I can hold my own in baseball and politics when I’ve a mind to. I can comment intelligently (more or less) on many subjects. That makes me a wizard among the people I hang out with in real life. Here, I’m just one of the crowd.
Now, if you asked me to name the particular experts here that I pay attention to on particular subjects, I might could go on for awhile about that. I learn a lot here.
Girl, nobody jacks with you over post counts either. 
Woah, you went to Garry James’ house? See, this is why I must keep defering.
well, i’m pretty confident in my knowledge of bluegrass & old time music, sound engineering and songwriting…but I’m sure there are more knowledgeable and less vocal experts in all three lurking…
That said, I’m probably the resident expert on flatpicking guitar here. I can hold my own on knowledge of the mandolin, banjo and bass as well.
I will defer to fishbicycle on the audio engineering (although he’s more studio based and I’m more of a live sound engineer) and GorllaMan on the music theory though…
I think we may be tied on that one, although I know a lot about all aspects of pizza making and delivering. I did the insider/cook gig, taking orders, managing, and delivering in my two-year stint in Hell.
I know entirely too much about Final Fantasy Seven. I spent most of my high school career failing high school and playing Final Fantasy Seven.
~Tasha
Inline speedskating. Though I never made it “big”, I learned from several great coaches and also trained with several pro skaters. Sometimes it was just me and a couple of the pro men. If that doesn’t whip ya into shape, nothing will.
That’s one subject I know very well and no one can tell me otherwise.
I started at a Papa John’s and worked there almost 5 years. I started out as a driver, did the assistant manager thing, did the manager thing. I also worked for a campus area pizza shop on the inside, worked for Dominos and briefly for Donato’s as a manger. I made pizzas at all four places. My total pizza shop experience is around 8 years, my total retail food/delivery experience is more like 10 years though.
I played FF7 for several weeks. I just kept going into the woods and starting fights until I got as powerful as I could get. When I got to Sephiroth, it was almost a let-down. I did pretty well on FF8 as well, I totally worked the card games.
Bonanza.
Yep, Bonanza.
God, I suck.
Learning Japanese, she thinks she’s learning Japanese…she really THINKS so. 
I think I may be the most knowledgable Doper on traditional medicinal uses of herbs, but I’m really a rank beginner in my community. (I’ve only been studying for 6 years - my teachers have been doing this for 40!) I do see a lot of “What WhyNot said” in threads on parenting horrid children (and occasionally dogs, which aren’t so different), which always makes me feel warm and fuzzy. But I don’t think I’m the smartest or best parent, just the Doper who’s online all the time and gets to the thread first. (Hmm…maybe that actually makes me the WORST parent! :eek: )
But I might have to have a Buffydown with silenus! (Hey, were you at Slayage, by any chance?)
I’m pretty knowledgeable about certain aspects of Social Security - especially disability claims and related litigation. And I have resources readily at hand to look up whatever I don’t know. But Social Security is a huge, multifacted issue, so there are just as many areas of which I am profoundly ignorant.
And there are several sharp attorneys around here, but I haven’t encountered any that are clearly head and shoulders above me regarding litigation in federal courts regarding matters of administrative law. Exciting, huh?
In the few aquarium threads there have been, I haven’t noted anyone clearly more knowledgeable than I about keeping aquatic plants.
I’ve lived in and around Chicago for most of my 45 years, so I have a pretty good general knowledge of Chicago’s history, culture, politics, architecture, transportation, etc. But as a certified boring old fart, I’m clueless about anything hip!
To quote my hero, Al Bundy,
Let’s rock.
Actually, let’s talk subjects that rarely, if ever, come up on the Dope, and hope that none of the people I turn to for knowledge are here:
Investment Performance Measurement and Performance Attribution Analysis
Middle- and Back-Office Business Procedures, Alternative Investment Management
Prime Brokerage Operations
Hedge Fund Administration
I’ll also slip on my gloves and duke it out with Ferret Herder over SDMB top-spot on the care, training (hah!), and upkeep of ferrets.
On 99.9% of the discussions I get into 'round these parts, there is someone more knowledgible than I am. IRL, for many of those discussions, I would have a good chance of being alpha geek.
OTOH, the one subject where, IRL, I am most certainly not the alpha geek, I (at least to me) appear to be the “expert.” Thus, my studies in Physical Oceanography have some purpose in life.
If there is a tread about homebrewing I feel compelled to contribute. I bow to no one on that topic. I’m also pretty opinionated about coffee.
Stripping, strippers, and strip clubs. It’s kind of unfortunate, but I do consider myself an expert in the field.
I came in here to mention rowing and I saw that tremorviolet had already nominated me. Sweet.
I also know a great deal about the politics of Irish-American bars.
Oh, and psycho ex-girlfriends. In that field, I am the undisputed master.
The prehistory of California, flintknapping, and Optimality Theory.
The trick is actually finding another Doper to whom I can amaze with my encyclopaedic knowledge of what native Californians were doing 2000 years ago, outrepasse flakes, and the flexibility of strict ranking.
Start an “Ask The Expert on California prehistory” thread. I am sure you would get a lot of questions.
Jim
Lawn killing. I’m the Jedi Master of killing grass.
Similar to others here, I am instantly transformed from the smartest, best-informed guy in the room to a middle of the pack sort when I log on to SDMB. There are two related subjects about which I would have no qualms about claiming expertise, but they have not arisen in my time here. In my past, I have extracted venom from reptiles, amphibians and arachnids professionally, and bred reptiles and amphibians professionally.