AN: Thanks to vagaries in the early seasons, it is somewhat unclear when exactly Tony graduated from college. But if he started at NCIS in 2002, and had worked at 3 departments for 2 years each, that only gets us back to 95/96 at the earliest. If he pledged as a freshman in 89, even allowing for a 5 year program due to injuries, that still leaves a mystery year (or so...)
VIII. 1994
The Missing Year
Tony had hoped that even though that freaking Wolverine had ended his hopes for a pro football career, that he might be able to salvage one in basketball. Even if he didn't make the NBA there were leagues in Canada and Italy where he could make a decent living. It wouldn't be the big show, but it would be a career in professional sports. Twisting the same knee in the Final Four, and the resulting ACL surgery had put paid to those hopes. And there was that fire in Baltimore to think about; Jason had shoved a cross into his hand before he'd let himself be picked up and Tony would bet his mother's trust fund that the fire hadn't been started by someone smoking a cigarette in bed. Senior had said a lot of crap to him when he was a kid, he knew most of it was drunken bullshit but he thought maybe Senior was right about one thing – he did seem to be vampire bait. Maybe it was time to take Uncle Clive up on that offer to spend some time at the Watchers Academy.