(S4) - Weekend PT #4 - Close Calls

[JBLAZE_THE_BOSS]

[Jepox]

If Sebastian Joyce didn't get in a car 1 week after his NSFL draft, he may have been able to show up to games and practices. He went missing for a great chunk of time, and was found by one of his fellow draftees who had been assigned to Tijuana in the DSFL. Not much is known about Joyce's time while he was missing, as he refuses to talk about it. However, we do know that there was lots of drugs involved, as he checked into rehab as soon as he was back in Colorado, and he served some jail time while in Mexico. There are a few posts on his Instagram that also show his time in Mexico, namely the posts with him in a strip club, or him chugging vodka in an alley.

If Joyce didn't get in that car that lead to his disappearance, who knows what he could've accomplished. He could be well on his way to being a star player in the league, but many believe he still could be going down that path. If he doesn't pull another stunt like this one, Sebastian could be a stellar player for the Yeti down the road.

(Exactly 200 words on the dot. Nice)

[Apache_Chief]

I think it's pretty clear that Franklin Harris Jr.'s biggest career changer was when he got drafted by the Arizona Outlaws. After two straight Ultimus victories, any player would be happy to join a team that knows how to win. But the fact is, teams win because of the decisions they make on draft night and in the off-season. It's like when you're putting together a puzzle. You know that in the end you'll get a nice picture of a puppy on a surfboard, but if you lose a couple pieces in the couch cushions, you'll never see the full picture. So, what I'm trying to say is that the match was perfect. Harris needed a place to learn behind a vet and while yes, many teams have that like the Wraiths or the Sabercats, none have the coaching staff with it and I think it's safe to say that Phillipe Carter is someone any cornerback would be glad to learn behind. Now, I do think that Harris would have been able to become a star in any system, but the constant winning surely puts a nice touch when its time to gather up those awards. Who knows, maybe the three-peat would be an alternate reality had another team been smart enough to snatch up Harris.

[Battleborn]

Ryan Sierra – OL – Tijuana Luchadores

Close Call

Ryan was an eighth grader at Vaughn Middle School in Reno, NV when he was first posed with a question from his father. “Do you know the most happens to the most successful athletes when they get to high school?” Sierra replied, “No Dad, what?” “They have to make a decision, whether or not they want to continue to play multiple sports and be good at each, or choose one sport and be great.” Said Ryan’s father.

Ryan continued to excel at three sports that year, baseball, basketball, and flag football. The summer leading into his freshman year of high school, he experienced tackle football for the very first time, during summer football camp. He loved baseball, basketball was what he was best at, utilizing his size and athleticism, but it was tackle football where he was the happiest. His size allowed him to fit in with the upper classmen at camp and his skill separated him from the under classmen. Sierra’s combination of skill and athleticism provided him advantages on the football field, few freshmen ever enjoyed. He was able to throw the football with a velocity and accuracy his coaches had never seen in a 14-year old. His happiness and fervor are what drove him to succeed on the football field and he never looked back.

[sapp2013]

Growing up in Spain was great for Andre Bly Jr.. His mother had him play many sports as a child, but it became apparent that soccer was Bly's favorite out of all of them. When he was 8, he was able to play with the U-9 Barcelona soccer club, a club specific for those looking to have a career on the soccer pitch. He eventually graduated into the U-12 team and played there for 3 years. He was a very good forward for the team and was ultimately the deciding factor in many of their games, often scoring multiple goals in each game. However, his coach never put him in on defense because Andre would lose interest fast if he did not find himself in a position to potentially score the ball every time he touched it. This eventually led to his downfall and not making it onto the u-15 squad after graduating from the U-12 team. He likes to tell everyone that he quit beforehand and that he could still match-up with his peers if he ever did make the switch back. a month later, his mother decided to move back to the United States to live with Andre's father, and that was the end of Andre's soccer career. he still makes it to some Barcelona matches and is always invited by Lionel Messi to join him during their celebrity soccer matches each year.

Code:

235 words

[Bzerkap]

There was a point in my career, early on in fact, when I wanted to become a pro baseball player. I had the arm, the lateral quickness, the headiness to track the ball. But like many 2nd graders, I had trouble with the curve.

It wasn't always doom and gloom, at one point I was considered a hot prospect. While others were picking flowers, or their noses, I was out there running after the ball, scooping it up and throwing it to 1st base for the out. As long as the kid standing there was paying attention, it usually worked. My coaches praised my athleticism and said I was the best 2nd grader they'd ever seen come out of Fertile in quite some time. I soaked it in; I loved it.

That all changed when my team faced the team a couple towns over in Bemidji. They had this starting pitcher there that had already mastered the curveball. I'll never forget it; it's the day my career ended. I went up against the BSN Bulldog pitch machine, the ball would drop sharply as soon as it reached home plate. Everybody kept calling it a malfunction, but my coach knew better. He told me, "Son, now that's a wicked curve if I ever did see one. Go hit it."

I swung, swung, swung again. Three strikes, I'm out. Coach comes over and says "Son, maybe baseball isn't your sport. Go put on some pads and join the football team."

That was the day my whole career changed direction.

[Oles]

Written: Must be at least 200 words, write about something during your players career that had one decision been different would have significantly changed your players current situation

It has been a curious career for Oles, and one that has certainly been a tumultuous journey for him. He still remembers the day he went to try out for his dream team, and had a horrific knee injury that sent him to rehab for a long time. It still haunts him to this day, what if he didn’t tryout that day, how different would life be. When he had that injury, he was told it was unlikely that he would ever play a sport again, the knee injury suffered while at an Orioles tryout perplexed everyone. It was an unexpected injury, during a sprinting drill designed to see how one would be at stealing bases. Would Oles be a star CB in the NSFL, or would he be playing baseball in the MLB had he arrived at a different time, gone to a different tryout, or just found a different path to the MLB. We’ll never know for sure how different the career of Oles would be if he had not had that injury, but we do know that the Liberty could quite possibly be down a star defensive player had something gone a little bit differently in his life. Oles thought that trying out for the Orioles would be a dream come true, instead it turned into a nightmare where he had to work harder than ever to get back to where he was before the injury. The Liberty are probably happy with where one of their top defenders has ended up in his life, but I’m sure they aren’t happy about the possibility of the knee injury returning at any moment and ending the season, or even career, of their star CB.

(285 words)

[cosbornballboy]

And he lines up... They take it to the left side, a nice counter run play, and the right guard is pulling. Some holes are opening up but they are closing just as fast. Hamlett has to take the ball down the left sideline with a linebacker in front of him. Oh man, it's Alex Johnson and he's gonna hit him hard if he doesn't get out of bou- NO WAIT! RICARDO SANDOVAL IS THERE WITH THE HUGE LEAD BLOCK AND HAMLETT HAS NOTHING BUT OPEN FIELD IN FRONT OF HIM WITH A SMILE ON HIS FACE AND VICTORY IN HIS MIND! TOUCHDOWN HIGHLANDERS!!!

This was one of many great blocks that Sandoval made his freshman year of high school, and this may have been his reality in the NSFL had he not made the switch to Defensive Tackle. The DT for the Hawks was a standout Right Guard who had no sacks allowed and was responsible for at least 5 touchdowns his freshman year at Highlands High School.

However, the Hawks are grateful for the young freshman making the switch at that age as he is now a second-year DT tearing it up on the Hawks front four with Bert Metas, Kurt Hendrix, and Juan Andres.

[AsylumParty]

Had Dustin Evans been a more vocal personality, I think it's very likely he would have been selected higher overall in the season 2 draft. What, you might ask, does vocality have to do with draft position? Well, not MUCH, however, he's a very quite athlete. In the locker room, Evans isn't quite the same, but he is shy enough to unintentionally feign inactivity. Or at least to fall under the radar of teams.

When a player's name pops up to a GM but they've never heard of them, there's no prestige or reputation to factor in. Worse for that player, if they have no prior athletic experience, they have solely activity to go off of. To the unresearched GM, that player may be skipped over entirely.

What I'm getting at is that I find it very likely that what hurt Dustin Evans' draft stock more than anything was his shyness. If GMs didn't go out of their way to talk to him, there was no contact. Luckily for him, ErMurazor reached out prior to the draft and they had a great conversation which resulted in him eventually being selected by the Outlaws in the final pick of the second round.

[kcheng686]

Samuel Zhang was almost a star for many sports. He could have been a tennis star or a rugby star or a cricket star or a baseball star or a soccer star or a swimming star or a croquet star or a CFL star or a polo star or a gymnastic star or a volley ball star or a beach volley ball star or a diving star or a track star or a field star or a wrestling star or a judo star or a rowing star or even a hockey star. But most of all, he could have been the next Allen Iverson or Lebron James, star football players who chose to play basketball professionally instead. Zhang was a fantastic basketball player in both Junior high and High school, acting as the teams best defensive wing and starting SG for both his Junior high team and high school teams. Zhang loved basketball growing up, being a huge fan of the Denver Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony, and styled his play around star shooting guard Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs, his second favorite team in the league. He was a 3 time all American in Junior high, as well as a 3 time State Champion, and a 4 time all American and all American defensive team, and almost decided to play basketball, However, he fell in love with football, and the rest is history.