No, not one of those places where representatives from different companies talk to potential employees. Think instead of Nate Colbert, August 1, 1970 (2 HR 5 RBI in game 1 , 3 HR and 8 RBI in game 2). Or maybe Eric (“Sleepy”) Floyd on May 10, 2005 (51 points in a NBA semifinal playoff game, including a record 38 in the 2nd half and record 29 in the 4th quarter). Or Doug Williams, Jan 31, 1988 (4 TD passes, all in the 2nd quarter, of a Super Bowl win). Or maybe Andrew Chan, September 8, 2007 (uh, wait, Andrew who?)

None of the above were stiffs who got a lucky hole-in-one or bowled 300 with a regular average of 100, but were all good players in their level of competition who had one day, or even just one period, of transcendent superpowers. Or, as we will see, even half a period.

Andrew had played in the grades 1-3 division of Upward Soccer in 2006, scoring zero goals during the season. But in 2007, increased registration allowed him to be a big dog as a second grader in a grade 1-2 division. He scored a goal in the first game, which was almost the only goal in the game were it not for an opponent’s goal as time expired. The second week, he did not score in a 5-0 win. The third week, he scored twice, but the level of opposition might have been low as the final score was about 10-0 (a typical game might be about 4-2).

After a week off for Labor Day weekend, he started the game at left half, usually a good position to score. With two other strong players in the front he did not get any points. In the second period, he played in the backfield and managed to keep the goalie from having any action. The third period he was out, then he played goalie the fourth period (which was getting to be a quiet position on this team). The rotation had him out again in the fifth period, but back as center forward for the sixth, and last, six-minute period.

The ball was in the offensive side of the field for most of the time, and Andrew took three shots that were all stopped by the goalie, including one long wishful shot from out on the right that the goalie went to the front of the box for (in this league, anything shot from outside the box is a long shot), showing he wasn’t a pushover. About halfway through the period, he managed to score through a crowd of bodies. Memory fails the exact details (and possessing no still images or video of the action), but after lining up for the kickoff by the opposing team, I think Andrew’s team ended up with the ball again and Andrew popped a lob shot past the goalie that barely rolled into the goal.

The whistle blew, the kids lined back up and Andrew or one of his teammates again picked off the ball and Andrew found himself coming in from the left side of the goal at the edge of the goalie box. The goalie was in excellent position, a couple of feet in front of the goal and lined up facing Andrew on his side of the goal with only a 2’ window at maximum from his hip to the goal post from Andrew’s point of view. But instead of kicking to the wide side of the goal, Andrew whistled a thigh-high liner that somehow didn’t touch either the goalie or the post for his third goal in three possessions, the first time I had ever seen anyone score three times in a period.

With less than a minute in the game, the kids again went back to their positions, with no chance of substitutions that would allow Andrew to leave the field to a standing ovation like Floyd in the waning seconds of the Lakers game. Instead, the opposing center forward got the ball and might have tried to pass it by Andrew and just get it somewhere in their offensive end of the field. Instead, Andrew again ended up with the ball, and with his front-line teammates now not even pretending to run upfield, dribbled the ball to his left between the two opposing forwards, cut upfield with the opposing team appearing to be in slow motion (it wasn't a particularly hot day but maybe an assumption that the other player had it under control), cut back to the center and blew by the backfield defender without even a fake, and got himself again one-on-one with the opposing goalie. Three times he had been stopped. Three times he had scored. With time about to expire, he swung his leg back for the last try of the day.

Two minutes.

Four goals.

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