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+---- Thread: *"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown (/showthread.php?tid=5677)
*"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown - datboi - 10-28-2017
It was September 1st, 1997, and Brandon Brown was getting his chance as a late-season call-up for the hometown Tigers. He had been in the minors blazing a path for the past four years but issues off the diamond kept him away from the MLB level. He had been a star coming out of Oakland University hoping to make a splash in the MLB. Instead he slipped and was deemed a career minor leaguer. After four years of hard-work and dedication he finally got his chance at the big leagues, just a few weeks after his son was born. He came up to hit thinking this was gonna be the start of his break-through. Instead, he never saw that first pitch coming straight towards his head. He sat there unconscious for a few minutes before he finally woke up. He couldn't remember a thing that just happened, in fact he couldn't even remember seeing the pitcher windup. It wasn't until the trainer told him that he got nailed by a one hundred mile per hour fastball and that he also that he had to go to the hospital to check on his head. He figured out that he had fractured his skull and that it would be in his best interests to stop playing baseball. He was devastated, but he still had his son.
Isaac Brown had been born just a few weeks ago and couldn't understand what was happening. He was being shuffled with his mother to and from the hospital to see his dad. One day his mother was going back to the house after one of the visits to grab some stuff. She left little Isaac with his dad and a family friend. It wasn't until about an hour later when Isaac's mother Jessica came into the same hospital after a severe car crash. She suffered a atlanto-occipital dislocation, which caused her to die instantly. After their best attempts, Isaac's mother, Jessica Brown was gone forever.
Isaac's dad was released from the hospital shortly after and with the help of a family friend, started to raise the kid. From the time he could hold a bat and ball he tried to teach his son the talent he had at baseball. Instead all the boy wanted to play was football. The determination was seen from the first time he grabbed a football. He was so into football that he started to slip in school starting in second grade when he almost had to re-do it. Meanwhile he was dominating pee-wee teams around Michigan as a star running back. With his elusiveness and speed he instantly became a envy of his school and he started to slip even more even though he was only in fifth grade. Once he went to middle school he had a tragic injury in practice for the middle school team. He was running a basic play when his cleats got stuck in the turf and he got nailed which forced his leg the wrong way.
He sat there in pain with his broken leg thinking that he had just replicated what happened to his dad. A talent wasted due to injury. He then thought back to the teaching his dad gave to him on pitching. He thought that once his leg recovered he could move to quarterback until he was ready to go back to running back. He practiced every day once his leg healed and came back to the middle school team ready to blaze a path through fellow middle school teams. His first game at QB was a disaster. He threw four interceptions and was off all night. He begged his coach to keep him starting but he wouldn't know until the next game. He made up for his terrible performance in the first game by throwing seven touchdowns and running for another one. He kept up the performance the whole season leading his middle school to an undefeated season. He did the same thing next year with the same maybe even more impressive stats at QB.
He went into High School but his grades were starting to catch up with him. He almost got kicked off the team both years of middle school due to poor grades and it was only with some questionable means that kept his grades high enough to stay on the team. At his high school the grade level to stay on the team was higher that at the middle school. At the middle school he needed a C- to stay on the team, now he need to get B-'s to stay on the team. After joining the team he blazed through the first three games with amazing performances. After the third game he was approached by his coach and was told that if he didn’t bring his grades up, he would be kicked off the team. He tried for the next week with the help of the whole team to hack into the system and hack his grades up to the minimum grade of a B-. He started the fourth game with everyone including the coach thinking he had gotten his grades up. He dominated throwing four touchdown passes and showing that his legs had long recovered by adding two running touchdowns. After the game though someone in the school tipped off that Isaac had been hacking the system to stay on the team. The next day he found out that he had been kicked off the team due to his grades.
He spent the rest of his freshmen year just doing almost nothing. He attended classes but didn't listen. He came to school but was never on time. He kept getting into fights and got suspended many of times. He went from star quarterback to terrible student in a few weeks. He started to pay attention later in the year only to not flunk the grade. He barely passed that year and was worried about the same thing happening in his sophomore year that happened in his freshmen year. That summer though tragedy struck again in the family.
One late night Brandon Brown was caught in the crossfire of a gang confrontation in Detroit. He was shot in the head by one of the gang members and died instantly. Isaac heard about the news shortly after. Isaac now had no parents and no way to pay for anything. He moved in with his aunt down the street but seemed like a different person. Even more different from freshmen year. He had lost both of his parents before adulthood and had lost most of his friends. He locked himself in his room for almost the whole summer. He didn't talk to his remaining friends, his girlfriend, his aunt, or anyone that lived with him. It was obvious that he thought life had no point anymore.
He went into his sophomore year as depressed as he was during the summer. He joined the football team again and was intending to keep his grades up so he would stay this time. He still didn't seem like himself though. Even on the football field, the place he loved. At practice he put little effort and the only reason he kept his starting job is that there was nobody good behind him on the depth chart that could replace him. He played poorly in the first game, throwing three interceptions, fumbling twice, and missing wide open receivers. He performed just as bad in the second and third games. His girlfriend wasn't making it easier for him and dumped him after he wouldn't give her enough attention she said. He underperformed the whole season though he still held his starting spot and kept his grades high enough to stay on the team.
That summer he was the same old Isaac that people had seen for the past year. He would never leave his house and would never talk to anyone. People started to worry for him and his mental status. Many thought that he had sprung into a deep depression. Those people were right. That summer Isaac Brown tried to take his life. He tried to hang himself but he failed. Instead he fell and landed on the same leg he broke years ago and re broke it. He was stuck in counseling for the next year and was home-schooled for his junior year.
He came back for his senior year and looked like a different person. Though he didn't look like the Isaac Brown of freshman year he definitely looked better than the past two years. He started talking again and became the most social person in school again like he was years ago. He kept focusing on his grades and re-joined the football team. He looked rejuvenated on the football field even though he was coming off his second broken leg and hadn't played football in two years. He played his heart out to get his starting position and got it back from the sophomore that had it the year before. He came out of the gates blazing with a stellar performance in his first game. He threw for four touchdowns and ran for another touchdown. He led his team to the Michigan State Championship Playoffs with stellar numbers on the season. His school easily won the first game in a blowout victory in which Brown threw four touchdowns and ran for another two touchdowns. In the semifinals of the state championship they had another easy blowout win where Isaac Brown had another spectacular performance. He threw for another three touchdowns while running for three. He went into the state championship looking to go out on top after a rocky high school career.
The game started off slow for Isaac with three three and outs in a row. Meanwhile the other team had scored on all three of their drives. Down 21-0 going into the second quarter Isaac was looking to start a comeback. Instead on the first play he threw an interception after driving to the one yard line. The other school then preceded to drain the rest of the quarter and score a field goal on the final play making it 24-0 at the half. Going into the half Isaac was shaken on how bad he had performed in the first half. He came into the second half with a bang. Using his speed and rare usage on special team, he returned the kickoff 98 yards to score making it 24-7. Meanwhile on the other side another long drive was stopped this time with an interception. He led his team down the field and scored again on a running play that went for 22 yards. Another turnover after a long drive game Isaac's team the ball with nine minutes and thirty seconds to go. Down 24-14 he started a long drive which led them to a touchdown on a hand off with three minutes to go. A turnover on the other side gave them the ball with a minute and a half to go. He led his team to the six yard line with five seconds to go. The play was a QB sneak. With his running ability it should have been easy. It was snapped and he was tripped up though it looked like he could reach the ball out into the end zone to win. He stretched as far as humanly possible. Just a few centimeters short.
The failure to finish the comeback, the concerns of focus issues, and academic concerns caused him to fall off of most schools recruiting boards. He was high on many small school's boards but no power-5 conference offered him a scholarship. He was disappointed in himself for days after the final play of the state championship. The one chance he had to go out on top. He couldn't even talk to the scouts, that was how disappointed in himself he was. Eventually he went to the different schools and decided to stay local. Though he couldn't go as local as he wanted since Oakland University didn't have a football team, he decided to go to Eastern Michigan University and become a Eagle.
He came into college not knowing what to expect as he didn't get to visit as Eastern Michigan was one of the last school's to offer him a scholarship. He quickly made friends and had already gained a following from fellow freshmen who heard of his story. Though he didn't like that some people called him their idol as he thought that he didn't deserve that title from others. He quickly showed himself as the leader of the Eastern Michigan football team. He went into the first game of the season with all the momentum even though he did lose his last high school game. He started the game against Ball State dominant starting off with eleven straight completed passes. He quickly got brought down back to earth with two straight interceptions and another two later that night. Though they still got the win due to the stellar performance from the running back.
He was disappointed in himself more than anything but he kept his head up and trained harder. He pushed himself to the limit everyday trying to get as much out of his arm and legs as he could. Then at the practice two days before the second game at Central Michigan he pushed himself too hard. He broke his leg the same way he had seven years ago in the sixth grade. He was told that he should sit out for the rest of the season and some suggested he stop football as this was the third time he had broken his leg. He tried to make himself believe that he wouldn’t have to quit football. Football was one of the only things that he could enjoy anymore.
He sat out for the rest of his freshmen year attending his classes trying to at least say he graduated if he couldn’t play football anymore. He went to the doctors before the start of his sophomore year for a final medical opinion on if he should play football anymore. He sat in the doctor's office waiting for the doctor's opinion. He came in and told him the news. His dreams of playing football could continue. He went to the coach and told him simply that he was back. Starting off the season with an easy game against Lamar, he showed that he was just as dominant as in high school, throwing for over three hundred yards and four touchdowns leading Eastern Michigan to an easy 35-0 victory. The rest of the season went almost the same way with Brown leading the Eagles to a 12-0 record and their second ever MAC Championship. Browns Eagles made it to the Cotton Bowl and would take on number six ranked Georgia.
The Cotton Bowl looked like a easy victory for Georgia. Georgia thought that Brown and his unranked Eagles would collapse like Brown did in the Michigan High School Championship Game. The only reason Eastern Michigan was unranked was there somewhat easy schedule but they were still underestimated. In the first half it looked like they were correct with Georgia pulling ahead to a 24-0 lead at half-time. Isaac went into the locker room and hyped himself up. Telling himself that this could erase all the bad memories by adding this great memory. He would makes his mom, his dad, and all the others he had lost over the years.
He came out of the locker room ready to dominate. They received the kickoff and were prepared to start the comeback. Isaac quickly threw a sixty-two yard pass to start off the drive. After a quick defensive stop, Isaac led a long grueling drive to make it 24-14 with twenty seconds to go in the third quarter. A long drive ended by a interception gave Eastern Michigan the ball on their own twelve with eight minutes to go. A long drive ended by a twenty-two yard rush from Isaac Brown and the extra-point made it 24-21 with two minutes and thirty seconds to go. A long pass put Georgia at the Eastern Michigan thirteen but a forced fumble put Isaac and his Eagles on their own five with a minute twelve to go. Three straight incompletions made it fourth and ten with forty-seven seconds to go. A gutsy running play from Brown gave him a huge forty-six yard gain putting them on the Georgia forty-nine with thirty-five seconds to go. Three more incompletions made it fourth and ten again this time with nineteen seconds to go. A quick first down and a running play out of bounds put the Eagles at the Georgia thirty-seven yard line with eleven seconds to go.
It was his favorite play from many years ago from his pee-wee days, and Georgia didn’t even know what it was. He convinced his coach to let him do the risky play. He finally relented and let them do the play.The backup quarterback came in and Isaac lined up at running back. They snapped the ball to the back-up and he handed the ball to Isaac. He ran towards the end zone with only one defender in his way. Isaac used his skills he used all the time when he was a pee-wee running back and hurdled over the defender making him look like one of those pee-wee defenders. He walked into the endzone as time expired giving the Eagles a 27-24 and giving himself his happy moment that he never had as a child. After the game he told the reporters with tears and a smile that he would be going into the DSFL draft and would be looking to excel his career and makes his parents up their even prouder and to continue proving the doubters wrong. He walked away from that field with happiness and feeling of accomplishment knowing that he now had a chance to excel and hopefully not replicate what happened to his dad years ago.
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*"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown - Squeeze - 10-28-2017
Now you gotta do it again and bring that gold to Tijuana!
*"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown - kckolbe - 10-28-2017
Motherfucker. Do you know how actively I stalked you on this site, looking for any signs of life? Best of luck in Tijuana.
*"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown - loco - 10-28-2017
well my leg hurts now
other than that great stuff!
*"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown - datboi - 10-28-2017
(10-28-2017, 03:52 PM)kckolbe Wrote:Motherfucker. Do you know how actively I stalked you on this site, looking for any signs of life? Best of luck in Tijuana.Im not dead, my computer has just been broken
*"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown - RavensFanFromOntario - 10-28-2017
Psh, having a college career is overrated.
*"Tragedy and Triumph" The Story Of Isaac Brown - The_Hero - 10-28-2017
(10-28-2017, 09:12 PM)RavensFanFromOntario Wrote:Psh, having a college career is overrated.
Ohhh better be careful Ravensfanfromontario looks like Issac Brown is gonna make a comeback!