FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY = Fuel

[pugsood 87]

FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY.

 

I won't lie, that was one of the first words that came to my mind on draft night, all those years ago. But here's the thing. It wasn't just a snub. It was snub. After snub. After snub.

Listen, I was under now allusions that I was going to be the top pick in the draft when I was first entering the league. I knew that in the eyes of many of the coaches and GMs in the league, that there were question marks about not only my ceiling in this ecosystem, but questions about my floor given my stated lack of enthusiasm for the sport. But I thought I had answered those questions. To the GMs who had reached out to me, I thought the dialogue was productive, positive even.

 

And then draft night arrived on the eve of Season 87. Player, after player, after player got drafted. My cell phone didn't ring. It was as if the phone was on do not disturb. A couple of times I hit the phone just to wake it up, certain I must have just missed a notification, missed a call. Nope. Every GM was passing on me. First round over. Second round, picks still coming off the board. 

 

Finally, I was drafted. I'd love to tell you a wave of euphoria washed over me; but I'd be lying. It was more a feeling of relief, with the twinge of bitterness that's all too familiar to those who think potentially more highly of themselves than those around them. But the experience wasn't over. Not by a stretch. I just received a text from my agent. "You're traded to Calgary."

 

The team that had drafted me didn't even want me. I found myself shipped off north of the border to enter Calgary's program. To be certain, I was welcome with open arms by that program, and I did feel that they actually 'wanted' me. But my mind and heart weren't allowing me to embrace the moment in a positive way; I became fueled by the anger, the resentment, the confusion of how so many GMs could have overlooked me.

 

And that fuel has led me to more success than perhaps even I could have originally imaged. From being a top player in the VHLE to having earned 30 points so far in my rookie season with the Wranglers, that fuel has been topping off my tank as I continue to work and prove my previous naysayers wrong. It reminds me of what Am'Ron St. Brown did after he was drafted after I believe 12 or 18 different receivers were taken before him in the NFL Draft. He wrote all those names down, and made it a point to outperform them all.

 

I haven't gone to those lengths, but I've been hell bent on making Ricer, Janser and the executive leadership of the Wranglers justified in trading for me, and making them proud of all that I'm achieving but more importantly, all we're achieving as a team.