My favorite sports movies are when the unlikely heroes come from the bleachers, lace up their sneakers and win a dreamy championship. I love movies like "Invincible," "Little Giants," the "Big Green," "Rookie of the Year," and many more. You know what I'm talking about, the ones that couldn't be true; that's why we love them.

Last Monday night I attempted to re-create some movie magic in the auxiliary gym attached to the Frericks Center. That's right; I went to the open tryouts for UD's varsity basketball team. Before I go any further, let me first preface this story by giving you a quick glimpse into my past athletic exploits.

Four years I attended tryouts for my high school basketball team, and four years the coach (one of my dad's best friends) informed me I wasn't "up to speed" with the other players. Besides my 0-4 record in the basketball department, I was unsuccessful on the baseball diamond as well. I wouldn't consider myself completely incompetent on the sports landscape. I would rate myself well below the talent of Charlie Conway but above Guy Germaine (pardon the "Mighty Ducks" reference).

So back to the present. My roommates John, Sean and Will are leaving the RecPlex the other day, scanning a table in the front with fliers for all sorts of club sports and other activities. Thankfully, my trusty roommates spotted a flier they thought would be of interest to me, one for basketball walk-on tryouts.

After laughing about how ridiculous it would be to even show up, I thought to myself wouldn't it be cool to say I got to try out for the Dayton Flyers? So I showed up Monday night with every intention of trying to make the team. Would this be my chance to live out my favorite sports movie?

Nine guys (including myself) showed up with all their paperwork ready for tryouts (including a physical, Dayton athletics agreement, and an agreement to take NCAA drug tests).

Assistant coach Billy Schmidt told us "We're going to take this as seriously as you are."

From that point on, the sprinting began. We ran sprints, dribbling drills, and passing drills. To the average person, twenty minutes of intense workout like that wouldn't sound terrible. But when you're attempting to write a Remember the Titans quality story with your sweat in front of Division I basketball coaches, it isn't so easy.

After the running ceased (and a couple guys flirted with the idea of vomiting), we played a few games of 5-on-5 (another player stepped in at this point, and no it wasn't Chris Wright).

In the first game, I was still decently fresh enough to keep up with my man, who, to his credit, had a great crossover. After getting a fairly difficult defensive rebound in the paint, I was gaining a little confidence.

After a couple of more possessions, I worked up the courage to launch a prayer from downtown. As the ball swished through the net (I'm not making this up), I briefly thought about which actor would play me in the movie about this whole experience. I settled on Wesley Snipes for obvious reasons.

Three turnovers, two fouls, and an air ball later, my dreams of movie magic were pretty much over. What can I say though, I showed up, tried out, and will never regret doing it. Maybe people will laugh, but they didn't have the Spaldings to show up. After that one hour in the gym, I have much more respect for the guys who put in countless hours.

As Coach Schmidt put it, "A walk-on will never play a significant minute for the Flyers, it takes something special to do this." He was right.

Note: The coaches said they would contact anyone they deemed worthy of a "second tryout." Surprisingly, I didn't receive that call. It's OK though; I've been telling people I wasn't eligible because I signed with an agent months ago to handle all my endorsement deals.