Week 1 Story: The Boy Who Cried Ball

There was once an amazing superstar college football player who had so much talent that whenever his quarterback didn't throw it his way he would complain about how open he was and would say "Just throw me the BALL and I'll go get it". So like any good quarterback he looks his way on the following play and tosses it up to his best player. When the ball is on its way down the quarterback quickly realizes that it was a bad read and he probably shouldn't have thrown it into double coverage. To his surprise his superstar receiver didn't even make an attempt to go up for the ball and just let the other team intercept it.
At this point the quarterback is frustrated but it's just one play so he shakes it off and gets ready for the next offensive possession.

(Randy Moss, one of the best receivers ever)

The defense held up well and the offense heads back onto the field. The next possession the superstar receiver has 3 people covering him on pretty much every route he runs but still complains to his quarterback claiming he is "WIDE OPEN" and to "JUST THROW ME THE BALL AND I'LL GO GET IT". So just like the last possession the quarterback trusts his superstar receiver and just tosses another ball up to him. The end result is the same, the receiver didn't make an attempt at the ball and just let the defender catch the ball uncontested. At this point the coach is yelling at the quarterback for throwing interceptions and not the receiver for pressuring him into making those throws.

The defense holds up yet again, there are 47 seconds left on the clock and the team is down by 5 points. The quarterback has had enough of his superstar receiver complaining but not producing when he does get thrown to. So the quarterback sends him deep as a decoy and he just throws to other players. The offense is looking well and they made it to all the way to their opponent's 4 yard line and have enough time for one game winning play. The superstar receiver begs his quarterback to throw it his way and promises he will go up and get it. Sadly the quarterback remembers the past two times he said that so he doesn't even look his way. Somehow on this particular play the superstar receiver is left wide open and since the quarterback never looked his way he had to force a bad pass to another player. It was too bad that the player he ended up throwing the ball to just happened to be on the other team. The one time the entire game the superstar receiver is left wide open is the one time that the quarterback should have been looking his way. But since the receiver was pretty much letting the other team intercept it the quarterback didn't trust him.

Authors Notes: My story is derived from the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". I grew up playing sports and there always seems to be that person who thinks that the ball should always be in their hands. Usually when someone wants the ball they just yell ball and it's an unwritten rule that if someone yells for the ball it means they really want the ball and must be wide open. When you lazily pass them the ball thinking they'll be open, but quickly realize there's no reason they should even have the ball it makes you question their motives. So instead of the boy who cried wolf this is the boy who cried ball.

Bibliography: This story is based the the fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
                 I could not find a author for this story.