One thing that makes sports a wonderful thing...

[EagleFan]

One of the greatest things of sports is always the "what could have been" players. Every sports fan has their own memory of a player that just could have been something special if it were not for certain cricumstances. These players might not have been superstars but all have a fond memory of some sort. I have always thought about the what could have been for things like:

What could have been if Jerome Brown hadn;t been killed in that accident, not only for him but for the Eagles as well.

What could have been for Pele Lindberg if he wasn't killed in an accident in the midst of what could have been a hall of fame career.

What could have been if Todd Bergen had decided to remain in hockey, or keep his attitude in check. He was a center that played just 14 games with the Flyers at the end of the 84/85 season. He managed 11 goals and 5 assists in those games. This was fresh off scoring 57 goals in 43 WHL games that year. He had the hands to be a player but what I heard is he just didn't have the desire. He supposedly left hockey to try to be a professional golfer. I don;t know how much of that is true. He had exceptional hands and seemed to have a sixth sense for scoring.

Of course the what could have been if the Eagles weren;t coached by Rich Kotite. For him to take a team to the playoffs, that must have been a Super Bowl quality team, just to counteract his bumbling coaching.



One of the best thing that a sports sim can do is recreate that feeling. By recreate, I mean not just something that felt like it was just a random number generator sealing the fate.

FOF2004 has provided just such a moment for me. After my first season, I drafted wide receiver Wendell Frank with the 14th overall pick. The scout had him showing some potentially good ratings, but I had no idea what I was about to get. His potentials were very high 90's and 100's across the board, except for punt return which was 0. His actual numbers were already high enough to earn a starting spot.

The first 4 seasons, he had a nagging injury that would show up with no ending date and just probable, but he played with no real hit. His numbers for those seasons were:

2004: 16 starts, 68 rec, 1019 yds, 14.9 avg, 6 TD's, 25.3 KR avg. Offensive ROY, league's fastest man.
2005: 16 starts, 100 rec, 1599 yds, 15.9 avg, 16 TD's, 23.8 KR avg. 2nd team all league.
2006: 16 starts, 103 rec, 1656 yds, 16.0 avg, 13 TD's, 26.5 KR avg. 1st team all league.
2007: 16 starts, 110 rec, 1679 yds, 15.2 avg, 11 TD's, 25,5 KR avg. 1st team all league.

The injuries suddenly started to get more serious and began keeping him out of games for long stretches. The next 4 years were all injury plagued. After season 8, his ratings are now okay, but not eye popping.

2008: 12 starts, 58 rec, 951 yds, 16.3 avg, 8 TD's, 36.4 KR avg with 2 TD's.
2009: 11 games, 10 starts, 49 rec, 832 yds, 16.9 avg, 5 TD's, 32.2 KR avg with 1 TD.
2010: 8 starts, 39 rec, 587 yds, 15.0 avg, 7 TD's, 28.6 KR avg.
2011: 3 starts, 8 rec, 108 yds, 13.5 avg, 0 TD's, 25.5 KR avg (just 2 returns).


He was poised to set all sorts of receiving records if he could stay healthy. Now I have a receiver making over 20 million a season for the final 2 seasons of his contract and he is good, but not the great one anymore.


Not so sound like a fanboy, but I really love this game.

[IMetTrentGreen]

ben gay in real life. best texas high schooler in a long long time. too bad he didnt care enough or whatever his problem was