Help me find videos of professional athletes competing in a sport other than their professional one.

February 26, 2012 8:39 AM

Help me find videos of professional athletes competing in a sport other than their professional one.

I'm looking for videos of elite or professional athletes, competing in sports or races or games that is not their main sport.

like these soccer players doing a 100 meter race

Or a gymnast joining a basketball team, or a basketball player doing shotput, or a hockey player playing soccer, or anything.

I find these kinds of videos really neat and would like to watch any of those types videos or similar.

posted by crawltopslow to sports, hobbies, & recreation (18 answers total)

Steve nash of NBA juggling a soccer balllink to youtube vid
posted by crawltopslow at 8:47 AM on February 26, 2012

You can do this by finding some old videos of the TV show Superstars.


Like this and this.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:51 AM on February 26, 2012

There was an old TV program from the 1970's called "Superstars". It gathered together top athletes from different sports and had them compete against each other in sports that were not their own. Here is a link to one such episode
posted by Seymour Zamboni at 8:52 AM on February 26, 2012

Dhani Tackles The Globe

I watched a couple episodes. It was interesting. He seemed like a cool guy. I wonder if it's on Netflix...
posted by stuart_s at 8:55 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

There are plenty of clips of Dhani on the Travel Channel website.

And there are youtube clips of Shaquille O'Neal participating in non-basketball sports. Fighting Oscar de la Hoya. Swimming vs Michael Phelps. There was a sow called Shaq Vs. You can probably find clips for several episodes. Competitive eating...
posted by stuart_s at 9:05 AM on February 26, 2012

Michael Jordon, nothing but net!
posted by drlith at 9:08 AM on February 26, 2012

Dennis Rodman as a wrestler doesn't quite count as "sports".
posted by MinusCelsius at 9:10 AM on February 26, 2012

A lot of F1 drivers play football:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upCSbxvVvr4
posted by Brockles at 9:13 AM on February 26, 2012

I think Kevin Love of the Timber Wolves, played volleyball during the lock out.
posted by Dick Laurent is Dead at 9:15 AM on February 26, 2012

Not professional, but the LSU women's soccer goalkeeper did a series of videos called "Meaux Vs!" where she goes up against other elite LSU athletes in 3 challenges from each of their sports. Some of my faves:

Meaux Versus LSU Baseball
Meaux Vs. Brad Wing (the LSU football team punter)
Meaux Vs. Tyrann Mathieu (AKA the Honey Badger)
posted by tryniti at 9:25 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Lance Armstrong, the cyclist, ran the NYC Marathon
posted by Pineapplicious at 9:29 AM on February 26, 2012

Michael Jordan played mid-level minor league baseball in 1994. He was not good, but here's a video of him hitting a home run.

Here's a video of Chris Young and Justin Upton playing cricket (well, cricket batting practice). They're major league baseball players. I know I've seen video of other baseball players playing cricket, but I forget who, and haven't been able to find it.

Jose Canseco (baseball) in a mixed martial arts fight.

Mark Gastineau (American football) boxing.
posted by Flunkie at 10:15 AM on February 26, 2012

Recently there was a video doing the rounds of men running the 100m. A rugby player, a sprinter, a man in a suit, etc. I can't find it right now but it was pretty amazing.
posted by klanawa at 10:18 AM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

For only Shaquille O'Neal doing this (against players in their own sport), try looking for clips of Shaq Vs.
posted by lewedswiver at 10:59 AM on February 26, 2012

Kobe Bryant plays soccer frequently. And here's Jeremy Lin playing flag football.
posted by acidic at 12:11 PM on February 26, 2012

Ilhan Mansiz is training to become the first FIFA soccer player to figure skate in the winter Olympics.
posted by kettleoffish at 2:14 PM on February 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Chad Ochocinco had a tryout with Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City during the NFL lockout.

He obviously wasn't a professional at the time, but Tony Gonzalez played basketball as well as football while at Cal. So did Julius Peppers and Ronald Curry at North Carolina.

Marion Jones played in the WNBA in 2010.
posted by SisterHavana at 12:02 AM on February 27, 2012

for some Australian specific ones,

There are a couple of players from Rugby (NRL) who have transferred over to Australian Football (AFL) Israel Folau, Carmichael Hunt. They have had lots of training for their high profile permanent switches though.

Also, in the AFL grand final there is usually a foot race by representatives from (each?) team. You could probably find footage of that.

Cricket teams often kick around different footballs or use baseball equipment in their training.
posted by titanium_geek at 3:33 AM on February 27, 2012