#205 The person lying down at the front of the sports team photo

Neil Pasricha

There’s always a photo.

Yes, whenever I finished up a few painful months of smacking T-ball stands or getting beaned by soccer balls it was time for that classic end-of-the-year, middle-of-the-field photo shoot. Straighten your shinpads, comb your cowlick, and tighten your cleats, because the flashbulb is gonna pop as we all stop to capture this tiny little moment in time.

Now the person who lies down in front of the team is generally that sort of outgoing, informal captain of the squad. They’re the fun-loving one who gets people laughing and has no problem posing swimsuit-model style with a volleyball clutched firmly in their hands.

It’s not that the person lying down at the front of the sports team photo is more important than anyone else.

It’s just that they’re a tad more

AWESOME!

Photo from: here

46 thoughts to “#205 The person lying down at the front of the sports team photo”

  1. We discussed this during our staff photo at the end of the school year … We were instructed to do a serious one and a funny one; after our serious shoot, one of the teachers hopped down and laid herself out in front of the risers. When she was questioned, she replied, “When I played soccer, we always had a least one or two people laying down in front … I mean, like there wasn’t room for two more people to be standing with the rest of the team? What was up with that? That’s why it’s my silly pose.” We all agreed. What IS up with that? I like the spin on it being awesome, though … you’re right! :)

    I think the guy in this photo is showing off his sweet dirt stain.

    1. “I think the guy in this photo is showing off his sweet dirt stain.”

      I think you’re right. I like to imagine he got it while making a game-clinching play. :)

  3. You’ve hit another home run here! (If you’ll excuse the pun.) Keep up the great work! xxx

  4. Our son, was the comedic dude in baseball; daughter, an artful wrestler; second daughter, a dodger in soccer and eldest daughter an elegant dancer, (which became an official sport in 2010, so qualifies). All took their turn layed out; all four, eclectically excelled exceptionally in those days and to this day in many other ways.

    *Laura, I love this word you used for the others ~”risers”~ sound equally awesome… as really all good sports are:)

    1. In the USA Risers=bleachers, stands, or graduated steps on which to stand, but I prefer your definition of the word. :) Hey, that’s awesome, too: when someone understands a word in a new way and it’s even better than the original!

    2. “…eclectically excelled exceptionally in those days and to this day in many other ways.”
      I love the alliteration and rhyme in this sentence. :)

    3. You do have to give credit to those soccer players who play authentically, courageously and with grit. It’s good not to overlook the fact they, along with their teammates are regularly tripped, beaten and severely threatened by the opposing team. You’ve got to love the heart in that!

      1. Well Magda, I kid you not~when some of the kids narely survived the play-offs,
        against one ruthless; nasty; bullish soccer team…we genuinely appreciated every
        bit of “our teams” their grit to stay true to good old fashioned and authentic sportsmanship:) Cheers to the real meaning of the games…”to have fun and play.”

          1. Thanks to all of you who put a positive spin on my sincere naivete.
            By the way Magda, your kind words on May 6th,2011 at 11:56 pm. inspired me to grow deeper and reach higher, with more compassion and love.
            You’re a great sport. Thank you for passing the Pea-ce:)

            1. You know Wendy, NAIVE is EVIAN spelled backwards. It’s like fresh, pure water.

                  1. Oh yeah. That reminds me of how cool it would be to have that green crayon to draw with. Now that the dark days of Winter are finally over and it’s come back around to Summer again, she’d love that!

                    1. While I do have a spectrum of green coloured crayons, if memory serves me, it would be a miracle, and I’d believe jdurley has THE green crayon you’re looking for=D

  7. I’m usually that person in my dance team and drama club pictures (actually in drama there were about four or five of us that were nearly fighting for the spot until we all laid on each other)

  9. I can’t recall a time when I was ever in a photo with someone laying down in the front. My daughter’s t-ball picture, everone was standing, except the coaches… they were kneeling. I guess we are just boring here… lol

  10. In the Spring of 2010, that was me layed out after move #65, .
    I do declare myself a champion… and moving a sport;I’m going to buy me a trophy…kidding, I’d sooner invest in a child participating in a sport or camp, so they have the opportunity to sing like the kids pictured above are…
    “This little light of mine!”
    Every little bit helps to make this world a better place – Go Team Awesome!

  11. I LOVE this! So, I decided to see how many sports I could find it proved true for:

    Basketball (Classic pose! The guy is an obvious ham!):
    http://blogs.trb.com/community/news/coralsprings/xnxfpgCSPFmary1218.jpg

    Badminton (much more refined – and in pairs!):
    http://www.campusrec.uci.edu/club/images/badminton.jpg

    Tennis (Bonus because the ENTIRE team is lying down!!):
    http://www.mphs1988.com/photos/images/mphs-sports/mphs-girls-tennis-team.jpg

    Golf (this one doesn’t exist! This is the closest I could get, and it’s just one guy unecessairly squatting):
    http://wordpress.nmmi.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/BrGolfTeamPicFall2009small.jpg

    Volleyball (a well choreographed pose):
    http://www.freewebs.com/ladii_morena/volleyball.jpg

    Finally, I decided to up the degree of difficulty.. If I could find it for this, it would be true for EVERY team or sport or club:

    Chess!
    http://www.ops.org/HIGH/CENTRAL/Portals/0/PHOTOS/Clubs/Chess/ChessFans.jpg

      2. Since lacrosse is the official sport of Canada, I think that photo should be the official sports team photo of Canada. (sorry, hockey fans)

          1. I played lacrosse in grade 6! “Just one look, that’s all it took”, to know it is the “good-sport-league” far superior to hockey! I second jdurley’s vote and I am Canadian, so it counts for something, EH!

          1. Wow, Bekah.. you managed to find the largest photo on the internet!

            I’ll return here in 2015 once it’s finished loading to let you know what I thought about it.. :)

            1. You don’t even have to return here … unless I’m mistaken, we’re all gonna be crashing at your place by 2015, right??

              P.S. About that, I call dibs on a guest room/part time use of a Snuggie. I’ll provide Nutella as payment.

              1. Oh yeah.. I “forgot” about that..

                I better warn my neighbors that I’m going to be having the internet coming over for a party of indeterminant length, and that I hope that’s cool with them..

                1. I’d TOTALLY offer up my place, but let’s be real … why would everyone want to come to Missouri … when we could go to California??

                  Maybe we could make admission selective … you know, like a club. Like, you have to be able to list x amount of awesome things or quote x amount of inside references/jokes before you can come.

  12. btw, I’m not sure this is getting enough publicity…
    have y’all heard of “The three facet Victorian Style Conservatory?”
    “Thanks, I totally agree with this!”

    (I assume y’all rec’d 20 each of the same…who could resist=)

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