The Good, the bad, and the ugly

[Charlotte Ramsay]

[ Click for OOC Comment ]

First post to Timothy Malloy

The draft was always something of a mixed bag for Charlie. Sure it was nice to get a break from training once a year, come out to wherever it was that those old batty Quidditch officials had come up with to do the draft, see the new blood, trade players, get a breath of fresh air, yada yada yada. But while their were some nice things about it, it definitely had its drawbacks too. For one thing a good number of the people who came out were just pathetic.

Forget okay, lousy, not so great. She would have bet good money that a bunch of the people were going through a mid life crisis and trying to go out for their life long dream of being a Quidditch pro. The other half were kids who thought that they actually had talent, and then found out that they were wrong. That was one of the things that really rubbed Charlie the wrong way. She didn't know which was worse; that the kids had deluded themselves that they were good for so long, or that they had embarrassed themselves in front of officials and professional teams and players. She always felt bad about that, but there was really nothing she could do about it.

Charlie walked into the main complex in a bad mood. The food here was ridiculously bad, and she'd just had to endure some newbies telling her that they were the best there was. Nothing pissed her off more then people toting themselves to be something they weren't. Casting a general glare around the general vicinity to show she wasn't to be disturbed, Charlie slumped on a bench, arms crossed, and her hair in her face, the humid stale air not helping to improve her bad mood.

[Timothy Malloy]

"Jeez, no need to look so miserable." Timothy Malloy said with a dull grin as Charlotte sat down with a glare, the Seeker laughing derisively at the expression on the face of his coach - honestly, unless her puppy had just gotten run over and thrown in a ditch there was no reason to be so glum. This was like a miniature vacation - and there was plenty of time to scope out the new talent. Some people might be idiotic enough to underestimate the newcomers, but Tim knew that such was the greatest of follies. Everyone was here had made it here through hard work - and every player who had ever played in the pro circuit had been a draft pick at one point in their career, to underestimate them was the stupidest thing that one could ever do!

[Charlotte Ramsay]

Charlie gave her seeker, and sometimes rival, the stink eye, resting her chin on her hand and blowing out her breath with a huff. "Easy for you to say," she said in an undertone, seriously grumpy. "You didn't just have a couple of newbies telling you that they were 'the best thing to ever happen to this sport,' " She put on a deep slow voice, 'and I mean ever."

She rolled her eyes, "tell me you weren't that annoying, please, I need something to give me faith in this, before I go on a murdering rampage."

[Timothy Malloy]

Timothy shrugged and replied simply "There's not a name in the Hall of Fame that didn't start their career at the entry draft - for all you know you could be talking to the next Josef Wrosnki, and if that's the case do you really want to give them more incentive than they already have to beat you when they do make the tour by fostering a grudge." Timothy was very practical about things like this. Everyone came from the draft, everyone! Anyone who had made it this far, as far as he was concerned, was afforded the same level of diffidence as any player on the pro tour, because they were just a few days away from joining the tour themselves.

At Charlotte's comments, Timothy shrugged and replied "It's a different era now, even from what it was five years ago when I joined. The rookie stigma is gone, it's a young-man's league - and the hotshots coming out of the draft-pipelines are flying with the best of them. They know it, we know it, they know that we know it - what's the use in pretending otherwise? There's no distinctions between players anymore."

[Charlotte Ramsay]

Charlie didn't really know whether she was in the mood to argue or not, but Tim was definitely not helping her grumpy mood with his clear and well formed opinions. She wanted someone to rag on the newbs with, not a level headed seeker who was prudent and knew better!

Rolling her eyes she punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Come on, seriously Tim, you can't tell me they don't drive you at least a little bit bonkers. They're all so... so full of themselves!" She shook her head, "they might be good, but I don't like that cockiness. A huge part of being an athlete is respect. None of these kids know what that is."

[Timothy Malloy]

Timothy shrugged and replied "Would you prefer they keep their heads down and their mouths shut? Welcome to sports - you're always gonna have the loud-mouthed types, the key is to figure out which ones can back it up and which ones can't." Timothy smirked at this for a moment before adding "Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a very scientific method by which to weed the two out - hence why the draft is such an inexact science."

[Charlotte Ramsay]

Charlie continued to glare at her seeker, "yeah, so maybe I would!" She said annoyed in spite of herself, what was with his mightier than thou attitude? It was putting her in a seriously bad mood.

She shook her head, "well whatever the case they'd better figure it out real soon or their career is going to be over before you can say "oops."

The coach glanced at her companion. "Are you joining in this year, or just hanging out to watch and see if there's any competition?" She grinned wickedly, "I'd love to take you on one of these days."

[Timothy Malloy]

"Therein lies the point." Timothy replied simply, sweeping his hair out of his eyes lightly. "Each team is going to make three draft selections in the draft. How many of them will actually make an impact as pros? Maybe one of those guys, two if you're really lucky with the scouting. Sometimes none at all. Those who can't walk the walk fall out on their own, and those who can walk as well as talk, they'll be the ones who make it."

Timothy didn't see what was so complicated about this, but then people did tend to let their emotions get the better of them in a game like Quidditch. "I'm sorry, take part in what?" Timothy asked, tilting his head sideways. Eventually the confusion was sorted out, and the two went about their business for the day - both with their own interests in the players showing their talent.