This is the level the rest of us wish we could take it to

I don't care, Nobody was as good as I was in my own
imagination.

Great Olympic announcer's comment after an amazing volley during the Brazil-US men's volleyball match: I'd like to see every team have one average member, just to show (by comparison) how good these athletes really are.

Years ago my cousin Eddie and I were watching a baseball game on one of those small-screen black-and-white TVs we had in the 50s. He is four years older than I am but we shared a love of baseball; his was for the New York Yankees and mine for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

I think the Yankees were playing as they usually were at his house in New Jersey. We offered comments now and then and I am sure I made some wise cracks.

Eddie knew his baseball, he played in high school and as I recall he received some attention from big league scouts. I looked up to him.

So, in the course of the game one of the players made an error and I made some critical comment in response to which my cousin took me to school.

Paraphrased from dim memory the basis of what he said was people playing at the major league level are so much better at it than we normal folk, we really have no ground to stand on in criticism.  I was probably in the middle of high school at the time and played fairly well, but he pointed out to me that the worst guy on that team could throw better than I could. The guy also ran faster, fielded better and hit better too. And that's the worst guy on the team. Imagine what Mickey Mantle or Yogi Berra or Whitey Ford could do playing against us. (I did say he was a Yankees fan.)

Somehow that lesson has survived and I seldom call a player bad. I might not like a play that's made but never question the player's ability. If I start to, my cousin's admonition comes to mind like a wagging finger in my head: The worst guy on that team is so much better then you, you couldn't even walk onto the same court.

So now at this age watching athletes 50 or more years distant from when I made the pretense of being an athlete, I still try to put a perspective on how good these people really are, and too, think about how hard it was to reach the Olympic level. The worst athlete out there is so much better than the vast majority of us we should think sometimes before we criticize the girl who fell on her head or the other one who didn't raise her hand for the anthem, or the fellow who foot faults making a serve.

They are so vulnerable to criticism from the announcer's table or our seats in the stands or more likely the easy chair in our living room. But, they are so much better at the sport than we are, and maybe like the announcer said, every team should have one average player just to emphasize the quality of the athletes we are watching.

Me and Slim and the Major Leagues

Baseball over the years in Valdez, Alaska