(S14) - PT 1 - Draft Day

[plantane]

Draft day was huge for Xerxes Ridley. He and his mother anxiously watched from her apartment in downtown San Francisco, uncertain if Ridley's loud mouth would impress or irritate the DSFL management. After being scouted by a couple teams prior to the draft, Ridley was unsure if he left a good impression and if he ended up a high priority pick for anyone. After being passed over in the first three rounds, Ridley was growing quite nervous. The teams that talked to Ridley hadn't drafted him and he assumed that the interviews must've gone poorly or that he must've underperformed during the scouting sessions. However, with the 21st pick, Ridley was selected for the Pythons, which was a well-established team that he had hoped to play for this year. In addition, the announcers of the DSFL draft acknowledged the value Ridley brought to the team and explicitly stated their surprise that he fell so low. While Ridley was still upset at his draft position, this did ease the pain just enough for him to be excited to finally enter the DSFL. He was one step closer to accomplishing his and his father's shared dream of being an official NSFL player. With what he viewed as an embarrassing draft position, Ridley was also able to fuel his training the next morning in order to start his redemption in the NSFL draft. Ridley assured himself and the media that he would not fall that far when he finally got drafted up to an NSFL team and all of his anxiety and disappointment was repurposed into drive and ambition. And of course, his mom was just beaming with pride that his son got drafted at all. Unlike Ridley's harsh judgement of himself, she viewed the 21st position as a huge accomplishment and something that he achieved through years of hard work.