# "No professionals, please!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 23, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951 "2022-05-23T19:00:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/1 "2022-05-23T19:00:02Z")
I would like to share a story told to me about 10 years ago by someone I met at a bar, and I’m wondering if anyone has similar stories they’d like to share. Back in high school, this guy was an accomplished streetball player in the sport of basketball, and he participated in a three-on-three. He was so thoroughly dominated by someone several inches shorter than he was that he quit playing basketball. The guy he was playing against turned out to be Allen Iverson, who went on to become one of the greatest NBA players of his generation. Anyone else have a story like that? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/2 "2022-05-23T19:15:51Z")
There is a guy named ‘Paul’ that has an endless supply of them. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/3 "2022-05-23T21:46:48Z")
The original office in the UK had an IT guy tell a story about being mistaken for a professional race car driver. Very similarly told: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2Z8pgV74_Hw/hqdefault.jpg "BBC Office UK I.T GUY Simon | BRUCE LEE | GO KARTING") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z8pgV74_Hw) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/4 "2022-05-24T15:07:36Z")
My English teacher in HS told a story about watching a high school basketball game many years previous, where one of the players completely outclassed everyone else on the court. That player was Carl Yastrzemski, who went on to play basketball for Notre Dame, and something with baseball, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/5 "2022-05-24T15:59:35Z")
I was once at state finals in L-D debate when I was put up against a young black man named ‘Barry’ from a posh prep school. Although I was admired and even feared as a fierce debater, ‘Barry’ was a master at oratory technique and unbeatable dialectic, bringing me to the brink of tears as he dissected my premise, undermined reasoning, rebutted my defense, and ultimately vanquished me in a final stunning turn of momentous elocution, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd that had grown to spill out of the auditorium. That man went on to be Senator and then President Barack Obama, who was an unstoppable force of rhetorical logic, deep compassion, and Constitutional scholarship until being utterly gridlocked by a snapping turtle in an expensive suit. And that…is the rest of the story. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/6 "2022-05-24T16:13:20Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > ‘Barry’ was a master at oratory technique and unbeatable dialectic, bringing me to the brink of tears Did you go up to him with those tears in your eyes and say to him, “Sir…”? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/7 "2022-05-25T00:40:45Z")
I did play Isiah Thomas in 3 on 3 basketball, but it was at a basketball camp and he was an NBA star already. I was 11 or 12 years old and it was really neat. Life memory for me to play against a real all-star player. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/8 "2022-05-25T00:58:35Z")
I knew a guy who took tourists on four wheeler adventures at a resort. He took out an older man and his son in law out. The whole day he keeps telling the older man “don’t worry sir, your not in any danger.” They stopped so the old guy could use the rest room and the old guy’s son in law said to the guide, “that’s Neil Armstrong, you don’t have to worry about scaring him.” ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/9 "2022-05-25T02:18:21Z")
I played soccer against a couple guys that had alright pro careers and one of which got capped by the USMNT ~50 times? He was a professional keeper, but played the field when I faced him so it wasn’t quite as disruptive as it might have been. My high school coach played division 1 and knew his career would never go any further when he had to defend David Weir, a guy that had a long career as a defender, but for some odd reason played in the US college system as a forward. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/10 "2022-05-25T02:58:06Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > I played soccer against a couple guys that had alright pro careers and one of which got capped by the USMNT ~50 times? He was a professional keeper, Wow, which keeper was that? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2022, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/11 "2022-05-25T03:01:43Z")
Brad Guzan. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/12 "2022-05-26T08:03:59Z")
I dated a woman in high school who 5 years later had a pretty good run as a high level Suicide girls model along with other softcore/cheesecake photo sites because she had really nice big boobs. I literally told her those breasts were good enough to make Playboy at the time, and I was basically right! ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/13 "2022-05-28T04:55:17Z")
This is my favorite video on this topic, where retired journeyman NBA player Brian Scalabrine demonstrates just how far ahead NBA players are compared to mere mortals. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/i93vF0WOX6w/maxresdefault.jpg "These Regular Guys Challenged An NBA Player And Instantly Regretted It") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i93vF0WOX6w) “I’m closer to LeBron than you are to me.” - Brian Scalabrine ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/14 "2022-05-28T05:13:49Z")
That was fun to watch. I remember Brian! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/15 "2022-05-28T14:06:21Z")
Fun video. Minor question that is beside the point of the video, but at 7:00 in the video for “The Scallenge” show, they show the three contestants and label them as “Challanger #1,” “Challanger #2,” and “Challanger #3.” My brain hiccuped and I had to double check in case my brain was just having a weird moment, but, no, it’s normally spelled “challenger.” Am I missing some kind of wordplay or joke? Or is this just a run-of-the-mill typo? It doesn’t look like it’s on the clip from the actual show, just made for this video. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/16 "2022-05-28T15:12:34Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I dated a woman in high school who 5 years later had a pretty good run as a high level Suicide girls model along with other softcore/cheesecake photo sites because she had really nice big boobs. > > I literally told her those breasts were good enough to make Playboy at the time, and I was basically right! [Moderating] This isn’t the Penthouse Letters Section. All of the weird sex posts lately are getting creepy. Go take a cold shower, or the next one will be a Warning. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-professionals-please/964951/17 "2022-05-28T20:00:18Z")
The Scalabrine thing is pretty interesting in that be dominated a significantly younger division 1 player. If you consider a tier of players such that a player in tier N is basically always going to beat a player in tier N+1 Scalabrine, when he was a pro, was at most 1 tier (probably same tierbelow Lebron while retired he’s probably 3 or 4 tiers above a varsity high school player that’s hoping to get a scholarship.