03-30-2024, 03:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-03-2024, 11:52 AM by wetwilleh. Edited 1 time in total.)
The Claflin Saga, The Years in Between AKA I sell out and write a bunch of poorly written lore because I need money.
Ok, I promised a comprehensive biography of Nathan Claflin Sr. and what really happened over all those years, so I am here to deliver.
Chapter 1 The career and Chapter 2 The Lee Debacle (This is kind of intertwined for sake of story, so the 2 chapters are really just one, but also two)
It is probably best to start with a reintroduction of Mark Lee, because despite his tragic death happening several years prior to Claflin Sr. going pro, it would be him and his son, who Claflin Adopted after college, that would go on to cause waves down the line.
First, I would recommend you read the original story of Mark Lee (keep in mind that that was a pastiche of PSAs I had to watch in health class, which I adopted for media and tried to set up as a future character, it is not well written at all, and is cringy as hell, so maybe don’t read it if you don’t want to) If you don’t want to, the gist is that Mark Lee died in a drunk driving accident, leaving behind a pregnant girlfriend and eventually a kid, named Mark Lee Jr. To say that Mark Jr’s mother was an interesting character would be an understatement, of course the death of her boyfriend and becoming a single mother unsuprisingly impacted her in ways that are pretty damn terrible, as the mental issues she had struggled with only proceeded to get worse, eventually leading up to the voluntary surrender of Mark Lee Jr. to a now greatly successful college football star, who was preparing to turn pro, our very own Nathan Claflin Sr. Now being that Claflin already had a son, Nathan Jr. with his at the time Fiancé Sophia Fletcher(this is not a real person, do not worry, I’m not doxing my non-existent real life partner) , it seems like Claflin should have had not the time nor the resources to care for 2 children, at this point ages 2 and 4, but don’t you know it, NIL is a wonderful thing, and while money cant buy happiness, or time, it can buy many things that make you happy and save time, so is that statement really true. But enough about that.
So now we have a man, his wife (Claflin Sr. and Fletcher would be married shortly before the DSFL draft ) their son, and the son of a dead family friend and his mentally ill girlfriend, sounds like a plot for a stereotypical TV bad soap opera, but it was reality for the Claflins in Norfolk. Over time, The Claflins would become something akin to royalty in Norfolk, being everyone’s favorite football family, but after 4 years it was time to pack their bags and go to the City of Brotherly Love, where they would stay for the next 5 seasons, building up a nice life, looking like they could call this new place home, but then the infamous relocation of the Philadelphia Liberty to Cape Town happened, which saw Nathan Sr. have to now spend extended amounts of time in South Africa. The rest of the family stayed behind because now at ages 11 and 13, it was considered a bad idea to move the children almost 8000 miles overseas to follow a player, who by this point was starting to wind down his career, so behind in Philly they stayed. Nathan Sr. would do his best to remain in their lives, visiting whenever possible, but it predictably caused some strain in the relationship, thus leading to Nathan Sr. beginning to ponder retirement.
This retirement verdict would be made very quickly decided shortly after, when Mark Jr. got arrested. The 14 year old had gotten involved in some stuff he shouldn’t have, with some people he shouldn’t have been hanging with and got caught. This led to the sudden retirement of Nathan Sr. as he returned home to help deal with all the issues and such. Nathan Sr. had already been heavily considering a retirement, as he missed his family, along with Cheesteaks, scrapple and other Pennsylvania delicacies that don’t transfer well overseas, and of course, he missed college sports, as being 6 hours ahead of the United States generally makes watching primetime games a pain in the ass. So Claflin would greatly welcome an opportunity to get back to the states and relax, even if it was under less than stellar circumstances. But, of course, life doesn’t really work like that.
Thankfully Mark Jr. would eventually get off with very little punishment, but only due to a plea deal and submitting some testimony against some of the more severe criminals, as a result, they were forced to leave their life in Philly behind and move to the wonderful 315, Nathan Sr. and Sophia’s old stomping grounds, Syracuse New York or I guess technically Cicero in this case, they are after all rich enough to be in the nice suburbs, but I don’t think anyone cares that much honestly, to me and most people, its still Syracuse.
Chapter 3 The Coaching stint
When Claflin Sr. Returned to Syracuse, he at first got right back to doing what he had been doing in Philly, but now with Salt Potatoes, Tully’s, a variety of reptilian barbeque restaurants, and Chicken Riggies, just like the old college days, it was a nice existence, though it was certainly a bit snowier than anywhere else he had lived since then. After laying around for a bit, it became clear to Claflin that he was not going to be satisfied with a life of laziness and relaxation, so he decided to get a job, not motivated by money, but by passion, originally, wanting to avoid recognition, he grew a beard and worked at The Museum of Intrigue, a puzzle/ mystery room experience at the Destiny USA Mall, a place he had loved frequenting in his college days, but as the days went by, it became clear that he had a thirst for football, and working as a museum curator was certainly not going to satiate it. Just by his luck, the head coaching job at local Cicero-North Syracuse High School had opened up at about this time, following a rather abrupt departure by the previous coach and drawing on his mental prowess and tactical genius, he took the job. His first season was generally viewed as a disappointment, going 6-5 and losing early in the playoffs, leading to some beginning to believe that it was possible that he wasn’t the right man for the job, that would be disproven by the next season when they went on a run to the section 3 championship before losing to Christian Brothers, this would become a very common end for the North Stars for the next several seasons, until Nathan Claflin Jr. Showed up, then they would turn a corner.
To be Continued.
Ok, I promised a comprehensive biography of Nathan Claflin Sr. and what really happened over all those years, so I am here to deliver.
Chapter 1 The career and Chapter 2 The Lee Debacle (This is kind of intertwined for sake of story, so the 2 chapters are really just one, but also two)
It is probably best to start with a reintroduction of Mark Lee, because despite his tragic death happening several years prior to Claflin Sr. going pro, it would be him and his son, who Claflin Adopted after college, that would go on to cause waves down the line.
First, I would recommend you read the original story of Mark Lee (keep in mind that that was a pastiche of PSAs I had to watch in health class, which I adopted for media and tried to set up as a future character, it is not well written at all, and is cringy as hell, so maybe don’t read it if you don’t want to) If you don’t want to, the gist is that Mark Lee died in a drunk driving accident, leaving behind a pregnant girlfriend and eventually a kid, named Mark Lee Jr. To say that Mark Jr’s mother was an interesting character would be an understatement, of course the death of her boyfriend and becoming a single mother unsuprisingly impacted her in ways that are pretty damn terrible, as the mental issues she had struggled with only proceeded to get worse, eventually leading up to the voluntary surrender of Mark Lee Jr. to a now greatly successful college football star, who was preparing to turn pro, our very own Nathan Claflin Sr. Now being that Claflin already had a son, Nathan Jr. with his at the time Fiancé Sophia Fletcher(this is not a real person, do not worry, I’m not doxing my non-existent real life partner) , it seems like Claflin should have had not the time nor the resources to care for 2 children, at this point ages 2 and 4, but don’t you know it, NIL is a wonderful thing, and while money cant buy happiness, or time, it can buy many things that make you happy and save time, so is that statement really true. But enough about that.
So now we have a man, his wife (Claflin Sr. and Fletcher would be married shortly before the DSFL draft ) their son, and the son of a dead family friend and his mentally ill girlfriend, sounds like a plot for a stereotypical TV bad soap opera, but it was reality for the Claflins in Norfolk. Over time, The Claflins would become something akin to royalty in Norfolk, being everyone’s favorite football family, but after 4 years it was time to pack their bags and go to the City of Brotherly Love, where they would stay for the next 5 seasons, building up a nice life, looking like they could call this new place home, but then the infamous relocation of the Philadelphia Liberty to Cape Town happened, which saw Nathan Sr. have to now spend extended amounts of time in South Africa. The rest of the family stayed behind because now at ages 11 and 13, it was considered a bad idea to move the children almost 8000 miles overseas to follow a player, who by this point was starting to wind down his career, so behind in Philly they stayed. Nathan Sr. would do his best to remain in their lives, visiting whenever possible, but it predictably caused some strain in the relationship, thus leading to Nathan Sr. beginning to ponder retirement.
This retirement verdict would be made very quickly decided shortly after, when Mark Jr. got arrested. The 14 year old had gotten involved in some stuff he shouldn’t have, with some people he shouldn’t have been hanging with and got caught. This led to the sudden retirement of Nathan Sr. as he returned home to help deal with all the issues and such. Nathan Sr. had already been heavily considering a retirement, as he missed his family, along with Cheesteaks, scrapple and other Pennsylvania delicacies that don’t transfer well overseas, and of course, he missed college sports, as being 6 hours ahead of the United States generally makes watching primetime games a pain in the ass. So Claflin would greatly welcome an opportunity to get back to the states and relax, even if it was under less than stellar circumstances. But, of course, life doesn’t really work like that.
Thankfully Mark Jr. would eventually get off with very little punishment, but only due to a plea deal and submitting some testimony against some of the more severe criminals, as a result, they were forced to leave their life in Philly behind and move to the wonderful 315, Nathan Sr. and Sophia’s old stomping grounds, Syracuse New York or I guess technically Cicero in this case, they are after all rich enough to be in the nice suburbs, but I don’t think anyone cares that much honestly, to me and most people, its still Syracuse.
Chapter 3 The Coaching stint
When Claflin Sr. Returned to Syracuse, he at first got right back to doing what he had been doing in Philly, but now with Salt Potatoes, Tully’s, a variety of reptilian barbeque restaurants, and Chicken Riggies, just like the old college days, it was a nice existence, though it was certainly a bit snowier than anywhere else he had lived since then. After laying around for a bit, it became clear to Claflin that he was not going to be satisfied with a life of laziness and relaxation, so he decided to get a job, not motivated by money, but by passion, originally, wanting to avoid recognition, he grew a beard and worked at The Museum of Intrigue, a puzzle/ mystery room experience at the Destiny USA Mall, a place he had loved frequenting in his college days, but as the days went by, it became clear that he had a thirst for football, and working as a museum curator was certainly not going to satiate it. Just by his luck, the head coaching job at local Cicero-North Syracuse High School had opened up at about this time, following a rather abrupt departure by the previous coach and drawing on his mental prowess and tactical genius, he took the job. His first season was generally viewed as a disappointment, going 6-5 and losing early in the playoffs, leading to some beginning to believe that it was possible that he wasn’t the right man for the job, that would be disproven by the next season when they went on a run to the section 3 championship before losing to Christian Brothers, this would become a very common end for the North Stars for the next several seasons, until Nathan Claflin Jr. Showed up, then they would turn a corner.
To be Continued.