[Closed] If you had the talent...........

footy - it's a genuinely beautiful game when it's done right

100m sprinter. Was quick in my early years which got me in to many other sports. Always wanted to be Carl Lewis.

I can't even ride a motorbike, but I'd choose motoGP. Must be an awesome feeling, going that fast without a cage.

Gymnastics or MTB

oh, or skiing. Same reason as above

Rock star.... Wait . Snowboarder

Well if we're going away from sport then he'll yeah, **** running around and shit, I'd of been a lead singer all day long given the choice!!!

One of the popular ones; footy or tennis, just for the money

Surfer paid to live out in California. Who needs money when you are surrounded by surf chicks?

Or F1...just a year at Lewis Hamiltons pay would do. Then I'll go be a pro surfer

Skier, travel the worlds mountainous regions, exploring, 1st descents, endless powder (in my dreams, anyway)
Reality, lots of waiting for the weather to clear..

A Pheasant Pluckers mate.

Second row.

When I was young, I weighed less than a fairy fart. Now I have some meat on tall bones I would love to be a young me playing rugby.

As it was I played hockey goalie to a fairly high level.

skateboarder -closely followed by big wave surfer

if only eh

Middle Linebacker

If my eyesight had been better (although I could get into the RAF as a pilot now, just a year too old) and if I were born a yank...a fast jet carrier pilot...fly F-18's and then do a stint as an astronaut in my mid 40's.

Couldn't ask for more than that, would take that over a 250k job in the city.

You could go to a dinner party and Marc Zuckerberg might be boasting and hitting on your wife, and all you'd have to say is "Yeah well, I'm a ****ing fighter pilot"....and nothing that he could ever say or do would rid him of that feeling that he is less of a man than you. 😆

Oh and you could sing this song....with legitimacy

Motocross/supercross rider, I had the talent and factory support (big headed boast) but a car crash with a dyke and tree thanks to another **** driver put paid to that career path .

So far only one person says mtb and that's not their only choice. That's interesting on an Mtb forum.

Helicopter winch man please...

Why the hell would you want to be the winchman as opposed to the pilot?

Oddball.

You know that statistically, it's pilots that get the most tail on tinder right? 😀

I was a good hockey player back in the day and would have loved to do that professionally .

@Stoner , which club ?

NFL safety

rhythm guitarist and singer in a punk band

Having watched that "Dogs of War" video - Thunderbolt pilot, yea.

Pete - West Hampstead Hockey Club. Played in MBBO then Prem 2 South.
I was a pretty good keeper even if I do say so myself, but after over a decade of playing to a pretty high level I lost the hunger, and it was taking me more than 7 days to recover from each saturday, so I passed the baton to a younger player, did my Level 2 with the whistle and became a full time umpire for my last few years at the club.

There's not a lot of hockey out here in the boondocks, so Im working up through my Rugby reff'ing qualifications now.

And your history, Pete?

Boxing ... ya, loads of money!

It is genuinely completely beyond me as to why anyone would want to be anything other than a chain smoking, whiskey drinking, big watch wearing fast jet pilot..... 😀

Ya'll got issues....

Astronaut, but that's actually hard and shit. So, profession cricketer, if you can walk and not piss yourself for an hour or so you're in with a chance.

Thought we may have met on the pitch Stoner given your Worcestershire location .

Started as a school boy and then Worcester HC .

Moved further South West to finish my playing at Bath Buccaneers .

Played sweeper at the end and for last three seasons my tem (not 1st XI) got promotion each year . I think we conceded less than ten goals .

Like you , the recovery after each game was getting silly .

I wish I'd been born to money and did what the **** I want

the recovery after each game was getting silly .

and they say Rugby is hard.

Jumping about on carpeted concrete playing "watch this!" with half a pound of 90mph plastic. Yeah, that's not going to hurt much.

Rugby union no 7, or pro snowboarder for me. Both hurt too much though!!

Astronaut, but that's actually hard and shit. So, profession cricketer, if you can walk and not piss yourself for an hour or so you're in with a chance.

Yes but imagine all the life stories, boasts and achievements of upper middle class arseholes, that you could utterly decimate at stuffy dinner parties.

If sport, either xc pro or cyclocross pro, more likely a cx pro as you can be top in the world and not travel that much outside of Northern Europe.

Much as I love surfing, being a pro living out of a suitcase and spending half your life in international airspace would be a real ball ache.

Outside of sport, a real classic one hit wonder would be perfect, maybe a one hit wonder that was a great Christmas number one so the royalties flood in every year and you can mess around doing what you want

Definitely pro surfer.

Pro rugby player for me. Always wonder what could have been if I'd actually turned up for trials, especially as I now know a number of pros who were nothing special at schoolboy level. One of them is a current England international (tbf he was awesome at school) and the others are on the fringes of England/ solid premiership players.
Thems the breaks I guess.

I'm actually gonna agree with TomW as well. Fighter pilot has got to be the best answer to "so what line of work are you into then?".

Rode motorcycle trials for 15 years or so but I'd loved to have been good!
Decent trials riders are the magicians of the motorcycle world.

Played some recreational ice hockey too but top (NHL) players are just amazing, Their skill levels are sometimes beyond belief.

@Stoner, small world. Had to stop rugby at 12, too small not brave enough ! played hockey to a decent level with/against a few Olympians and at Uni (UAU Champions). Clubs Winchester and Guildford

Skiing is my love so that would be the dream, stand on the podium and hear the National Anthem at an Olympics (pretty unlikely as a Brit !)

at my age now, I've just taken up Archery (Recurve).

Over 20 yrs ago I got national caps for Full-bore long range target shooting, and there's part of me wondering whether I could put in the work needed now over the next 3yrs say to be in with a shout at the nationals. I'd have to set the bar low, as there's not a cat in hells chance of beating the koreans 🙂

I'm with Tom_W1987.

Fast Jet Pilot.

Why would you want to be anything else?

I used to play Hockey goalkeeper, not at club level here, but in the company league in the Netherlands where you would come across a lot of very fine players, we had an international in our side plus a couple of "premiership" players and I found the reasonable, nothing special, level of rugby I played hurt a lot more.

But on the subject of talent, I would rather have it in my head than my feet.

Fast Jet Pilot.

Why would you want to be anything else?

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WEC driver. It must be a real buzz driving a circuit like Le Mans at night time. Everything feels faster in the dark.

Airplane Driver or have a musical talent, my tone deafness and inability to master any musical instrument has been my main frustration in life.

Road cycling or ice hockey goalie.

Me, as a rank amateur:

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Well if we're not talking sport then astronaut. Astronaut beats fast jet pilot every singe time.

A stunt cock..

Otherwise an endurance driver in a nice Prototype car, running the LM24 and the like, big endurance races..

A stunt cock..

Yeah, baby.

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Racing driver (our family's always been into watching it, probably my earliest memory is James Hunt's McLaren at Silverstone in '77), fighter pilot (astronaut might be cooler but it's not much cooler and I bet you really have geek your way into that) or actor (approaching the end of week one in an amateur production in Stratford - great audience tonight, it is just fanTAStic to be able to make people laugh). Surprised at the MX/SX mentions, 20 years ago I might have agreed but really can't be arsed with it any more.

Being an author would be cool, too.

The biggest jollies I ever had were rockclimbing, I was half decent too. And ice climbing, skanky Welsh waterfall ice was my speciality. So I tried a career in OP, it was not for me at all. Hum drum weeks of taking clients walking over hills that they didn't always want to be on.

I used to get a massive hit from free-diving ever longer sumps whilst caving. When I mentioned that I was possibly thinking about taking up diving I was given short shrift and told to wise up. I still hanker after it a bit but Paul Esser's fate doesn't really appeal...

So I became a teacher. Some days it is the best job in the world. Sophie, and Lloyd did amazing things today, I'm so proud. What Shaughan and his mates are doing is stunning, it is making news.

On other days it can be the pits though.

Well if we're not talking sport then astronaut. Astronaut beats fast jet pilot every singe time.

Piffle.

Coolness is a function of the ratio of speed to height, 800 mph at treetop height is infinitely cooler than 17,000 mph in space.

There are plenty of fighter pilots who became astronauts, I don't see many phd space nerds transitioning to bombing Iraqi runways. 😛

I was at school with a fighter pilot, he got shot down and is dead, so I guess he is literally cooler.

Oh well, live fast, die young and leave a good-looking (smouldering?) corpse etc.

Whatever's right in the middle of the venn diagram of money, fun and attractiveness to wimmin. Meanwhile in the real world I'm the sort of person that makes jokes about venn diagrams, so I'll just stick to riding bikes moderately well.

Sport: Golf maybe? lots of money for a walk in the fresh air and not breaking a sweat? Or Rally driver, scarily exciting.

Job: C130 Pilot, to quote one who flew them "Low level? like driving a bus at 90mph down the high street" that must be worth it.

Seriously?
I would give all your organs for a chance at playing rugby at at even a halfway decent level. I'm 5'2" and weigh ten stone, cannot physically run due to CMT but love the game.
In the real world it's nowt, but it burns me more than any other sport.

Boxer/rugby player/Lionel Messi

Whatever's right in the middle of the venn diagram of money, fun and attractiveness to wimmin.

That's got to be an F1 driver.

Had the lightest of dabbles with boxing last November and, whilst it was an amazing experience, I would never choose it as a career, even a fantasy one. Totally understand how career boxers go a bit off the rails when their careers end, even from a one-off charity scrap.

surprising number of rugby wannabees in here, despite most of us being of an age that pre-dates the pro-game. Says something about how far Rugby has come.

Skier , adrenaline rush, stunning mountain views and world travel - whats not to like .

Yep, Fighter Pilot is the one, professional footy striker two, but for longevity golf would be difficult to beat. Best places in the world all year round.

Job...Wanted to be an spaceman as a kid but born in the wrong part of the world for that. Next was a pilot,but i was too tall and eyesight wasn't up to scratch, so i'd like to be either of those. Or a shit hot piano player.

Sport... Was good enough to play football for a living but chose bmx as i enjoyed it more. If i didn't live in the arse end of nowhere i could have made a living at that too. Of the two i think pro footballer as the level of bmx now is seriously dangerous. Not interested in MTB as a career - it's bmx's fat clumsy brother 😀 . Of the sports i've only sampled i'd say big mountain snowboarder or mx rider. Would get bored racing circles on tarmac i think.

WRC driver 😆

My BIL is a fighter pilot (red arrows also) and is a total bell end. Me, a top classics rider. Paris Roubaix, yes please.

wakeboarder (boat not park)

Wish I'd put more dedication into breakdancing

If I ever had the talent, I would have loved to be this guy.. or just Dance like him..

Gene Kelly...

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And maybe get to do this with Vera Ellen... (yes I know Gene's not in this clip...)

Pro BMXer as I still love the stuff they can pull.

@ SaxonRider, who do you think you are, Patrick Roy? 😉

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Golfist sounds good, not too strenuous, pays loads of money and you work for yourself. Less chance of death too.

Then you can spend the time in between tournaments doing things that are actually fun

Great thread.

My first thought was something along the lines of singer or guitarist in a rock band, as I'm spectacularly inept at both of those disciplines. However, pilot definitely appeals; a jet pilot with an in-road into NASA, then dropping back as a helicopter pilot when I'm getting too old for that stuff. I've actually flown a helicopter, it's one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Then you can spend the time in between tournaments doing things that are actually fun

to a golfer that's usually more golf

I'd love to be either awesome at mountain biking, or at martial arts. Sadly I've had crap knees since my teens, so neither were ever going to be very likely. Actually, I'd settle for being average at either and have fully functional knees!

In no particular order:

Comic artist
Climber
Porn star
Or seriously good drummer

Non-sports wise, I'd love to be able to sing, play the drums and guitar. I can play bass a bit, but otherwise I'm musically a bit inept. I'd also love to be a really good artist, which is potentially an achievable goal if I put the time into practicing and developing.

Non sport I would of liked to be a prominent scientist or doctor . Trouble is my brain cells didn't agree.

Parkour would be on my list if I was younger and didn't have a dodgy back and knees!

Slight edit on mine. I want to be Cancellara.

My uncle was a winchman, the news didn't ask to interview the pilot after he'd plucked 4 guys from a fishing boat in the North Sea and the crew of the lifeboat that tried first up. I'm OK on a bike but I'd swap it for a degree of guitar playing talent.