The Tournament
Tourney's Only Career Loser Was Once Perfect
By Susan Blanch
1-23-2035
When Kyle Devore was a rookie, he dominated the field like no one had since Max Fields' younger years. He won all 22 games his rookie season and capped that off by sweeping Damien Johnson in the final, 2 games to none. A new player was in town, and it looked like the American CIG co-leaders, Johnson and Alyson Kerrigan, no longer had the sport to themselves.
"He was so awesome his rookie season," Kerrigan remembers. "I called my agent after the '30 season and told her to lock in my endorsement deals long term because this new kid was going to take them all away!"
Devore got plenty of endorsement deals, but that was before the losing began. After perfection in his rookie season, Kyle started '31 with a ten game losing streak, including two brutal losses to Damien Johnson. He finally won a couple games but not enough to even make the playoffs that second season.
"I didn't work at all in that first offseason," Kyle reflects. "I mostly partied and spent money. I thought the pro game was easy because I'd had so much success the first time around."
Early success is the worst thing that can happen to people, says game analyst and retired three time Italian Champ Natalie Nucci, "it can just ruin you. I won the title as a rookie and it took me three years to recover. I didn't work hard and even after failing my second year I still didn't take my offseason preparation seriously. If Kyle had lost a couple games and fallen short of the title his first season, he could be the game's greatest player today. Maybe this Tournament will be what he needs to shake himself out of his downward spiral."
Or the opposite. "The only reason he's in this Tournament is that the US is the hosting country this time, so they got a couple extra berths. The dug up Max Fields but still had another berth and Kyle's the only other recent Champion after Johnson and Kerrigan." Longtime CIG writer Mike Stokely observed. "This was a golden opportunity his overall performance hasn't earned him. If he fails on this world stage, goes 1-3 or 0-4, you might see him quit the game. If he gets some wins, against quality opposition, maybe you'll see a resurgence like Harry Brown. People forget now that Brown has more titles than anyone in history, but early in his career it was said that he couldn't 'win the big one.' Now Harry's a respected elder statesman. Devore could be like that if he got his confidence back."
Every player in this Tourney would love to bear the title "World Champion" but some could say that Kyle Devore, who started 22-0 and has gone a dismal 38-67 since, needs it more than anyone else.
Longshot
Perception
Real Life
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