Playing catch with Ben Wallace

I played catch with Ben Wallace.

And guess what? I am better at throwing a softball. It is not much of an accomplishment in the grand scheme of things but you always wonder if you could do something better than a professional athlete on any court or any diamond.

The Pistons center kind of soft tosses the ball and floats it. He threw a few over my head and apologized and he threw some in the dirt and apologized. This was during warm ups of a celebrity softball game that benefitted Meals on Wheelz between Team NBA and Team NFL.

Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva headed the NBA team while Lions receiver Derrick Williams was in charge of Team NFL. I coached the NFL team but Wallace and I warmed up before the game.

You could tell he had not thrown a softball in a long time. My ball had zip on it. His had zap.

His tosses floated like a butter fly and mine stung like a bee.

It should come as no surprise. Professional athletes train their bodies to do one thing. It is block and tackle, dunk and shoot or hit a baseball 400 feet. They usually have little time for anything else in order to be the best in their field.

Villanueva also cannot throw a softball. He is Dominican which is like a brother from Harlem not being able to dribble a basketball.

After seeing some of the swings by Lion and Pistons players I am convinced there are probably a couple hundred softball teams in Metro Detroit who could destroy them. Could you imagine NFL players trying to skate? Or NHL players trying to shoot hoop?

It would be a disaster. Even we common folks could compete with them.

I will give Big Ben some credit. He can hit a softball. He whiffed on some but he also hit one some over the fence during a home run derby competition. 

Here is one piece of advice however. Do not challenge hockey players to a game of golf. Chances are that won't end well for you.