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Wallflower · 05-20-2020, 09:14 PM

Bale Gets The Call

It all started in 8th grade when Bale was just a fat kid that skated around in Texas. Nobody in the state knows how to play the game of hockey. Realistically when Bale came out as being very good at skating, everybody thought that he was homosexual. Down in the south, that doesn’t fly. So throughout middle school and the first two years of high school, fat little Bale was bullied for his love of the game. It probably didn’t help that his other favorite sport was volleyball and he was in the band. Regardless, Bale was a very sad kid. People would call him homophobic slurs and make weight jokes even though he was straight and just had a little bit of chub to his body. One day in October of his 8th grade year, Bale ran home crying to his parents that kids were bullying him for his hobbies and his weight. His parents, unaware of prior attacks towards their son, told him that he was in control of what that meant for his life. He could either be a little overweight and be happy with that or he could start working out more and showing the kids that he could be fit if he wanted. Regardless, they made him feel loved and valued. So Bale got in the gym and started working on his skating harder than ever before. “I wasn’t going to let some douchebags in school stop me. I was worth it no matter what I looked like, but I wanted to destroy everybody who doubted me. Everybody who bullied me for no reason, everybody who said I wasn’t good enough, and everybody that lied just because it was the cool thing to do. The only thing on my mind was don’t stop until they feel it.”

That’s what he did. Bale was in the gym day and night, working his butt off. He maintained straight A’s, which wasn’t very hard to do in Junior High. With his grades intact, all of his time outside of the classroom was him in the lab. After years of battling his baby fat, he finally really starting to show an athletic body mold and hit a growth spurt in the sophomore year of his high school year. He became an amazing hockey, football, and basketball prospect. He was easily the best at hockey, but his pure explosiveness and athleticism allowed him to excel all over the sporting world. Between his sophomore and junior year, Bale realized that he would be a starter in all three sports at any school. Even though he was an athlete, people still had residual hate for him because he had continued to play on junior varsity and hadn’t gotten the call up. Knowing that his “band of brothers” would be guys that had harassed him for the past 4 years, Bale made the decision to transfer to a rival high school. Quitting on his school? Maybe. Leaving behind people who did nothing but drag him down? Yes. “Man for the next 2 years, all I did was dominated sports in our city. No matter if it was hockey, basketball, or football, I was just winning. I won a state championship in hockey and in football and we made it to the semifinals in basketball. The school I left never beat me and I was MVP of the district every time. I did what I set out to do and I stopped the guys who thought that I would never be anything. It felt good, not fulfilling, but felt good. That wasn’t it though, they lit a flame that they couldn’t put out themselves. I’ll never talk to those guys again. No point in letting the haters dictate who I am.”

And just like that, Bale had a decision. College or going to the developmental hockey league to try and make it to the SHL. For Bale it was an easy decision. He knew he had the talent to make it to the big leagues and he never particularly enjoyed the school aspect of school. Sure, the social experience of college is unparalleled, but so is the joy of proving everybody wrong in your life. So, he declared for the SMJHL and was waiting for a team to sign him. After waiting around for a little and not hearing form any GMs, Bale swore off love for any other SMJHL team than the first one that drafted him. He was coming pretty late into the season, but whichever GM signed him got to keep him for the next season. It didn’t seem like a hard choice for Bale. After waiting for what seemed like forever, Brandon Donini of the Anaheim Outlaws gave the forward his first chance to join the juniors. “I remember vividly having Donini hit my line and tell me I could be an Outlaw. They weren’t the best team then or anything near it, but he promised the next season I would have a big role and we could win. I knew I had found a home and I wasn’t going to leave it. I was going to beat every SMJHL team no matter how many games it took. It probably stems from people never believing in me at any level of my life, but I’ve always known who I am. I’m not going to stop until I start regressing as a player.”

Bale simply had a horrible season in his first of the juniors. He was supposed to be a snipper and a guy who could produce points but he was stuck down on the 4th line and 3rd line for a little and saw almost no production. It was a decent playoff appearance for the Outlaws, but they didn’t win it all and that just drove Bale even more. At this point, it was time for the SHL draft and a chance for teams to draft Bale. Once again, Bale got passed over by almost anybody as he was selected with the 23rd overall pick by the Winnipeg Jets. Another chance for people to take a change on Bale and nobody wanted to. “It was crazy to slide that far again, man. People saw my potential and they saw me working as hard as a guy can in the gym. It doesn’t get much easier to pick me than that. I’ve seen a lot of guys from that draft class that got picked ahead of me flame out already. Pretty sad to see from a lot of teams man. I’m extremely thankful that the Jets took a chance on me, but man, a lot of other teams choked it hard. It’s time for me to just show it when I get called up, honestly.”

Going into his second season, the forward fought his way into the second line on the Outlaws and became a very reliable scorer going into the second half of the season. The team was able to rally the whole year and look like a very strong squad. Behind the strong saves of Strom Chamberlain and the veteran leadership of Petrenko and Maximus, the Outlaws won the 4-Star Cup. Bale was arguably one of the most valuable players on the team in the run and helped his squad win a big time trophy. It was one of the biggest accomplishments of career and finally gave him validation. “It’s always felt like the odds were stacked against me and nobody was rooting for me. I got lucky to end up in a place like Anaheim and really get to build camaraderie with such a great group of guys. We battled alongside each other all season and I wouldn’t trade this for anything. Props to all the other teams, but I finally found a city that backs me like none other and feels like home. Anaheim will forever be the SMJHL team that holds a special place in my heart. OUTLUNGUS!”

Bale’s third season in the SMJHL wasn’t as good, but it wasn’t bad. The Outlaws finished fourth in the regular season in points and made it to the semifinals before falling to the Kelowna Knights (I think). Bale had a pretty productive season, getting north of 20 goals and finishing third on the team in scoring. His training pace slowed down as the SMJHL only allows so much training for its players. Still, a very productive season, but not where Bale wanted to end it. This is a quote from Bale after the team lost in the semi-finals: “Honestly, it feels like I’ve accomplished what I wanted in the SMJHL, but it also feels like I left so much on the table. We have a great group of guys here and I don’t know where I’ll end up next season, but I’d love to give it another run. This is a very special team and it’s a special place man.”

Little did Bale know that would be his last game in the SMJHL. Just this week, he got the call from the big man in Winnipeg that he was getting called up.

“I know that this is going to be a challenge getting called up. I’m going to be one of the most raw players in the league and I’m not as seasoned as a lot of these guys. I know that and that’s just going to have to be ok. Muerto told me he believes in me, Brain, Crudelli, all those guys have been super supportive of me getting the call-up. I’m nervous for sure, but I’m ready to show them what I’ve got. They’ve always doubted me man, but I’m still standing. I can’t wait to get out there and start this season for sure. It’s time to start the road to greatness.”