Power Pros Forum

Cooper Thompson and Jeffrey Stanton had been best friends for as long as they can remember. After Cooper moved in next door to Jeffrey at the age of 4, they seemed to have spent every waking minute together. From riding their bikes through the woods, to playing together in Little League, to graduating High School, all the way to being the star players for the UCF Knights baseball team. But alas, neither friend was meant for the MLB. Cooper, the closer, had Tommy John surgery as a Freshman and never quite recovered. Jeffrey, the third baseman, didn't have the necessary contact to hit professional pitching.

When they were just 11 years old, they agreed that if one of them couldn't make the big leagues, they'd work together to be the first co-General Managers in baseball history. They wrote up a document, stating just, "If either Cooper of Jeffrey are unable to become major leaguers, they will work together to become the first pair of General Managers in history." They each signed it with their favorite colored crayon, and a dot of their own blood.

And as it turned out, neither of them did make it to the Bigs. Yet, Cooper was a big math guy who was fascinated in sabermetrics and other stats. He had been known to lock himself in their dorm and just study numbers for hours on end. Jeffrey excelled in being able to watch guys and could just tell if they had "it". He knew what forms and techniques translated into success, and which would need to be worked on.

Together, they would be the perfect man for the job. But apart? They were just decent, and not as great as many of the options out there. And no owner in their right mind would hire two friends for the same job, right?

Ooh...nice backstory. I'll certainly follow.

Thanks

I hope to have a good chunk of backstory on the players (one in particular), with some on the GM's to develop them just enough. I hope I can finish up with Success Mode soon so I can start games before December. Until then, I'll set up some basic things, like how and why the Sin and the other team come into the league and start fleshing out the main character

Skittles' log is finally starting?

Awwwww yeeeeeaaaaaaah!

Can't wait for this to begin!

This is how these flashbacks will work. Because there will end up being flashbacks for more than one player, you'll see the date, and then the player that the flashback is for. Make sense? The flashbacks will also all be in first person.

August 9th, 1987: Marco Kennedy

I wake up to the sound of pounding down the stairs. I slide out of my tiny bed and crawl slowly down them myself, but just enough so I can peer into the living room. My father is throwing things around, trying to pack up a suitcase, while my mother is clinging onto his arm, weeping uncontrollably.

"Carlos, don't leave!*" she pleads.
"Why the Hell should I not?" he yells back. "Ever since Marco was born, all you care about is him! You don't give two shits about me anymore, because it's all about him, him, him!"
"But Carlos, he's our son! We have to take care of him. What do you want me to do? Give him away to an orphanage?"
"Yes! Please! *(censored)* Marco! He stole our youth!" he shouts as he throws a plate on the floor. "I don't want to take care of a child! He's the worst thing to happen to me. I mean, for damn sake Natalie, if you had bought some rubber worth more than 20 cents, we wouldn't have this problem!"
"How could you say that!" my mother screams. "He is the best thing to ever come into my life, and if you don't agree, you can get out. Go on, leave! You, you monster!"

In an instant, there was a sound like the crack of a whip, the sound of a slap on my mother's face. This was followed shortly by the opening and then slamming of the front door, leaving just the sobbing of my mother as the only noise. I crawl down the remaining of the stairs and sit next to my mother.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" I whisper, unaware of the significance of the altercation.
"It's nothing" she whispers back, tears still streaming down her face and onto me. "Let's to back to bed."
She carried me upstairs, tucked me neatly into my bed, and kissed me on the cheek. Before she walked away, she leaned down into my ear and softly told me, "I will always love you Marco. Don't ever forget that."

As she walked back towards her bed, now half empty, a single tear rolled down my face, as what happened started to sink in.

*They would be speaking Spanish, but it's in English for the sake of the log

Nice!

Gotta love flashbacks.

Heh heh...

Poor Marco...

Well, he becomes a incredible, successful, famous baseball player. It all evens out

I'm still sorry for him, though. Bet he still wants to smack Carlos.

November 5th, 2006: Cooper Thompson

On a Sunday morning, I'm woken up at just 5 in the morning by the obnoxious sound of my cell phone. "Hello?" I squeak out.
"Cooper, wake up! Turn on ESPN! NOW!" my best friend Jeffrey shouts from the other line.
"Why?"
"Just do it! Come on, hurry up!"
"Do I have to? It's five in the *(censored)*' morning!"
"Yes, just do it. You won't be disappointing."
"Copying off of Nike I see."
"Come on, just turn it on!"

I flop over onto the carpet and slowly crawl over to my TV and press the on button. The light is blinding, but after a few seconds, I can read the headline. "MLB expected to add two new teams". In a moment, I'm instantly awake and I turn the volume up in record time to hear the voice of Bob Ley explaining the story.

"This just in, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball is expected to add two new teams to the league and rival the 32 that the NFL has. This announcement is expected to be confirmed this afternoon. Currently, it is not known which cities will be receiving these two teams, but they are both likely to play out west. Along with this, Bud Selig is expected to announce some slight division realignment, probably involving the Tigers, Pirates, Rangers, and an NL west team.
"These teams are expected to be added to the league very soon, likely in time for the 2008 MLB season. Nobody knows how the teams will assemble their teams, whether it be a draft, tryouts, or taking AAA players from other teams. Owners have been decided, but their names are being withheld until the decision is officially announced later today."

My mind starts racing with all the possibilities. Who is going to be added? How will this affect all the teams? Why did they decide this? Realignment? But then, the real reason Jeffrey called me comes up in my mind. What if we could finally become General Managers?

This is great except for one thing: the date is November 5th, 2006. It should be 2007, right?

No, it's 2006 on purpose

Flashbacks ding-dong

No, I can see where he's coming from. But it is supposed to be 2006