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Speaker 1: Welcome to the ten Minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson,

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Speaker 1: your host, narrator and author. We hear at the ten

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Speaker 1: minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or

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Speaker 1: rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to

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Speaker 1: pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human

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Speaker 1: condition as ten minutes will permit mini novels on steroids.

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Speaker 1: Today's offering is entitled The pass Catcher, A cautionary tale

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Speaker 1: for all of us who love the game. A knee

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Speaker 1: injury sidelined the pass catcher before the start of his

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Speaker 1: third NFL season. Image had already been done. Four years

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Speaker 1: of high school ball, four years of college ball, two

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Speaker 1: years of pro ball, ten years of wax to the head,

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Speaker 1: too many concussions to count. This is the once legendary

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Speaker 1: pass catcher's life today the pass Catcher. See the pass

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Speaker 1: catcher on his afternoon walk, a slightly awkward gait from

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Speaker 1: that high speed tumble down Ajax all those years ago.

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Speaker 1: More than a dozen years now. Actually this winter, he

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Speaker 1: thinks it'll be fourteen years more less. Am I thirty eight,

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Speaker 1: thirty six, thirty nine or something else? At eight or

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Speaker 1: nine or maybe ten. He caught his first pass on

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Speaker 1: the beach during sunset. Nothing like catching passes on the beach,

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Speaker 1: the best and so soft, so so something. Go out

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Speaker 1: five steps and turn around and I'll pass it to you,

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Speaker 1: his father whispered in the huddle. His first huddle, a

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Speaker 1: secret meeting. God, how he loved those secret meetings. He

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Speaker 1: and dad that day against Mom and his big sister

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Speaker 1: Beverly Fiona Elizabeth, Huh, I'm not sure. He caught the

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Speaker 1: pass and ran like the wind down the beach under

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Speaker 1: the setting sun. Touchdown. He spiked the ball into the sand,

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Speaker 1: just the way he'd seen the big boys do it

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Speaker 1: on TV earlier. He took a nap, maybe another nap

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Speaker 1: after the walk. He likes his naps. Hard to sleep

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Speaker 1: at night in the dark, gotta leave the light on.

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Speaker 1: But the naps during the day feel good. Someone told

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Speaker 1: the pass catcher once that you can't have good without evil,

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Speaker 1: right without wrong, light without dark, day without night. It

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Speaker 1: was it was it was a coach, he thinks, maybe

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Speaker 1: the coach who told him this. Kid. Coach said you

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Speaker 1: got the three gifts, not one in ten thousand pass

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Speaker 1: catchers get all three gifts. But kid, you got them all,

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Speaker 1: three of them. The gifts, the three gifts. What what

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Speaker 1: were those gifts? Again? Damn it, that's right here, what

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Speaker 1: were those gifts? Good hands, definitely good hands. Forget being

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Speaker 1: a pass catcher if you ain't got the good hands.

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Speaker 1: He had exceptional hands, some of the best hands anyone

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Speaker 1: had ever seen. Soft but strong. He could catch a

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Speaker 1: hummingbird with those soft, strong hands. When he was in

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Speaker 1: high school, the scouts came from far and wide and

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Speaker 1: sat in awe on the cold metal bleachers as he

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Speaker 1: hauled in pass after pass, everything thrown his way. He

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Speaker 1: never ever dropped a pass ever, never once high, low, behind, way,

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Speaker 1: out front, right on the money. The pass catcher caught

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Speaker 1: them all. His wife, his wife, Yes, his wife, Fiona, Fiona,

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Speaker 1: I think yes, no, maybe, I'm not sure, says I

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Speaker 1: think we should head back. Your sister is coming to visit.

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Speaker 1: Did she say sister or sitter? He's not sure. The

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Speaker 1: pass catcher doesn't like visitors, but he has learned not

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Speaker 1: to say so. He has learned better to endure and

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Speaker 1: not raise his voice. Nothing good happens when he raises

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Speaker 1: his voice and gets mad and sometimes throws stuff, wineglasses,

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Speaker 1: beer mugs, lamps and then loses it completely and swings. Oh,

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Speaker 1: sweet Jesus, connects that that one time with my wife's

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Speaker 1: with my wife's jaw my wife's hopefully hopefully not my

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Speaker 1: wife's not. My wife's his high school sweethearts. He loves

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Speaker 1: his high school sweethearts. Jaw love, Oh Jesus, he signed

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Speaker 1: with State. Such a big day, a huge day, a

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Speaker 1: banner day. Everyone's so happy and proud. Parents and grandparents,

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Speaker 1: especially Pop Pop beamed speed right speed. That was the

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Speaker 1: second gift. Crazy speed from dead stop to full speed

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Speaker 1: in a split second, like like like a cheetah, like

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Speaker 1: a speeding bullet, like like Superman. Maybe maybe they'll let

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Speaker 1: me watch some Superman or some Batman after the after

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Speaker 1: the afternoon. Speed with moves, that's what he had. He

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Speaker 1: could explode off the line, go three yards, shake left,

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Speaker 1: boogie right, and blow by the corner so fast. The

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Speaker 1: poor bastard be standing there holding onto his jockstrap, totally bamboozled.

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Speaker 1: Hands speed and moves. The three gifts. No, no, no, wait,

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Speaker 1: something else, something something, definitely something else, But what damn it?

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Speaker 1: So hard to remember and getting harder even the simplest stuff.

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Speaker 1: At State, he broke all the records, well, almost would

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Speaker 1: have easily if not for the injuries. The knocks to

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Speaker 1: the head. He liked them at first, especially back in

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Speaker 1: high school. Whoa coach, He'd say, dizzy on the sideline,

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Speaker 1: that was some hit, I saw stars. Hell, kid, you

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Speaker 1: had your bell rung as all make a man out

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Speaker 1: of you. Now chin up and get back in the game. Yes,

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Speaker 1: sir coach, Yes, sir coach, Yes, sir coach. He could

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Speaker 1: catch them over the middle on the deep cross better

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Speaker 1: than any man alive, even knowing the free safety would

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Speaker 1: hit him at full speed like a locomotive and drive

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Speaker 1: him to the turf, his head smashing into the ground

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Speaker 1: like a coconut off the Empire State Building. Even then,

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Speaker 1: he would grab that ball and hold on for dear

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Speaker 1: life for the first down. Nothing in life so important

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Speaker 1: as the first down. Give it up for the first down,

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Speaker 1: preached coach. Give it up to hell with everything else,

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Speaker 1: your future, your sanity, your memory, your brain, god, damn it.

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Speaker 1: Just get the first down, son, for team and glory.

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Speaker 1: Exactly what was he wonders, walking unsteadily back to the

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Speaker 1: garden apartment. The first down again? What was that first down?

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Speaker 1: I think something to do with with possession, with sacrifice,

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Speaker 1: with victory, with glory. He went pro first round, ninth

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Speaker 1: pick overall, two seasons, thirty two games before the freak

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Speaker 1: skiing accident on Ajax destroyed his knee, and no matter

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Speaker 1: how hard he rehabbed, he never regained his speed or

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Speaker 1: his moves. Lose a step in the big Boy League

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Speaker 1: and you're finished, shot, cup, put forgotten. But yeah, hey,

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Speaker 1: he thinks, yeah, yeah, yea yea yeah yeah. That's the

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Speaker 1: other gift. That's the other gift I had. That's the

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Speaker 1: other gift. I had the grit, the guts, the gumption,

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Speaker 1: the balls to catch the ball over the middle, come hell,

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Speaker 1: compel or compell or high water, high water, high water mark.

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Speaker 1: He had the grit all right, great hands, terrific speed,

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Speaker 1: incredible grit. Ten fifty one hundred, two hundred, three hundred,

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Speaker 1: five hundred times over a decade playing ball, the pass

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Speaker 1: catcher raced down the field, hauled in the past and

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Speaker 1: made the grab and got clobbered, crushed, battered, entirely, destroyed.

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Speaker 1: A thousand times. His helmeted head impacted another head or

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Speaker 1: the cold, hard earth. Going up the steps to the

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Speaker 1: garden apartment partially paid for by the secret head injury fund.

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Speaker 1: He trips, grabs the wrought iron railing, curses, tries to

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Speaker 1: tear the railing loose, tear it right out of the

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Speaker 1: goddamned earth. Instead, he smashes his fist into the concrete wall,

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Speaker 1: and blood spurts, and he screams. The pass Catcher wants

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Speaker 1: to smash his head against the wall, but he knows

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Speaker 1: this will upset set the woman, maybe his wife, or

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Speaker 1: maybe his sister, or maybe or maybe the sitter coming

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Speaker 1: up the stairs behind him. She touches his arm gently,

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Speaker 1: and in a kind voice like you'd use with a

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Speaker 1: sick child, she assures him everything is all right, everything

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Speaker 1: will be just fine, even though he knows enough to

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Speaker 1: know everything is not all right and everything will never

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Speaker 1: be fine again. Ever, he sits on the step and

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Speaker 1: vaguely remembering some doctor somewhere sometimes told him his brains

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Speaker 1: were like scrambled eggs. The pass Catcher begins to weep.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this original audio presentation of The

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Speaker 1: pass Catcher, narrated by the author. You enjoyed today's story,

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Speaker 1: Please take a few seconds to rate, review, and subscribe

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Speaker 1: to this podcast. The ten Minute Storyteller is produced by

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Speaker 1: Andrew Pleglici and Josh Colodney and as part of the

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Speaker 1: Elvis Duran podcast Network in partnership with iHeart Productions. Until

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Speaker 1: next Time, This is Bill Simpson, your ten minute Storyteller,