I "played" high school football, in that I was on the team, but I wouldn't call three minutes of scrub time per game my senior year "playing" per say. I got really good at making excellent catches in pre game. I can tell you I looked goooooooood. In the way a 6-2 skinny and slow white boy scares opponents.
I however 'knew' of people who played the game at a high level, in that I merely watched them and by watching them from the sideline I then of course transferred their exploits of high school glory onto myself to impress unwitting women, drunks at bars and egrizzers later in life.