Ray Hudson and how former athletes deal w/ unfulfilled dreams

[oxcoug]

Ray Ray's burst of bitterness about supposedly being as good or better than Curtis Brown and all that other fun stuff made me feel a pang of sympathy for him and all of the athletes who genuinely work their asses off for years and years and end up... w/ nothing to show for it. Surely the impulse is strong to find reasons other than their own inadequate skills/athleticism to explain away why they didn't make the show.

Even some of the Cougar-beloved (Sark and Curtis for instance) have been prone to this.

My closest friend from high school is a documentary maker and about 10 years ago he went up to the weed-obsessed town of Humboldt, CA to catch up with four former star athletes from our high school. Three had been All-Section high school players who got football scholarships, two to D1 schools and one to a smaller school. One of the three had really thought he had the chops to make it to the NFL - he was a TE who was 6'3 220 in high school and clocked a legit 4.6 40. The fourth (the drummer, obviously) had been a .450 hitter on our baseball team who ended up playing baseball at LSU.

Only one of the four had finished their degree or seen significant playing time - that was the non-D1 defensive back. Through some weird gravitation all four of them ended up in Humboldt/Arcata - smoking a lot of weed and forming a band that actually didn't suck. I think it was called Mood Sock.

They went from being cleancut sports stars with shining futures, to being in a jam band with chest length goatees.

My buddy's doc was an exploration of the psychological transition from being the stars and centers of attention in the sports culture of a mid-American town to being disillusioned, pot junkies in a rock band. Honestly don't remember if the doc itself was any good but the problem of the transition is something I find pretty interesting.

[byu71]

Ray Ray's burst of bitterness about supposedly being as good or better than Curtis Brown and all that other fun stuff made me feel a pang of sympathy for him and all of the athletes who genuinely work their asses off for years and years and end up... w/ nothing to show for it. Surely the impulse is strong to find reasons other than their own inadequate skills/athleticism to explain away why they didn't make the show.

Even some of the Cougar-beloved (Sark and Curtis for instance) have been prone to this.

My closest friend from high school is a documentary maker and about 10 years ago he went up to the weed-obsessed town of Humboldt, CA to catch up with four former star athletes from our high school. Three had been All-Section high school players who got football scholarships, two to D1 schools and one to a smaller school. One of the three had really thought he had the chops to make it to the NFL - he was a TE who was 6'3 220 in high school and clocked a legit 4.6 40. The fourth (the drummer, obviously) had been a .450 hitter on our baseball team who ended up playing baseball at LSU.

Only one of the four had finished their degree or seen significant playing time - that was the non-D1 defensive back. Through some weird gravitation all four of them ended up in Humboldt/Arcata - smoking a lot of weed and forming a band that actually didn't suck. I think it was called Mood Sock.

They went from being cleancut sports stars with shining futures, to being in a jam band with chest length goatees.

My buddy's doc was an exploration of the psychological transition from being the stars and centers of attention in the sports culture of a mid-American town to being disillusioned, pot junkies in a rock band. Honestly don't remember if the doc itself was any good but the problem of the transition is something I find pretty interesting.

What also has to be a shock for these guys is all the love and how that can turn to outright disdain. For what, acting cocky or expressing opinions that don't fit with the group think.

Everybody bags on Kessman and it seems for good reason. However, I remember being over on TBS board and chat watching people basically with their noses a mile up his Dad's ass. I even remarked in one chat that those guys might be building a monster and the old man seemed a little eager to share stories about how awesome his kid was.

I basically got the shut the hell up why do you have to be so negative line. Probably from Indy, that is his style, but I don't really remember.

Anyway, we do have a way of making some of these kids, like non LDS or non LDS AA's into folk heroes before they arrive. Why wouldn't some of them have the opnion they would be treated well and our women will be made available to them.

[RC Vikings]

I'm not sure how you get to the DI level in football or bb and not feel like you have a sense of entitlement.

[Jacob]

To Hudson's credit, when all the gang-rape shenanigans were going on, he showed up to the apartment once it was going on, saw it, and immediately left. He also refused to participate in the cover-up the rest of the guys planned and tried to execute. So he's not a bad guy. Just sour grapes.

[HBCoug]

To Hudson's credit, when all the gang-rape shenanigans were going on, he showed up to the apartment once it was going on, saw it, and immediately left. He also refused to participate in the cover-up the rest of the guys planned and tried to execute. So he's not a bad guy. Just sour grapes.

He's all business ... still. Also, a really poor evaluator of talent if he honestly thought Mike Reed should've been starting in front of Austin Collie. I agree with your entire paragraph though.

[Sizzle]

He's all business ... still. Also, a really poor evaluator of talent if he honestly thought Mike Reed should've been starting in front of Austin Collie. I agree with your entire paragraph though.

As one who watched a lot of Ray's and Mike's time at BYU I will say these two things.

1) Mike Reed made some amazing plays in practice. I don't know that his game performance lined up with his practice performance, though he wasn't a slouch on the field either. But I do think that AC was a better receiver than Reed and the success AC is having in the NFL certainly provides additional evidence.

2) Ray Hudson NEVER came close to making a lot of plays, even in practice. He was never near the player that CB was, and his assertations that he didn't get a fair shake are unfounded, IMO.

PS I love the All-Business shout out.

[Viking]

What also has to be a shock for these guys is all the love and how that can turn to outright disdain. For what, acting cocky or expressing opinions that don't fit with the group think.

Everybody bags on Kessman and it seems for good reason. However, I remember being over on TBS board and chat watching people basically with their noses a mile up his Dad's ass. I even remarked in one chat that those guys might be building a monster and the old man seemed a little eager to share stories about how awesome his kid was.

I basically got the shut the hell up why do you have to be so negative line. Probably from Indy, that is his style, but I don't really remember.

Anyway, we do have a way of making some of these kids, like non LDS or non LDS AA's into folk heroes before they arrive. Why wouldn't some of them have the opnion they would be treated well and our women will be made available to them.

Indy is surprisingly petulant for a prep school boy.

[Top Ute]

He's all business ... still. Also, a really poor evaluator of talent if he honestly thought Mike Reed should've been starting in front of Austin Collie. I agree with your entire paragraph though.

Speaking in general here, and not toward any one particular poster, but wasn't the biggest criticism of the 2008 BYU offense was over-reliance on Collie in the passing game? I think Hudson's assessment of Reed and the reaction to it, and the truth probably falls somewhere in between: Reed probably should've been a little bit more of a focus in BYU's offense as a senior.

[Hot Lunch]

Speaking in general here, and not toward any one particular poster, but wasn't the biggest criticism of the 2008 BYU offense was over-reliance on Collie in the passing game? I think Hudson's assessment of Reed and the reaction to it, and the truth probably falls somewhere in between: Reed probably should've been a little bit more of a focus in BYU's offense as a senior.

I think Reed was good enough to make more plays than he was given the opportunity. He could have been a bit more of a focus for BYU's O that year. He wasn't even close to the talent Austin was/is and wasn't fastest enough to play wide out in the NFL.

[Sizzle]

Speaking in general here, and not toward any one particular poster, but wasn't the biggest criticism of the 2008 BYU offense was over-reliance on Collie in the passing game? I think Hudson's assessment of Reed and the reaction to it, and the truth probably falls somewhere in between: Reed probably should've been a little bit more of a focus in BYU's offense as a senior.

I'm going to disagree slightly here. The 2008 squad had both Collie (1,538/15) and Pitta (1,083/6) with over 1,000 yards receiving that season, Unga with 1,150 Rushing yards and another 300 receiving (plus 4 TDs). Andrew George only had a little more than 200 yards receiving, but had 6 TDs. Mike Reed was actually 3rd on the team in catches (49) and yards (589) but only had 2 TDs. I'm not sure where you take balls away from, because Pitta offers a huge and physical target that Michael Reed isn't, and Collie was a better route runner and faster than Reed.

FWIW, if Reed would have had 49 catches in 2010, he would have been BYU's leading receiver. His 589 yards also would have been tops on the team. In 2009, Reed's 49 catches would have been good for 2nd on the team behind Pitta, same with his yards. It's not like they were purposefully not throwing the ball to Reed, but both Collie and Pitta are playing in the NFL for a reason, and Mike Reed isn't. And I'm a guy who liked Mike Reed.

One other point to consider. Hall and Collie (as well as Pitta) would get together in the off hours and work on routes and timing. I don't think they did it with the intent of "Hey, let's screw Mike Reed" but they did it because they wanted to get better. When you've got that trust and familiarity and put in the extra work, it pays off. I wasn't there at that point in time, so I don't know how the chemistry evolved, but it's hard to fault Max for putting extra trust in guys that he was out at midnight throwing passes to at the practice facility to get timing right instead of somebody who was sleeping. (I don't mean this as a knock on Mike either... just highlighting the above and beyond of somebody like Collie with Hall).