Ostertag on Ice



  • Being a retired professional basketball player sounds pretty rough. Greg Ostertag–bored with golfing every day–decided to become the world’s tallest hockey player.

    Seriously, here’s the story.

    Interesting quote:

    “I’ll be the first to admit that I never reached my full potential as a basketball player. I took it for granted that I was 7 feet tall, and I rode that.”

    Yeah, well we all kind of figured that!



  • @DanR Wouldn’t want to be the guy caught between Ostertag and the boards. Ouch.



  • @DanR

    Haven’t heard of a player that ever felt like he reached his potential. There is just so much to the game and only so much time and energy to develop. And even within that understanding, we all waste so much time in our lives on things that don’t matter… especially when we are young.

    I got to hand it to “the Big O” for being a kidney donor. He saved his sister’s life while still being a player in the league.



  • I first moved to Lawrence right around O’s freshman year. He’s one of my favorite Jayhawks despite his 2" vertical.



  • @DanR

    Sports is full of endlessly fascinating characters that make us think about all facets of a life lived.Certainly Greg O being a multi millionaire with a long NBA career has made many think about what success and accomplishment are about. I like @drgnslayr’s take above because there an athlete’s respect of another athlete in it. Greg O has some guileless goof ball qualities to him. But he also has some guile about him too. I think any athlete that has plied his trade professionally has to have some respect for any other athlete that finds a way through the thicket of that difficult career and amasses a small fortune.



  • @DanR 2" - that is the epitome of hyperbole, my friend.



  • @DanR

    He did have excellent timing though and he made a very good living in the NBA blocking shots and rebounding.



  • @DanR Hey that was a really cool story! At first, I thought no way cuz I know he is at least my age. He’s one year older. But, then Im like, Way to go big O!


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