Twin Story
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Sanford and Niles Braddick were footballers. They both had the extreme talent, luck and
drive to make it to the professional world of sports. Brothers playing football isn’t rare. Twin brothers playing and making it that far is
certainly less common, but it has happened.
Sanford and Niles had intentionally played different positions, Sanford
a wide receive on offense and Niles a safety on defense. There was great competition between them in
life but also great love and admiration.
This was true as well on the field.
They never fought for the same role, but by playing different sides of
the game, they could compete and try to lay claim as the most influential to
team success. Both wanted to win
games. Both wanted to win because their squads
made it happen.
As children, Sanford and Niles liked to change clothes in the
restroom while the other kids played during recess. Then, they would assume their brother's identity
and spend the rest of the day sitting in the other one’s seat and acting as the
brother. Their haircuts were the same,
their voices were the same, and at the time, they were both similarly skilled
in school. Very few friends or teachers
ever suspected or realized. Their test
scores certainly didn’t give them away.
Sanford and Niles took to football instantly. They were gifted and had the right intensity. The game itself with its physical and mental
skill and precision appealed to their competitive natures. In practice both took great pleasure in
lining up and attacking the other one.
Their practices were more intense that some other people’s games.
As young men, Sanford and Niles made a point of defining
themselves by having completely opposite styles. Hair cuts, clothes, favorite films and bands –
all were different. They were happy to
be a twin, and happy to share the football field, but they wanted their own
identities, their own successes, their own failures. Once on a dare, they didn’t speak to the
other for ten days, except during football practice. It was a very lonely time, but they had
wanted to see if they could do it.
They had played on the same teams as children, in high school, in
college, but not in the NFL. Sanford was
an incredible talent and was drafted early by a lesser team. Niles, while being a quality player, was most
definitely not a star in the making, and was drafted lower, but had the good
fortune of being drafted by a better franchise.
Both were lucky enough to have their careers last longer than the
average. Both were unlucky in the fact
that they were in different conferences and they only played against each other
on rare occasions. They would have loved
to be in the same division and face off at least twice a year, and even though
they both changed teams during their careers, they never had the luck to be
part of a heated rivalry.
As young adults, Sanford and Niles had many adventures
together. No matter what, they always
found a week or two to spend together as a private vacation. In college they took trips and tours and saw
the world. Soon they were returning as
volunteers and guides. When they loved
something they learned everything there was to learn about it and made
themselves into experts.
When they were thirty-one, Niles’ team made it to the
championship. Sanford was his biggest
fan and cheerleader. Both knew careers were
short and thirty-one can be old for a player on either side of the ball. Trips to championship games are few and far
between and this might be the only time either one of them ever had the opportunity.
Sanford and Niles always wanted to test the other and see who was
better at just about anything – including who was best as the other. As children they had taken each others' tests
and competed for the best report card.
As young men they had traded part time jobs to find out who the best
employee was. Both ended up with raises. Once, during a womanizing era of their youth,
they had both tried to date the same woman.
That was one of their only disasters.
During the championship game Niles played the best game of his career. Niles was a decent safety, and could cover well
in zone and one-on-one defensive sets, but he was not known for big plays and never
had the catching ability that his brother possessed as a wide receiver. During the game Niles had two interceptions,
one in the first half, and one in the second.
The second was returned for a touchdown.
He won the MVP award. No one was happier
for him than Sanford. Both retired soon
enough and that one game went down as the best moment of either of their careers. Neither would play for another championship.
Niles didn’t talk a lot before or after the game. He met with his family early in the day and
spoke of his hopes and dreams and how much he loved his family and the game of
football. Later he was unusually quiet
during the game, but extremely focused on making his dreams come true. Some would say he rose above his ability that
day, made the most of mistakes and quarterback miscues. Some athletes do that. Some play their best when all the chips are
down and the spotlight is on them. No
one would ever say Niles didn’t do just that.
Sanford especially would speak often in interviews about his brother and
just how proud he was of how Niles had been able to play that day. Both would say in interviews how sad they
were that they hadn’t both won championships or been on the same team that day.
When asked about his second interception that day, when asked why
he fought so hard to break tackles and gain extra yards and finally score, when
asked why, with the game well in hand, he took it upon himself to make such a
big play, Niles would simply smile and say “I guess I still had something left to
prove.”
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