Golf is my only hope. I did get to participate in two professional baseball tryouts in HS, but that’s getting close to 30 years ago now.
I was a 5 handicap three years ago, but due to lack of consistent play I’m now an 11. If I were to dedicate myself to the game now, I’m sure I’d be able to qualify for low level professional tournaments by the time I’m 50. If the requirement is the PGA or Senior PGA tour, then no. But there are plenty of local tournaments that have prizemoney if I were to declare myself a professional.
Oh, I have no idea if people do it professionally or not. I’m sure somewhere people do. I was just trying to think of any kind of activity that I am good at that could be considered a sport. 10 years ago, when I was in high school, I would have said basketball. But since I haven’t played or even shot around in years, my chances of going pro now are probably fairly slim.
I guess mountain biking, although even that is a real stretch, since I’m fat and slow. But I’m too stupid to be scared to crash into things!
I used to compete in “messenger racing” (basically an obstacle course on bikes, where you earn points by transporting parcels from checkpoint to checkpoint), and actually qualified for the final at the 2002 European Championships (which, even though about half the entrants qualified, is the height of my competitive athletic career by far). But, even though this is a semi-organized activity with regularly held national and international meets, there’s no TV contract, so it doesn’t meet the requirements of the OP…plus there’s the fact that I never came anywhere close to actually winning anything).
Powerlifting: I’ve spent the last three years powerlifting and can lift some pretty serious weight. My problem is, I’m against steroids and every elite powerlifter is on gear so that puts me at a decided disadvantage.
Golf I play to a two and only get out about once a month (hit some balls periodically). I can still get it down itno the 60’s if I am really cranking and the course be set up just right.
Nothing. At 40 there is no hope. Maybe like Doors I could say shooting but to be honest I’m good but not on a competitive level (to be fair never fired with the fancy competition equipment).
In my prime, nothing. I’ve known a couple of pro athletes through the years. On the high school level these guys were like gods walking the earth. That is how far apart from normal you have to be to be a pro (at least in the major American money sports). And none of the guys I know ever became stars or even had much of a career in the pros.
Way back when, it would have been baseball; I set a HS state record and got letter from the Indians. Of course that was a torn rotator cuff ago. Barring that I guess I’d have to go with golf; I’ve got a solid swing and good distance…and absolutely no touch around the greens.
Auto racing. I drove stock cars at a local short track for 5 years then jumped into a NASCAR touring series, the Raybestos Northwest Tour. These cars are about 3 steps below what was running in the Winston Cup series at the time. The year I drove a driver named Dirk Stephens was the hot shoe and he was able to parlay this into a couple of years in the Busch series a few years later. I had hoped that this would be a chance for me to work my way up but found out rather quickly that money had as much to do with one’s success as driving talent. After spending about $40,000, all I was left with was a couple of trophies and a pile of worn out tires. I drove a few more years at the local tracks then decided that I wasn’t going to be the next Dale Earnhardt.
Pool and Karate. Karate 20 yeara ago, and pool if I really worked at it. I got to the provincial level in both sports (karate in sparring and Kata competition), and then didn’t take them any further. I was more of a natural at Karate, but was handicapped badly in pool by my eyesight. Since I stopped playing seriously, I’ve had LASIK surgery, and I’ve noticed that my game has gotten better. So maybe I’ll start doing that again a little more seriously.
But to be honest, there is an incredibly huge gap between being a reasonably successful amateur and playing at the pro level in most sports that unless you were clearly the class of the amateur field at a pretty high level, the chance of making it as a pro is pretty slim.
If poker counted as a sport, that’d be number one.
Is there a women’s faction to WWF-style wrestling? I am huge and pretty fearless with a martial arts background, I could totally kick some other chick’s ass.
If not, I guess I have the body type of a darts pro.
Hmm… my best shot would be lacrosse, but I was a backup on a crappy club team in college. I guess if I had a year to prepare with no other obligations, I might be able to try out, but it would be the longest shot in the history of long shots.
Having played on a national fast-pitch softball level (twice lost in Nat’l Championship finals), I would be at least a little impressed of some guys I played with and against and none of them got a sniff of the pros. One teammate played AAA at 23 and he had a swing to drool over. He was just on another level.
On that same note, two former MLB players (brothers, actually) have just joined my Sunday slo-pitch softball team and I gather one of them hit a home run a distance that was not thought to be humanly reachable (I have been out of town the last two three weekends and been unable to play).
I like to think I would have had the talent and agility to be a good team handball player (not the game where you hit it against a wall; more like a soccer-Lacrosse hybrid), but it’s merely an Olympic sport, not a professional one. And I’m probably kidding myself.
Maybe I could be a decent bobsled racer, one of the guys who just pushes and then hops in.
:rolleyes: