Ascension: The Tyson Woods Story

[r3dnek]

hey guys, just wanted to give you guys a quick author's note and basic summary before i get this started up tonight

this is basically the story of runningback Tyson Woods (no relation to Tiger), i won't give away much more, but the story will be told at many different angles, but the main one will just be 3rd person, like a normal novel, Ascension is the first part of the (hopeful) trilogy surrounding Mr. Woods

i will be using real NFL team names, but NOT real player names, also it won't be true to what's happening right now in the NFL (For instance i mention some teams that suck now as Super Bowl contenders)

i won't be playing any of this on video games, this i just simply like a novel, in fact i hope to maybe make this a novel one day, and i ask that you guys please don't post any hateful comments like "This sucks" or anything, i'm looking for real critiques or questions on the story, i will accept "This is great, but what about...." or "I like this, but you might want to..."

ok, that's it, hopefully i'll get this going tonight, you guys can post away

[I am a huge CUNT]

Woo!

[r3dnek]

“It’ll be fourth and six here for the Arizona State Sun Devils. Ball on the sixteen yard line as Hamilton brings them up to the line of scrimmage. One final chance here for ASU, down 24-20 in the Orange Bowl. A field goal won’t do it. Arizona State needs a touchdown and have one last opportunity to do so with seven seconds remaining.”

The announcer couldn’t have said it better. But, then again, that’s why he was broadcasting this game, because he was good at building suspense. Heck, Tyson knew what was going to happen, and he still got chills running up his spine watching this game with all the suspense. Or maybe it was because of the booze. Downing twelve beers in just an hour and a half isn’t a bad feat. He hadn’t accomplished that since college.

“Ace formation for the Devils. Hamilton calling signals at the line. Woods in the backfield with Dees the main receiver…”

Tyson remembers this exact play. He remembered everything that was supposed to happen. He knew which lineman was supposed to block the weak side linebacker, which receiver was supposed to pick up the strong safety, and most importantly, where he was going to run.

He even remembers the tone in his QB Brian Hamilton’s voice. It exuded confidence. Brian always did that. They could be losing 45-0 and Brian would still talk in the huddle like they were going to win.

“OK guys,” Tyson remembered Brian saying, “Ace right, 22 blast, on two. Ace right, 22 blast, on two. This is for the Orange Bowl, boys. Ready, break!”

‘Ace right’ meant that it would be an Ace formation with just the QB and the running back in the backfield. ‘Right’ meant that the tight end and the slot receiver would line up on the right side of the field. Twenty-two blast meant Tyson was getting the ball up the middle on the right side of the line, through the ‘2’ hole, which was right in between the right guard and the right tackle. Piece of cake.

“Here’s the snap. Hamilton hands it off to Woods up the middle. Woods cuts back to the left side of the field, away from his blockers…”

That’s because there was nothing there. The opposing team, the NC State Wolfpack, stacked their defense to the right side of the field before the play. Tyson saw it, and exploited it easily. The line blocked the opposite way anyhow, and left him with more green on the left side than a golf course. That eliminated the defenders by over half. He just had two guys to worry about. The safeties. With him running the opposite way from the blocking, the slot receiver couldn’t pick up the strong safety, and Tyson had to deal with him alone.

“…Woods with two men to beat, he’s at the five…”

[r3dnek]

The free safety was too easy. A true freshman, Tommy Kyle, and a big time recruit out of Florida. Everyone raved over how good this kid was for a freshman. Most claimed him to be the next Ronnie Lott or Ed Reed. Tyson claimed him to be the next flop. He had plenty of weaknesses, and they were easy to exploit. Kyle loved making big hits on players, so much so that he only concentrated on that, making him easy to fool. Tyson saw Kyle coming in on the right shoulder, which made things even easier. Tyson would fake like he was going inside, force Kyle to make a move, then juke back to the outside and go for the corner of the endzone. It was too easy. Kyle bit on the fake like a rabid dog.

“…Ooh and he fakes out Kyle with a big juke…”

Now, it was one on one. Him and the strong safety. With over half the field left for him to use, Woods didn’t even have to think about his next move. The strong safety was just to Tyson’s right, and another juke was out of the question, since it would slow him down and make him easier to tackle with the angle this guy had on him. Woods had to run as far left as he could without getting out of bounds. With no time left on the clock, it was endzone or bust at this point. Tyson saw the front corner of the endzone, which would be his target. Erase the safety from his mind and go for the corner. That guy’s slower, and doesn’t have any type of advantage.

”…Woods looks to go to the corner…”

He saw the corner. It was there. Victory was right there. But at the same time, he saw the safety. Where did he come from? I thought he was much slower. But apparently he wasn’t. Tyson now had to choose. He couldn’t just run it in; he had to do something special. There was no way he’d make it if he just went right in. He needed to do a special move. His mind raced as he thought of different moves. Stiff arm…no lower the shoulder…no dive…no, jump over him…no wait. But he had no time left to think. He went on initial reaction. In a last ditch effort, Tyson leaped for the pile-on in the corner of the endzone. His body crashed into the safety in midair and crunched to the ground just milliseconds later. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Woods looked up at the referee for the signal. TD or no?

“Touchdown Devils! Touchdown Devils! Arizona State wins the game on a miraculous 4th down play by Tyson Woods as time expires! An incredible finish to an incredible game! Unbelievable!”

Tyson cut the TV off. He couldn’t watch it anymore. It made him sick to watch the ending. Seeing all the cheering fans, the expression on his and his teammates faces. It was just too sickening. Sure, that game wasn’t for the National Championship, and nobody pegged Arizona State to be contenders that year either. The game’s only implications were pride and glory. But the celebration was as if they won the National Title. And that’s what made him so sick. Seeing all the happiness was unbearable.

Woods looked at the clock. Two o’clock in the morning. Once again, Tyson spent the majority of his night drinking and watching old games of himself, and once again, he’d have to go to work the next morning with the worst headache ever. But, it was a life Tyson had gotten used to, and a living he knew he’d have to endure for the rest of his life.

[r3dnek]

Let’s go De-vils! Let’s go De-vils!

The crowd roared at Sun Devil Stadium, and Tyson loved every second of it. The first home game of his senior year, and it was like something out of a movie. Each blade of grass was cut to perfection, and the sun beat down on the field, producing and incredible heat that made everyone sweat buckets. Most people hated it, but Tyson fell in love with it. This was indeed the perfect day for football.

“Alright boys, I-right, 34 shuffle on one. I-right, 34 shuffle on one. Ready, break!” Brian commanded from the huddle.

‘I-right’. I-formation with the fullback lining up just to the right of the QB. 34 shuffle. Tyson went through the ‘4’ hole with his fullback as lead blocker. Simple.

The Oregon Duck defense tried to look tough across the line, but Tyson knew better. These guys stunk, and everyone in the stadium knew it, including the Oregon defense. Before the snap, Woods was trying to decide if he wanted to do a flip when he got to the endzone or save it and do a Heisman pose. It would be that easy.

“HUT! Hut! Hut. Hut…hu…h”

The screams of “HUT!” from Brian quickly turned into shrieks of Tyson’s alarm clock. Just a dream. Tyson’s head was throbbing, and he wished that whoever was beating his head with a hammer would knock it off. Once he turned off the alarm, he realized it was just another hangover headache.

After a typical morning routine of showering, getting dressed, and remembering he couldn’t afford breakfast food, Tyson got into his car, fired it up, and took off for work. It was pretty sad that he was driving the same car he drove in high school, a 1991 Ford Probe. He remembered being guaranteed brand new Escalades and Mercedes Benz cars for the rest of his life, as long as he made it in the NFL. And that was the clincher. IF he made it in the NFL, he got all those nice cars and all the money and all the women. ‘If’ is a pretty big word to Tyson now. Much bigger than it was when he was in college.

[r3dnek]

But once again, he had to repress the emotions. Save them for when he came back to his empty one bedroom apartment after work. For now he had to concentrate on making it to work without the car dying, as it did twice last week. Yeah, so much for having a dependable car. No heat, no air conditioning, oil had to be changed every 2,000 miles, not 3,000 like a normal car, and the windshield wipers only worked when they chose to.

At least the radio worked on this pile of junk. One positive thing about getting up in the morning was listening to The Sports Guys on AM 1090. Michael “Mikey D” Diamond, and Luke Farrentino hosted the show. He always wished they would talk about him someday.

“Mikey D: …and that’s just the worst possible news if you’re a Jets fan. Star running back Ricky Thomas goes down in last night’s scrimmage, leaving New York with just two backs going into Training Camp this Saturday.”

“Luke: Oh yeah, Mike, I mean the Jets weren’t favored to do much in the AFC this year anyway. Looks like Brian Hamilton will yet again have to carry this team on his back with a passing game that’s…..well let’s just say ‘overlooked’ by the front office.”

“Mikey D: And what’s even worse is that they have a former 7th round pick and an undrafted free agent, neither of which have seen much playing time in their combined 5 years of experience, fighting for that starting tailback spot.”

“Luke: Yeah, I’m looking at the free agency list, and there really is nothing out there for New York. I said back in March that they should have gone after Darren Davis when Baltimore cut him, but oh no everyone said I was crazy. Now Davis is gonna destroy us with the Dolphins.”

“Mikey D: As if the Dolphins needed his help anyway, am I right? I mean winning the AFC last year and falling just one failed fourth down conversion short of a Lombardi Trophy, then you add a Pro Bowl tailback from the year before to your roster? How crazy is this team going to be?”

“Luke: I don’t even want to talk about it, Mike. I mean this season was questionable already before we lost Thomas. Now, he might not be back until Week 9 it says here, and by then we could be 2-7 looking at this schedule. And I like Ricky and everything, but he won’t take us to a 7 game win streak into the playoffs.”

“Mikey D: I think he may be on his way out anyway. The guy has suffered three injuries the last four years, all of which have kept him shelved for at least 5 weeks. He’s 33 years old, and I love the fact that he’s a ‘warrior’ and everything, but you know time marches on. I’d like to see him outta here at the end of the year, one way or the other. Either retire or cut him, I’m sick of seeing him on the field.”

“Luke: I agree. The city of New York needs a winning team in football. The Giants are living on the bottom of the barrel, winning a combined 12 games in three years. And the Jets are right on the edge. They finished 8-8 last year, 9-7 the year before that, but they missed the playoffs, and this year looks to be even worse than those two with Thomas out.”

“Mikey D: Don’t forget the fact that we don’t have our backup anymore, he bolted for Denver when he saw the chance to start. That, and our defense looks to be a little shaky. I think a tough year could be on the horizon for head coach Dan White. We’ll be right back in a few minutes after a few words from our sponsors. You’re listening to The Sports Guys on sports radio 1090, New York City.”

[SilverChaosVII]

Wow man. This is some great writing. I love it. The third person thing is great. It makes for a great novel type of story. I disputed between writing mine like this or the journal. Glad to see that you are doing it like this since I chose to do mine like Loki's

Anyway man. I'm reading. Keep this up

[chosenone58]

Good read so far.

[r3dnek]

“C’mon boys, let’s do this! Slot Z right, 88 warhawk on two. Slot Z right, 88 warhawk on two. Ready, break!”

The rain poured down with no remorse. It’s Arizona, Tyson thought, how does it rain here? Regardless, he had to concentrate on the play. Slot right meant ace formation with the slot receiver labeled Z would line up to the right of the formation. Meanwhile, 88 warhawk was a complicated way of saying “screen pass to Tyson on the right.” Woods and the rest of the Sun Devils splashed their way to the line.

“It’s 3rd down and about a mile for #11 ASU; they’ve got 21 yards to get the first down. Expect a simple run here because the last thing they need is another turnover. Two interceptions today have been enough to get them in a pickle against unranked Washington.”

Tyson looked across the line at the Washington defense. Here’s an underrated team. Unranked, but not all their fault. They had the 9th ranked defense in the nation, but the 101st ranked offense. They were accustomed to losing games 9-7 and 12-6. Today they actually had a slim 7-6 lead because of all this rain and the turnovers.

“Black 848! Black 848!”

What are you doing? Brian was flipping the play. Anything with a “4” in the middle of it meant that everything was flipped. So now, Tyson was going left, not right.

They’re stacked left Brian, are you nuts!?

“HUT!”
“HUT!”

Tyson sprinted to the left. A Husky linebacker picked him up immediately in man coverage. Woods beat him to the flat, and immediately threw his hand up, calling for the ball. He knew Brian had to throw it immediately.

“The Devils are going to pass! Hamilton looks left, throws it to Woods just over the linebacker Lewis…”

Woods reeled it in, that was the easy part. He had just gotten three of the twenty-one needed yards. Tyson then quickly scanned the field for somewhere to run. All he saw was straight ahead along the sidelines. He had to try and outrun the defenders in a giant pile of muck; that was his only hope as the Husky defense closed in with each passing millisecond.

He took off, huffing and puffing and churning his legs in what felt like molasses. Michael Dees, the Devils’ star receiver, threw an incredible block upfield to allow Woods a little room along the sidelines. Suddenly, Tyson was hit by what felt like a speeding car crash into him as he was knocked out of bounds.

“Oh my! What an incredible run by Tyson…”

“Tyson…Tyson! TYSON! What the hell are you doing!? Get your a** in gear and get to work!”

Woods shook his head and realized he wasn’t back at ASU. He was at work. Construction, just lovely; not exactly the life he was hoping to live when he was in college.

“Hey man, that’s twice now he’s caught you daydreaming, what’s up?”

Good ol’ Tucker, a guy Tyson met in college. They sat next to each other in Biology class. Tyson always cheated off Tucker, and that’s how he passed the class. Problem was, Tucker got kicked out their sophomore year for having drugs in the dorm. Yes, IN the dorm. He served a year in prison, and this was the only job he could get. Nevertheless, Tucker awed at Tyson because he was a football player, as most non-athletes at college do. Either way, he was still a good friend, and the only one Tyson had right now.

“Yeah, I know man. Just can’t stop thinkin’ about college, ya know? What once was...”

“I heard that dude. But hey, you come over to my place tonight, we’re gonna get trashed as hell, reflect on the good days. You down?”

Tyson didn’t know what was more pathetic, the fact that this guy still got “trashed” like he was still in high school, or that he used the phrase, “You down?” still.

“I’m good man. Just gonna chill tonight”

And by “chill” Tyson meant drink alone and watch old films of himself. What a life.

[Chief Bstn]

You spelled Tiger wrong. It's not T-Y-S-O-N.

[r3dnek]

New York Jets head coach Dan White paced around the conference room with his coaches seated at the table, all getting prepared for the upcoming training camp. There was mostly light chatter among the other coaches, but Dan knew what they were all thinking.

We need a runningback.

“Alright guys. Let’s quiet down,” White said. “Now, I don’t have to say anything about that scrimmage yesterday. You guys saw what happened and now my offensive guys and I have the unenviable task of finding some runningbacks to bring into camp. Now Jerry, what’ve you got so far?”

Jerry Brown. Runningbacks coach for the Jets. Has had that position for 14 years, hasn’t even been offered a promotion. His job was basically riding the coattails of Ricky Thomas. Brown told the team 12 years ago in the Draft that Thomas was the guy they needed to take. A dozen seasons and 10,000 yards later, this guy’s still got the same salary while Thomas will be getting a fat paycheck even if he doesn’t play this season.

“Um, well, I have a list of about five guys I want to see brought in for a tryout on Thursday. I think these guys provide our best options for training camp. I say we select about three players total brought in to camp and let them battle it out for that last spot on the depth chart.”

He handed the list to White. It was a very odd compilation. Three undrafted rookies, a seven year veteran, and a guy that offered to come out of retirement for one last stand in the NFL.

“Okay, Sam, what’s on your list?”

Offensive coordinator Sam Whinehouse stood up, as if ready to give a big speech. He was brought into the New York organization a year ago. Sam knew this team had the makings of a Super Bowl contender, he just had to find some sort of missing piece of the puzzle.

“My list isn’t much better, Dan,” he started. “I have seven guys I want to see tryout, and I think any of these seven could really come in and add some nice depth.”

White looked over Sam’s list. It was very similar to Brown’s. A couple undrafted rookies, three vets, one guy from the CFL, which was odd. Nothing stood out more than the name at the bottom of the list.

Tyson Woods

“Nice list here, Sam. But, I recognize the last name here, but where do I know it?”

“Tyson Woods, Dan, I think this guy should be brought in to the tryout. He went to Arizona State.”

“C’mon, now that’s such a homer pick!” Defensive coordinator Al Tipton shouted. “We’re trying to win a championship here, Sam! We don’t have time for you to pick out guys you used to coach! We need real competitors here, not guys that have been out of the game for two years! Besides, what about his history? How’s that going to affect us?”

“Nobody’s putting him on the team, Al! I’m just saying give him a tryout,” said Sam. “I know he has a history, okay? I was there, I lived through it. I had to put up with all the press. For one thing, I think he’s cleaned up his act.”

“What makes you say that?”

“No problems since the incident. I got a background check on him from a friend of mine at the PD. He’s kept a clean record since.”

“Still, I don’t want him plaguing this team!”

“Gentlemen, please!” White screamed to end the argument. “Call him up, and get him to the tryout. We’ll discuss this further afterwards. For now, I want game film on each guy brought up in this meeting. We have to make sure that whoever comes to camp is good enough to handle it. Now, let’s discuss the defense…”

[r3dnek]

Tyson’s cell phone wouldn’t stop ringing. He really wished he hadn’t drunk so much again. How many times had he said that in the morning? That wasn’t the problem. For now he had to stop whatever was playing “Dey Know” over and over again. Finally the noise stopped. After about 20 seconds, his “new voicemail” ringtone rang. Who would be calling him at 7 in the morning?

He flipped open the phone his work had given him, was able to navigate to the voicemail, and listened, and by listened…he drifted in and out of sleep during the message.

“Hey, Tyson Woods, this is……from the New York Jets……come to tryout for us tomorrow? Just give me a buzz if you’re interested. My number’s…………..812. Make sure you let me know by…….PM.”

Tyson jumped up, and looked at his phone.

The New York Jets?

[cooljayhu]

r3dnek said:

"This sucks" or anything,

but what if I think it sucks?

[Jay [FSU]]

This kind of has the same premise as the Kevin Justis story that was on Gamefaqs.

[r3dnek]

cooljayhu said:

r3dnek said:

"This sucks" or anything,

but what if I think it sucks?

you are entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong it is

jnelson14 said:

This kind of has the same premise as the Kevin Justis story that was on Gamefaqs.

and yeah, i noticed that, i'm hoping that i don't make it too similar, that story just gave me the idea to start my own

[Jay [FSU]]

Yeah that story came out Madden 2006/2005 I think. Damn good story, too.

[r3dnek]

yeah man it's what inspired me

[Jay [FSU]]

r3dnek said:

yeah man it's what inspired me

It's a damn good inspiration, then!
I'm lovin' this.

[SilverChaosVII]

Yeah, this is a lot like that Kevin Justis story. That thing was amazing.

I know he posted the entire story on a site... like... geocities or something. I can't find it. I would love to give that another read... for old times sake.

This however will keep me occupied. I'm hooked. I want to know what the hell he did

Oh and btw you should post this on DSM or OS as well. That way you have a bunch more readers.

[r3dnek]

yeah, i'm hoping not to make this too similar because if i do end up finishing this and somehow get it published, i don't feel like going to court for copyright infringement, which the writer of Kevin Justis story could do if this looks too similar to him

and, thanks guys, always nice to have some readers