05-06-2019, 11:45 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-09-2019, 01:29 PM by Fordhammer.)
Here we are again, over a year removed from when I last interviewed Pennsylvania's standout wide receiver Ahri Espeeyeeseetee before the DSFL draft, and again under the same circumstances.
McGillin’s Olde Ale House.
Nine o' clock.
On a Saturday.
Regular crowd... blah blah blah. You don't really need the whole intro to a Billy Joel song do you?
You do?
Ah geez, well, let's see... DOOM BOOM DO OHHHHH OH OH OH forthelongest FOR THE LONGEST TIME (TIME), WHOA OH OH forthelongest FOR THE LONGEST-
There you go. And it's appropriate too, since that pretty accurately describes how long this kid is going to be terrorizing NSFL defenses. I have a second here before AE is supposed to arrive, so let me check the stat sheet real quick.
Number two in total receptions.
Number three in total yards.
Top five in touchdowns caught.
And that was doing it all with the highly productive, number one overall pick Brock Landers lining up opposite. So how does a guy who draws the number one cornerback on a regular basis, who has another highly productive receiver taking looks away lining up on the other side, and had some of the least efficient quarterback play in the entire DSFL become one of the top wide receivers of the class?
Simple: talent, hard work, and most of all, respect.
But enough of me blithering away like an idiot. You didn't come here to read some washed up thirty year old has-been writer romanticize one of the NSFL brightest rising stars off a stat sheet. You came to hear from Mr. SPECT himself, and as I see him just now arriving (and the waitress is bringing me another McGillin's 1860 IPA), I figure now is as good a time as any to bury my lips in this glass, and let the young man do the talking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the crushing defeat last season against the eventual Ultimini chamipion Portland Pythons in the playoffs, I heard you were missing for a while, and no one could get a hold of you for a few weeks. What happened? Did you really take the loss that seriously?
(Laughing) Well, yes and no. Yes, I went AWOL for a bit after the loss to the Pythons, and yeah, I was pretty broken up about it. I love this game, and any time I come up short of my goals it tears me up inside. But no, I didn't go anywhere because of the loss. Actually, the loss was probably the best thing to happen to me all year! Let me explain...
When I was a kid, I grew up on the streets with just my mom and dad after they illegally crossed the border from North to South Korea. It was rough going, but just being the three of us, we always knew we would get by, so long as we had each other. The nights were long and tough, but one of the worst was the night my dad was taken. We had gone back to where we slept (I wouldn't really call it a home, it was really more like a shack or a lean-to) and me being just a dumb little kid, I had lost my stuffed elephant I always used to carry with me everywhere we would go. We had been rummaging for recyclables to get enough money to buy food the next day, so my dad went back along the route we had taken to go find it. He never came back. I assumed he just left, and to a lesser extent my mom did too, but I don't think she ever really believed he would just leave her like that. Well, I'll tell you what, that night sucked some huge balls. I cried for a week I think, no joke, until we found out he hadn't just left us, he had been spotted by some Agriculture officials from North Korea who were visiting the South for some, well, I'll just say there was some adult extracurriculars going on around where we used to live, and these North Korean guys were regulars. I know they say you can't get in or out, but we used to see all these official looking people with the Northern star on their clothes in our part of town, and I guess one of them recognized my dad? I don't know. My parents used to be farmers, or at least that's what they told me, but I never figured they would be important enough that some officials would recognize them, you know? Well anyways, my mom and I, we got a letter from one of the people that used to do the smuggling runs from North to South, like, some real underground railroad stuff. Well, when we found out he had been sent back to North Korea, my mom did just about everything she could to get him back, short of going back for him herself. She told me she wouldn't ever go back, she couldn't leave me, even though I told her I would be okay by myself, that I could take care of myself (and I had some days even already) and I just wanted my dad back. It didn't happen. My mom said she couldn't stay in Seoul, it hurt too much to be that close to him and know he couldn't get out to be with us, so we left for the United States. I think people know what happened after that already, so I won't go into too much detail.
Fast-forward to the week of the Pythons game. I was in the locker room before the game, and we were all getting ready, getting hyped for the big game, you know? Well, earlier in the week I had missed a call from a +850 international code. I am not sure if you know or not, but that's the international code for North Korea, but I don't have anyone's numbers from there, and I was spooked. I thought somehow I had gotten tracked down as my dad's kid, and like, you know, could get deported or whatever. Or maybe Portland was pulling a sneaky one and trying to get in my head? I don't know, but I didn't call back.
Then I got a text from the same number on gameday.
All the text said was "its me im out" and I knew it was my dad, he had escaped again. But I was 100% in my head, because my mom and I had been told by our last relatives in North Korea that my dad had been killed in a farming accident some years before (and the grief was eventually what took my mom). I tried calling the number back, but the line was disconnected. Look, I know I was the reason we lost that game, I had some big drops late, and I've already called a couple of my teammates to explain to them what was going on and to apologize. But I swear, I couldn't think of anything else, I just wanted that damn game to be over so I could jump on a plane and get back to Korea and start looking for him. That's pretty much exactly what I did. I went back to where we used to live, but that part of the city had been renovated and the red-light district was replaced with some new shopping mall or something. I tried calling the number again but it was still disconnected. I really didn't know what to do, but I kept looking for him the next couple weeks.
And it was almost a month later, I was wandering downtown Seoul, just scanning faces with really no hope I was going to find him (I had a plane ticket back to the States for later that week) and I saw him. Standing right in front of some athletic wear shop staring right at me, with this big ol' grin on his face. And I felt like crying, I really did, because I remember back when my mom and I were sailing over here from South Korea all the nights I cried thinking I'd never see him again. But there he was, grinning at me and I'm just crying and I start grinning at him and pretty soon we're just standing across the street from each other laughing our asses off. Man, I've never felt so happy before. So I cross the street to him and I realize there's a jersey in the window of the store he's standing in front of.
It's mine. From Norfolk.
Somehow some tiny athletic shop in downtown South Korea had found my prospect jersey from the DSFL and put it up in their window. My dad says he would go stand in front of that shop every day just to look at that jersey and think about how I had gotten out from the life he was trapped in. I told him he didn't have to worry any more, that I was going pro in the NSFL and he lost it. In all the time I had known my dad, through all the junk we'd been through, I'd never seen him cry until that day. He told me he never really hoped that his text would reach me, that the number was given to him from one of the connections in the underground railroad, and that he already knew about Mom. I think that's the only thing that's really going to bug me, well, those two things. I wish I could go back and tell my mom my dad would be back again, like, if I could she'd still be here today. And how the hell did they get my phone number?
Wow. That's quite the story. How did your team back in Norfolk react when you told them where you were going?
To be perfectly honest, I only told a few people. Even the coaches didn't know what was happening, mostly because I wasn't really sure what was happening. I guess most of them will find out when this article posts, huh? (Laughs) But seriously, this was something that was super important I take care of and nothing was going to stop me from finding out if it was really him. I think I told you before, my love for the game stems from my parents, and the love I have for them. There's nothing in the world that I would give up football for, other than to see my parents again. And I was fully prepared to give up on my football dreams, just on the off-chance my dad was actually still alive. That's not really the sort of thing your coaches want to hear, even if it's for family. And even though we have a great culture in Norfolk, I couldn't risk not seeing my dad again.
So now you're back, what's next? Did you make it back for the draft? Will any of this affect your draft status with San Jose?
I did get back in time for the draft, and I'm super excited to be playing for the San Jose SaberCats in the future! I am honestly blown away that they would take me in the first, it is really an honor and there is a lot of pressure for me to perform next season when I am called up and Oles moves on to Chicago. I never really expected to be taken by the champs, I had talked to a couple of rebuilding teams and was getting pretty excited to be part of that rebuild core, but to be selected by a team like the SaberCats... it's just... wow, you know? That's a prestigious team coming off a championship season, I've got to prove to them it was worth it to take me so high. I don't think there is anything that is going to affect San Jose with this whole thing with my dad, I'm working on getting his paperwork squared away, but the great thing about having money for once in my life is I can afford a pretty damn good lawyer now, so he mostly handles that stuff for me. I can just get back to playing football.
What were your reactions to some of your Norfolk teammates being drafted?
BROCK LANDERS NUMBER ONE OVERALL! Oh my god, I'm just super happy for Brock he totally deserves it, like, there's not a guy in the world I've played with that works as hard as he does. And that's not a knock on anyone, I'm just saying how hard Brock goes. Like, one time I was going to beat everyone into the weight room at 4 a.m. because we were coming off a loss to Portland in the regular season and I was getting blown up on the line, and Brock's already in there, just nods to me and keeps lifting. The dude is an animal and Arizona walked away with a good one there. I think Knight ended up with them in the third too, they're going to be tough to play in a couple years, me and Luc always had good battles in practice. And oh man, I was surprised by how far my man Ryan Leaf Jr. fell! I don't know if teams were worried about him coming on midseason or him having used to play at quarterback, but you can see that QB intelligence shine through in his play. Not only that, but he's committed AF (excuse my language) to the game, like, when Coach told him he was going to switch to DT, dude didn't even bat an eye. I swear, one of the funniest things this season is we always saw Leaf with bananas, like, it was bananas for breakfast, bananas for lunch, always with the bananas. It was hilarious because we'd be getting on the team bus to go somewhere and Leaf would be like, "Oh [expletive], my bananas!" and the whole bus would just lose it. Dude's a good guy, I'm excited to see how he does up in Canada, and I know he's going to provide a ton of positivity to their locker room. A lot of us have one more season down in the DSFL though, so we are going to make the most of it and hopefully come away with the hardware at the end of the season.
What do you think about how San Jose finished their draft?
I'm very excited! I think we ended up grabbing offensive pieces in the first three rounds and then another in the fifth, that's a lot of new pieces for the reigning Quarterback of the Year to play with next year. And to top that, those first three guys, we're all big guys, possession type players, it's going to be really tough for opposing defenses to stop our drives. Without giving too much away, I've already been talking to the coaches on how to improve my game and they've got a couple ideas on how I can get a little faster, so we are going to explore some things there. I think that will complement nicely some of the stuff Cameron Olsen is able to do, like, watching him in the DSFL was something else, it's hard to imagine having to try to guard a guy like that.
The DSFL draft recently finished up. Is there anyone you are looking forward to welcoming to Norfolk?
I really am excited for the battles in camp with the new cornerback Lavelle, he looks like a stud. It's going to be hard to replace Luc Knight's presence in the secondary, it was always fun to go up against him in practice. But Lavelle looks like he's got the chops the fill the void nicely, it's going to be interesting to see how everything turns out. Another guy that caught my eye was Demarcus Strike, the new tight end. I like adding someone that can work the inside, and he's a big body guy that can really work for us in the redzone. Plus I was running a lot of the routes from the H last year and now I can move outside and focus on developing my route running a bit more, there's just a lot of moving parts that really open up our offense. Lot's of good moves coming from our new GM.
Lastly, what are you expecting to come from the S15 season?
Honestly, I'm just soaking it all in at this point. Nothing could happen this year that could bring me down. Nothing. Finding out my dad was still alive is going to energize me all season, I can't wait to get back on the field and know he's sitting up in the stands watching me. Sure, I've got some unfinished business in Portland to deal with. And developing further for the rookie season in S16 in the NSFL is going to be priority number one. There's a lot of pressure to reward their faith in me and I am going to do it. But mostly, I'm just glad to be back here in the States, playing the game that I love.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The night was getting late, and the wife had called at least thrice to see what the hell was taking so long to get home. I was in no shape to drive, so we wrapped it up and AE kindly waited with me outside until my ride showed up. All the way back to the house, I kept thinking about Ahri's story, and how extraordinarily lucky he was to even have made it to the Unites States, much less soon to be playing in the NSFL, and even more so being reunited with a long-lost, thought to be dead father.
But I guess that's just what the fates have in store for the kid.
We arrive at my home, I thank my driver, and as I'm heading up my front porch steps, it strikes me, that deep dizzying feeling of being overwhelmed by a curiosity you know you have no hope to satisfy.
How the hell did they get AE's phone number?
- NSFL and DSFL reporter, Albert Breererer
McGillin’s Olde Ale House.
Nine o' clock.
On a Saturday.
Regular crowd... blah blah blah. You don't really need the whole intro to a Billy Joel song do you?
You do?
Ah geez, well, let's see... DOOM BOOM DO OHHHHH OH OH OH forthelongest FOR THE LONGEST TIME (TIME), WHOA OH OH forthelongest FOR THE LONGEST-
There you go. And it's appropriate too, since that pretty accurately describes how long this kid is going to be terrorizing NSFL defenses. I have a second here before AE is supposed to arrive, so let me check the stat sheet real quick.
Number two in total receptions.
Number three in total yards.
Top five in touchdowns caught.
And that was doing it all with the highly productive, number one overall pick Brock Landers lining up opposite. So how does a guy who draws the number one cornerback on a regular basis, who has another highly productive receiver taking looks away lining up on the other side, and had some of the least efficient quarterback play in the entire DSFL become one of the top wide receivers of the class?
Simple: talent, hard work, and most of all, respect.
But enough of me blithering away like an idiot. You didn't come here to read some washed up thirty year old has-been writer romanticize one of the NSFL brightest rising stars off a stat sheet. You came to hear from Mr. SPECT himself, and as I see him just now arriving (and the waitress is bringing me another McGillin's 1860 IPA), I figure now is as good a time as any to bury my lips in this glass, and let the young man do the talking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the crushing defeat last season against the eventual Ultimini chamipion Portland Pythons in the playoffs, I heard you were missing for a while, and no one could get a hold of you for a few weeks. What happened? Did you really take the loss that seriously?
(Laughing) Well, yes and no. Yes, I went AWOL for a bit after the loss to the Pythons, and yeah, I was pretty broken up about it. I love this game, and any time I come up short of my goals it tears me up inside. But no, I didn't go anywhere because of the loss. Actually, the loss was probably the best thing to happen to me all year! Let me explain...
When I was a kid, I grew up on the streets with just my mom and dad after they illegally crossed the border from North to South Korea. It was rough going, but just being the three of us, we always knew we would get by, so long as we had each other. The nights were long and tough, but one of the worst was the night my dad was taken. We had gone back to where we slept (I wouldn't really call it a home, it was really more like a shack or a lean-to) and me being just a dumb little kid, I had lost my stuffed elephant I always used to carry with me everywhere we would go. We had been rummaging for recyclables to get enough money to buy food the next day, so my dad went back along the route we had taken to go find it. He never came back. I assumed he just left, and to a lesser extent my mom did too, but I don't think she ever really believed he would just leave her like that. Well, I'll tell you what, that night sucked some huge balls. I cried for a week I think, no joke, until we found out he hadn't just left us, he had been spotted by some Agriculture officials from North Korea who were visiting the South for some, well, I'll just say there was some adult extracurriculars going on around where we used to live, and these North Korean guys were regulars. I know they say you can't get in or out, but we used to see all these official looking people with the Northern star on their clothes in our part of town, and I guess one of them recognized my dad? I don't know. My parents used to be farmers, or at least that's what they told me, but I never figured they would be important enough that some officials would recognize them, you know? Well anyways, my mom and I, we got a letter from one of the people that used to do the smuggling runs from North to South, like, some real underground railroad stuff. Well, when we found out he had been sent back to North Korea, my mom did just about everything she could to get him back, short of going back for him herself. She told me she wouldn't ever go back, she couldn't leave me, even though I told her I would be okay by myself, that I could take care of myself (and I had some days even already) and I just wanted my dad back. It didn't happen. My mom said she couldn't stay in Seoul, it hurt too much to be that close to him and know he couldn't get out to be with us, so we left for the United States. I think people know what happened after that already, so I won't go into too much detail.
Fast-forward to the week of the Pythons game. I was in the locker room before the game, and we were all getting ready, getting hyped for the big game, you know? Well, earlier in the week I had missed a call from a +850 international code. I am not sure if you know or not, but that's the international code for North Korea, but I don't have anyone's numbers from there, and I was spooked. I thought somehow I had gotten tracked down as my dad's kid, and like, you know, could get deported or whatever. Or maybe Portland was pulling a sneaky one and trying to get in my head? I don't know, but I didn't call back.
Then I got a text from the same number on gameday.
All the text said was "its me im out" and I knew it was my dad, he had escaped again. But I was 100% in my head, because my mom and I had been told by our last relatives in North Korea that my dad had been killed in a farming accident some years before (and the grief was eventually what took my mom). I tried calling the number back, but the line was disconnected. Look, I know I was the reason we lost that game, I had some big drops late, and I've already called a couple of my teammates to explain to them what was going on and to apologize. But I swear, I couldn't think of anything else, I just wanted that damn game to be over so I could jump on a plane and get back to Korea and start looking for him. That's pretty much exactly what I did. I went back to where we used to live, but that part of the city had been renovated and the red-light district was replaced with some new shopping mall or something. I tried calling the number again but it was still disconnected. I really didn't know what to do, but I kept looking for him the next couple weeks.
And it was almost a month later, I was wandering downtown Seoul, just scanning faces with really no hope I was going to find him (I had a plane ticket back to the States for later that week) and I saw him. Standing right in front of some athletic wear shop staring right at me, with this big ol' grin on his face. And I felt like crying, I really did, because I remember back when my mom and I were sailing over here from South Korea all the nights I cried thinking I'd never see him again. But there he was, grinning at me and I'm just crying and I start grinning at him and pretty soon we're just standing across the street from each other laughing our asses off. Man, I've never felt so happy before. So I cross the street to him and I realize there's a jersey in the window of the store he's standing in front of.
It's mine. From Norfolk.
Somehow some tiny athletic shop in downtown South Korea had found my prospect jersey from the DSFL and put it up in their window. My dad says he would go stand in front of that shop every day just to look at that jersey and think about how I had gotten out from the life he was trapped in. I told him he didn't have to worry any more, that I was going pro in the NSFL and he lost it. In all the time I had known my dad, through all the junk we'd been through, I'd never seen him cry until that day. He told me he never really hoped that his text would reach me, that the number was given to him from one of the connections in the underground railroad, and that he already knew about Mom. I think that's the only thing that's really going to bug me, well, those two things. I wish I could go back and tell my mom my dad would be back again, like, if I could she'd still be here today. And how the hell did they get my phone number?
Wow. That's quite the story. How did your team back in Norfolk react when you told them where you were going?
To be perfectly honest, I only told a few people. Even the coaches didn't know what was happening, mostly because I wasn't really sure what was happening. I guess most of them will find out when this article posts, huh? (Laughs) But seriously, this was something that was super important I take care of and nothing was going to stop me from finding out if it was really him. I think I told you before, my love for the game stems from my parents, and the love I have for them. There's nothing in the world that I would give up football for, other than to see my parents again. And I was fully prepared to give up on my football dreams, just on the off-chance my dad was actually still alive. That's not really the sort of thing your coaches want to hear, even if it's for family. And even though we have a great culture in Norfolk, I couldn't risk not seeing my dad again.
So now you're back, what's next? Did you make it back for the draft? Will any of this affect your draft status with San Jose?
I did get back in time for the draft, and I'm super excited to be playing for the San Jose SaberCats in the future! I am honestly blown away that they would take me in the first, it is really an honor and there is a lot of pressure for me to perform next season when I am called up and Oles moves on to Chicago. I never really expected to be taken by the champs, I had talked to a couple of rebuilding teams and was getting pretty excited to be part of that rebuild core, but to be selected by a team like the SaberCats... it's just... wow, you know? That's a prestigious team coming off a championship season, I've got to prove to them it was worth it to take me so high. I don't think there is anything that is going to affect San Jose with this whole thing with my dad, I'm working on getting his paperwork squared away, but the great thing about having money for once in my life is I can afford a pretty damn good lawyer now, so he mostly handles that stuff for me. I can just get back to playing football.
What were your reactions to some of your Norfolk teammates being drafted?
BROCK LANDERS NUMBER ONE OVERALL! Oh my god, I'm just super happy for Brock he totally deserves it, like, there's not a guy in the world I've played with that works as hard as he does. And that's not a knock on anyone, I'm just saying how hard Brock goes. Like, one time I was going to beat everyone into the weight room at 4 a.m. because we were coming off a loss to Portland in the regular season and I was getting blown up on the line, and Brock's already in there, just nods to me and keeps lifting. The dude is an animal and Arizona walked away with a good one there. I think Knight ended up with them in the third too, they're going to be tough to play in a couple years, me and Luc always had good battles in practice. And oh man, I was surprised by how far my man Ryan Leaf Jr. fell! I don't know if teams were worried about him coming on midseason or him having used to play at quarterback, but you can see that QB intelligence shine through in his play. Not only that, but he's committed AF (excuse my language) to the game, like, when Coach told him he was going to switch to DT, dude didn't even bat an eye. I swear, one of the funniest things this season is we always saw Leaf with bananas, like, it was bananas for breakfast, bananas for lunch, always with the bananas. It was hilarious because we'd be getting on the team bus to go somewhere and Leaf would be like, "Oh [expletive], my bananas!" and the whole bus would just lose it. Dude's a good guy, I'm excited to see how he does up in Canada, and I know he's going to provide a ton of positivity to their locker room. A lot of us have one more season down in the DSFL though, so we are going to make the most of it and hopefully come away with the hardware at the end of the season.
What do you think about how San Jose finished their draft?
I'm very excited! I think we ended up grabbing offensive pieces in the first three rounds and then another in the fifth, that's a lot of new pieces for the reigning Quarterback of the Year to play with next year. And to top that, those first three guys, we're all big guys, possession type players, it's going to be really tough for opposing defenses to stop our drives. Without giving too much away, I've already been talking to the coaches on how to improve my game and they've got a couple ideas on how I can get a little faster, so we are going to explore some things there. I think that will complement nicely some of the stuff Cameron Olsen is able to do, like, watching him in the DSFL was something else, it's hard to imagine having to try to guard a guy like that.
The DSFL draft recently finished up. Is there anyone you are looking forward to welcoming to Norfolk?
I really am excited for the battles in camp with the new cornerback Lavelle, he looks like a stud. It's going to be hard to replace Luc Knight's presence in the secondary, it was always fun to go up against him in practice. But Lavelle looks like he's got the chops the fill the void nicely, it's going to be interesting to see how everything turns out. Another guy that caught my eye was Demarcus Strike, the new tight end. I like adding someone that can work the inside, and he's a big body guy that can really work for us in the redzone. Plus I was running a lot of the routes from the H last year and now I can move outside and focus on developing my route running a bit more, there's just a lot of moving parts that really open up our offense. Lot's of good moves coming from our new GM.
Lastly, what are you expecting to come from the S15 season?
Honestly, I'm just soaking it all in at this point. Nothing could happen this year that could bring me down. Nothing. Finding out my dad was still alive is going to energize me all season, I can't wait to get back on the field and know he's sitting up in the stands watching me. Sure, I've got some unfinished business in Portland to deal with. And developing further for the rookie season in S16 in the NSFL is going to be priority number one. There's a lot of pressure to reward their faith in me and I am going to do it. But mostly, I'm just glad to be back here in the States, playing the game that I love.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The night was getting late, and the wife had called at least thrice to see what the hell was taking so long to get home. I was in no shape to drive, so we wrapped it up and AE kindly waited with me outside until my ride showed up. All the way back to the house, I kept thinking about Ahri's story, and how extraordinarily lucky he was to even have made it to the Unites States, much less soon to be playing in the NSFL, and even more so being reunited with a long-lost, thought to be dead father.
But I guess that's just what the fates have in store for the kid.
We arrive at my home, I thank my driver, and as I'm heading up my front porch steps, it strikes me, that deep dizzying feeling of being overwhelmed by a curiosity you know you have no hope to satisfy.
How the hell did they get AE's phone number?
- NSFL and DSFL reporter, Albert Breererer