we didn’t have a lot of money either. I was really good at soccer and had several of those club teams approach me but we could never afford it.

Instead, I was on the t-shirt team with the dads coaching and we’d come in and blow those high end club teams away.

In retrospect, I had a lot more fun playing with my friends. I was always one of the smarter players on the field. And also one of the fastest. But what I was missing was the technical skill and getting that was just unattainable unless you had money to do so. It’s unfortunate but it’s the reality to most.

I finally built some of that technical skill once I got to high school before an injury ended my run. But just a case in point where the opportunities do exist here to put kids in positions to grow. Just costs way too much fucking money for a bulk of the country. And usually comes way too late in life for it to be meaningful.
 
Simba said:
It was expensive when I was a kid. Can’t imagine how expensive it is now.

I certainly didn’t grow up poor but we didn’t have a lot of money either. I was really good at soccer and had several of those club teams approach me but we could never afford it.

Instead, I was on the t-shirt team with the dads coaching and we’d come in and blow those high end club teams away.

In retrospect, I had a lot more fun playing with my friends. I was always one of the smarter players on the field. And also one of the fastest. But what I was missing was the technical skill and getting that was just unattainable unless you had money to do so. It’s unfortunate but it’s the reality to most.

I finally built some of that technical skill once I got to high school before an injury ended my run. But just a case in point where the opportunities do exist here to put kids in positions to grow. Just costs way too much fucking money for a bulk of the country. And usually comes way too late in life for it to be meaningful.
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I wanted to play football but we were broke and my mom didn’t have the time for me, when my stepdad came around and our household got more stable I was finally able to play but that wasn’t till 8th grade, I was behind the curve but football is probably the easiest sport to pick up and play well at a rec level, you just gotta have the stomach for it.

I got pretty nice at it, played for 3 years and when I switched schools and tried out for varsity at a new school I fucking crushed my tryouts and still didn’t make the team, it killed me, I didn’t bother trying to play the next year, lost all my fire for it.

Not to sound like an uncle Rico but I always wonder how good I could’ve been had I played since 6 years old like the rest of them, I legitimately think I could’ve been really good.
 
JoeyFlex5 said:
I wanted to play football but we were broke and my mom didn’t have the time for me, when my stepdad came around and our household got more stable I was finally able to play but that wasn’t till 8th grade, I was behind the curve but football is probably the easiest sport to pick up and play well at a rec level, you just gotta have the stomach for it.

I got pretty nice at it, played for 3 years and when I switched schools and tried out for varsity at a new school I fucking crushed my tryouts and still didn’t make the team, it killed me, I didn’t bother trying to play the next year, lost all my fire for it.

Not to sound like an uncle Rico but I always wonder how good I could’ve been had I played since 6 years old like the rest of them, I legitimately think I could’ve been really good.
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At 14-15 yo I was good enough to play for Red Star Belgrade age teams for 2 years. When it started becoming too serious, it was either ball or school, no half commitment, my parents and me got scared, so I left. I definitely wasn't the best but not the worst either. Who knows what could have been... Few of the kids made it all the way, played for the first team for years, won titles, played in UEFA cup competitions, beat fucking Real 4-2 while I watched from the stands...
 
allblackraven said:
At 14-15 yo I was good enough to play for Red Star Belgrade age teams for 2 years. When it started becoming too serious, it was either ball or school, no half commitment, my parents and me got scared, so I left. I definitely wasn't the best but not the worst either. Who knows what could have been... Few of the kids made it all the way, played for the first team for years, won titles, played in UEFA cup competitions, beat fucking Real 4-2 while I watched from the stands...
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Damn that’s crazy.

I forced a fumble on a dude who played KR for New Mexico State lmao highlight of my career. Don’t think I ever played with or against anyone who even sniffed the pros. MD isn’t exactly a football factory, big lacrosse and baseball state.

I did try out for wrestling one year and didn’t make it due to shit grades, the only other wrestler in my weight class on the team was a national champion and he kicked my fucking ass every day. Tbf I’m glad I didn’t make it, team was full of dickheads and FUUUUUCK wrestling practice dude, fuck it hard, hardest shit I’ve ever done in my life physically
 
JoeyFlex5 said:
Damn that’s crazy.

I forced a fumble on a dude who played KR for New Mexico State lmao highlight of my career. Don’t think I ever played with or against anyone who even sniffed the pros. MD isn’t exactly a football factory, big lacrosse and baseball state.

I did try out for wrestling one year and didn’t make it due to shit grades, the only other wrestler in my weight class on the team was a national champion and he kicked my fucking ass every day. Tbf I’m glad I didn’t make it, team was full of dickheads and FUUUUUCK wrestling practice dude, fuck it hard, hardest shit I’ve ever done in my life physically
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Apart from ST, what position did you play?
 
JoeyFlex5 said:
Damn that’s crazy.

I forced a fumble on a dude who played KR for New Mexico State lmao highlight of my career. Don’t think I ever played with or against anyone who even sniffed the pros. MD isn’t exactly a football factory, big lacrosse and baseball state.

I did try out for wrestling one year and didn’t make it due to shit grades, the only other wrestler in my weight class on the team was a national champion and he kicked my fucking ass every day. Tbf I’m glad I didn’t make it, team was full of dickheads and FUUUUUCK wrestling practice dude, fuck it hard, hardest shit I’ve ever done in my life physically
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One of my favourite genre of videos is when people talk about playing vs future pros when they were in High School. Some poor kid having to play against Derrick Henry, probably sucked at the time but cool to look back on.

In the quiet English village I grew up in I regularly played against a guy who has gone on to play a few games in the Premier League, crazy how bad at the sport they make you feel.
 
UKRaven1827 said:
One of my favourite genre of videos is when people talk about playing vs future pros when they were in High School. Some poor kid having to play against Derrick Henry, probably sucked at the time but cool to look back on.

In the quiet English village I grew up in I regularly played against a guy who has gone on to play a few games in the Premier League, crazy how bad at the sport they make you feel.
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Have you ever seen Darnell docketts HS highlights? Holy fucking shit those poor kids lol

 
allblackraven said:
At 14-15 yo I was good enough to play for Red Star Belgrade age teams for 2 years. When it started becoming too serious, it was either ball or school, no half commitment, my parents and me got scared, so I left. I definitely wasn't the best but not the worst either. Who knows what could have been... Few of the kids made it all the way, played for the first team for years, won titles, played in UEFA cup competitions, beat fucking Real 4-2 while I watched from the stands...
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Did you play with Savicevic, Prosinecki, and Sinisa Mihajlovic
 
Wow, great story.

I've always admired the Balkan region, the cradle of great athletes.
I still remember the Basketball World Cup in Argentina in the 90s and that starting five with Petrovic, Kukoc, Paspalij, Divac, Perasovic; I don't remember if Radja was there.
It's a shame what happened afterward
 
Argentina Raven said:
Wow, great story.

I've always admired the Balkan region, the cradle of great athletes.
I still remember the Basketball World Cup in Argentina in the 90s and that starting five with Petrovic, Kukoc, Paspalij, Divac, Perasovic; I don't remember if Radja was there.
It's a shame what happened afterward
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Radja was there but with his leg in a cast. Got injured during some tournament in Seattle just before the championship.
 
JoeyFlex5 said:
I wanted to play football but we were broke and my mom didn’t have the time for me, when my stepdad came around and our household got more stable I was finally able to play but that wasn’t till 8th grade, I was behind the curve but football is probably the easiest sport to pick up and play well at a rec level, you just gotta have the stomach for it.

I got pretty nice at it, played for 3 years and when I switched schools and tried out for varsity at a new school I fucking crushed my tryouts and still didn’t make the team, it killed me, I didn’t bother trying to play the next year, lost all my fire for it.

Not to sound like an uncle Rico but I always wonder how good I could’ve been had I played since 6 years old like the rest of them, I legitimately think I could’ve been really good.
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I think we all have that feeling to be fair. I don't know that I was ever making it to the pros, but I definitely would have played college and had a shot at probably the MLS had (a) I not gotten hurt and (b) had that development earlier in my life as opposed to when I got to high school.

Also funny looking back to our star football player in HS though. Had colleges coming to visit him daily during his junior and senior years. Only true offer he got for playing time was at a D2 school. Started on the OL and was moved to FB quickly in year 2 and I think that's where the career ended. Don't think he ever longed a meaningful collegiate snap. He was "the guy" at our school but was humbled real quick when you learn just how much talent is out there.
 
JoeyFlex5 said:
Rec league when there was weight classes instead of age groups I played both lines, HS I played LB

Smallish and not very fast but I was a thumper like a mf lol
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When I played in the late 80’s and early 90’s before HS that’s the way it was for me too, they went by weight not age, always weighed in before the games and if over you had to turn your jersey inside out. I played for the Andover Apaches for 2yrs then the Gridiron Rebels for 2yrs, and to be honest the price from what I can remember was only like $75… and trust me growing up with a single Mother that was a lot … but nothing even close to today’s prices
 
Simba said:
American football life is boring right now...

unless you're Brandon Aiyuk
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We should trade for a Center to spice things up a bit between now and Training Camp lol. It really feels like time drags when there is no football, but we get to week 1 and somehow it's the Super Bowl already.
 
Simba said:
I think we all have that feeling to be fair. I don't know that I was ever making it to the pros, but I definitely would have played college and had a shot at probably the MLS had (a) I not gotten hurt and (b) had that development earlier in my life as opposed to when I got to high school.

Also funny looking back to our star football player in HS though. Had colleges coming to visit him daily during his junior and senior years. Only true offer he got for playing time was at a D2 school. Started on the OL and was moved to FB quickly in year 2 and I think that's where the career ended. Don't think he ever longed a meaningful collegiate snap. He was "the guy" at our school but was humbled real quick when you learn just how much talent is out there.
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Oh don’t misunderstand me… I was never gonna be anything beyond a high school player lmao no matter what my exposure was
 
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