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W19eaver · 09-12-2020, 11:27 PM

*At a draft party in northern BC*

"Hey Phillip! Good luck tonight in the SHL draft and thanks for throwing this huge event for it!" says some home town friend.

"Well it's not every day a person from this small town of ours gets drafted in to a professional sports team!" exclaimed Phillip to his friend, "I also have pretty good feeling I'll be going in the first round, at least that what all the reputable mocks out there say."

"You've worked hard for this you deserve" his friend says back to him as he raises the drink in his hand above his head and then shouts "EVERYBODY TO PHILLIP!"

A modest crowd of maybe 30-40 people all raise there drinks and cheer. As the cheering quiets down, the people in the room go back chattering among themselves, eating from a large buffet table, just enjoying the atmosphere. After a little while the lights get turned down, music off and a live projection of the S56 SHL entry draft goes up on the screen. The crowd silently watch as the team owners and management go up on stage and announce their picks.

"THAT SHOULD'VE BEEN YOU!" someone from the crowd would shout after each pick.

1. 2. 3. 4..... Finally near the end of the 1st round the crowd watches as Tampa Bay Barracuda GM @trella goes up on stage and announces that, "With the 17th overall pick in the S56 SHL draft, Tampa Bay would like to select Phillip Weaver from the Nevada Battleborn."

The small crowd watching the projection all go crazy! They start hooting and hollering before some shouts, "SHHH be quiet Phil's going to be getting a call any minute now!"

The crowd goes quiet, as they all stare up at Phillip who himself is just staring at his phone. A few minutes go by, the crowd still silently watching Phil watch his phone.

"Hey Phil are you sure your phone is on?" his friend asks him.

"Dude I'm staring right at it! These things take time I'm sure." replies Phillip.

So they turn the projection back on and its already mid way through the 2nd round. Although most of their attention was on watching the rest of the draft, parts of the crowd would look towards Phillip, who just kept looking at his phone. Round 3 goes by, and then round 4. The crowd has seen Tampa Bay make several other picks at that point. Even catching a glimpse of an interview from another Tampa Bay pick. The rest of the draft goes on all the way till the end. The crowd continues to eat and drink, but there is a different vibe in the venue, a little more awkward. After a while the bits and pieces of the crowd begin to leave, all individual going up to Phillip and thanking him for then party and wishing him luck. Finally just Phil and his childhood friend sat there in the hall.

"So last year when you were drafted into Nevada, how long was it until you got this call?" asks his friend.

"I got the call before I watched it on TV, the guys in Nevada really knew what they were doing when it came to stuff like that. They were always in constant communication with each other and the team. Hell they had sent me a plane ticket to get my butt down there just to meet the team like as soon as I got off the phone with them. But its been like 4 hours since the end of the draft. I watched my name get called on TV but yet still nothing from them!" Exclaims Phillip as he slams his phone down on the table in front of him.

"Maybe you should call them" suggested his friend.

As Phil shot him a look of scorn, "That's ridiculous! They should have gotten a hold of me hours ago. It's clear the management team is incompetent. This would have never happened with @Jearim or @Nokazoa in charge."

Phil grabs his drink and takes a long swig as the clock ticks on, still waiting on that phone call.