Word: semipro
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Rose's father was a banker, a numbers man who always seemed to be hunched over a column of figures. He was also a semipro football player who competed into middle age for the old Cincinnati Bengals. "When I was young," the son recalls, "people would stop me on the street to tell me I could never be what my father...
...middle-class family. Although his parents James and Deloris pushed education, not sports, Michael developed into an athlete for all seasons, successfully competing in baseball, football and basketball. Larry Jordan, one year his elder, would prove a motivating force. Though Michael eventually outpaced and outgrew Larry, who still plays semipro basketball, he credits his elder brother for his aggressive style of play. "When you see me play," he says, "you see Larry play...
...take their sports vicariously. They arrive at the bar early every Sunday morning. Over coffee and the morning papers, they discuss the day's odds. "Miami, 2 1/2 over Denver," says the bartender. "Who do ya like?" Opinions are given, denigrated, defended. One of the men, a former semipro baseball pitcher, says to another man who was once his teammate, "You know, I'm thinking of making a comeback next spring." His former teammate nods. The ex-pitcher says. "What do you think?" His former teammate nods again. The ex-pitcher says "Would you like to catch me sometime...
...among ten children inspired by a hotel maid. "I played Little League for about two weeks before they decided I was too rough and moved me up to the Pony League. When I was supposed to be in the Pony League, I was playing in a men's semipro league. I never played with friends my own age." In the ninth grade, he took up football just to be a ninth-grader. "Baseball was more of a game," he thought from the first, "football more of a device, a challenge too, but mostly a responsibility...
...manufacturers as GT, Haro and Red Line. Bike breaking has all the signs of a street craze going mainstream: bikers are showing up in commercials (Pepsi, Swatch watches) and in music videos, and grateful merchandisers are climbing aboard with lines of bikes, gear and clothes. Says Happy Freedman, a semipro cyclist and salesman at Larry & Jeff's in New York City: "The freestyle craze is only starting. By next summer, we are going to see it going on everywhere...