Imagine being LeBron James. You are young, the best player in the game, and many compare you to the best of all time, Michael Jordan. You are one of the most marketable athletes in the world and have the ability to take over and dominate a basketball game.
Many people would answer the question, if you could be any current athlete who would you be, with Tiger Woods or Lebron James.
Not me.
Don't get me wrong. It would be tempting to choose Woods or James.
But my answer takes me to my favorite sport, favorite team, and the position I played as a kid.
I would be Phillies second baseman Chase Utley.
Surprised?
Utley is not the best baseball player. He probably is not even in the top 10. He is not the most well known athlete. He is not the most loved athlete in his sport.
But what Utley represents is a hard worker, someone who does not complain and plays through injuries. He played much of 2008 with an injured hip. While many expected he was hurt, nobody knew for sure. He did not even reveal the injury to manager Charlie Manual.
I'm not saying Woods and James are not hard workers. They did not becomes the best without hard work.
But Utley does something Woods and James do not. He plays baseball.
Baseball has been a love of mine ever since I was a kid. I always dreamed I would someday be a major league ballplayer. And I dreamed that I would play for the Phillies when they won the World Series.
Utley has that. He plays for the Phillies, he has a world championship, and he plays second base, just like I did.
So while he does not have the glamour and popularity of Woods or James, he he a life in which he plays the game I always wanted to play. He plays it well. He plays it hard. And he plays it on the team I always wanted to play for.
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