Centurion's Practice Field

Grove City

It is the hot days of summer in central Ohio as the Columbus Centurions practice on the field. Nick Wexler and the other quarterbacks are with the wide receivers who would run their routes and they would pass to them. The linemen are hitting the bag sleds, with J.R. Matthews leading the charge there. Also with them was Antwan Green, their second round draft pick. Unfortunately for the Centurions, their intended second round pick, Joshua Fremont was picked up by the Atlanta 404 in the first round, as a surprise pick, given he was originally projected to go in the second. He must have impressed them enough to overlook that, also likely to replace Alex Street who went to the San Francisco Samurai.

On the other side of the field is the defense, with the linebackers doing their drills. The Centurions first round pick, Toro Torres, going all out in his training for the first game of the season, which was a few weeks away. The scheduled first game for the Centurions is an away game against the New Orleans Zombies, which benefited the Centurions a bit since their stadium in Columbus would not be completed in time if it was a home game. Fortunately for the team, Angela Wagner and the League had cut a deal with the Ohio State University to use Ohio Stadium in case the Centurions had to play at home. If everything went as planned, William Wagner Memorial Coliseum would be open for business for their first home game against the San Diego Orcas.

While all the players practice, sitting the stands with a fan roaring to keep them cool, Angela Wagner and Blitz League Public Relations Head Kristina Cruz-Williams are watching the players practice. Kristina had been on a tour of all new teams practices, she also had interviews with local news stations planned for later in the evening. After this, she would take a few days off before heading to Hawaii to do the same thing with the Barracuda's. Both women were dress somewhat differently, Angela had a collared shirt with the Centurions logo on the right breasts, blue jeans and white tennis shoes while Kristina is wearing a white dress shirt, black dress pants and high heeled shoes.

The two are talking about a myriad of topics, both personal and business.

"So, Do you plan on going to the first game down in New Orleans?" Kristina asked, "I heard Bubba LeBlanc invited to attend the game."

All Angela could do was make a disgusted scoff at the suggestion. Ever since meeting the other seven owners of Division Four, it was Bubba LeBlanc she hated the most. While the others were polite enough in front of her, it was Bubba who tried flirt with her incessantly. It was true that she was the only female owner in Division Four and one of the few in the entire league itself but that didn't excuse his behavior at all. She had been told by the other female owners that the male owners operated like boys club, so she had to deal with it as best as she could.

"I take it that was a no?" Kristina asked.

Angela looked over at Kristina, contemplating what to say next.

"Is this something the commissioner wants to be done?"

Kristina understood what Angela was asking, she knew of LeBlanc's behavior.

"Truth be told, you don't have to go if you don't want to, Me and Commissioner Eckhart is well aware of Bubba's behavior, we plan on doing something about it before the season starts. We'd like to see all the owners of Division Four to be seen as having a good working relationship, so showing up for the game would be appreciated but not required."

Angela looked at Kristina for a moment, she could tell that the PR head was being sincere about what she was saying, things probably would have been swept under the rug during the reign of Clive Hanson years ago but Commissioner Eckhart had been trying even harder to clean up the League. She let out a sigh before answering her.

"I'll consider it," Angela said.

Kristina just nodded and decided to leave it at that, if Angela went, than so be it. If not, well it was Bubba LeBlanc fault.

As the two women continued to talk, another female and two children are being escorted towards them by security, both Kristina and Angela looked over at them. Angela is familiar with them but not Kristina. The adult seemed to be in her early thirties with long blonde hair that went down to her back. She is wearing a whit t-shirt, blue jeans and white saddles. The two children including an older blonde girl, likely six years old, wearing a similar outfit to the woman, who she looked just like her. The younger black haired boy who appeared to be four years old, he is wearing a Centurions jersey with the number #13 on it, black shorts and black tennis shoes on. Angela and Kristina got up to welcome them, with Angela deciding to do the introductions.

"Ah, Kristina, I'd like you to meet Alexandra Wexler, wife of our quarterback Nick Wexler. And these two cute looking kids are his daughter Sonya and son Marcus."

"Hello there Mrs. Wexler, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Kristina said to them with a warm smile.

"Same to you," Alexandra said to Kristina.

"And my goodness, you have such cute kids!" Kristina said as she looked down at Sonya and Marcus.

The two kids said hi to the head of PR of the Blitz League and the family sat down with the two women.

As the three women talked, the two kids watched their father practice, which consisted of throwing the ball to receivers running their routes. Kristina learned that Alexandra had once been a Cheerleader of the league itself back in the day but have given it up to be with Nick. One of the few rules that hasn't been changed since Commissioner Eckhart has been in charge is the Fraternization policy between player and cheerleaders due to the actions of Judd "The Stud" Crenshaw actions back in 1997. Though the policy was loosely adhered to since it was no secret that the players and cheerleaders still fraternized with each other. Official policy was to let it slide so long as it didn't effect the league, if it did, then the policy would be enforced with an iron fist.

The three women and the kids would continue to talk until the practice came to a close.

One Week til Week One vs the New Orleans Zombies

The entire team is sitting in a dark room used to review tapes and talk about strategy against their opponents, Coach Tyrone Marcus stood in front of his men, ready to explain to them what he wanted to do for the first game of the upcoming Division Four season.

"Alright gentlemen, we are taking on New Orleans Zombies and from what we've been hearing, Gaston Delacroix Jr is one hell of a threat, he can throw with the best of them and could do serious damage if given the chance. However, it seems that idiot owner of the Zombies is scared of having him get injured, so they made sure he wasn't touched in summer practice. He won't be prepared to take a beating, so when you get the chance, hit that sucker has hard as you can, it will likely scare the living crap out of him."

XXXXXX

Sorry for the long wait, some stuff in my personal life made me take a small hiatus from writing. While this is still ongoing, I'm ready to get back into writing.

As you can see, the Centurions didn't get Joshua Fremont in the draft. I didn't want the Centurions getting everything they wanted, it would make them look too lucky. Instead Joshua went to the Atlanta 404, my idea for that is that in the NFL, there always that one pick that comes out of nowhere for a player that wasn't suspected of being a first round draft pick.

And as you can see, I introduced Nick Wexler's wife. I wanted to use her to bring up some old lore from the first game and mention the Fraternization Policy and Judd Crenshaw.

And that last bit with Tyrone talking about New Orleans and it's star player is a call back to the Captains videos that played before a game.

Next up is Week One! Columbus Centurions vs New Orleans Zombies!