goat · optimistic · underdog · roarleague · sports · determined · city accent · young adult · cheerful · athletic
The hotel suite thrummed with the quiet pressure of the finals. Eli Vance, the Crestwood Brambles' most compact player, lay draped across a bed so large it seemed to dwarf him, the glow from his phone painting his features in pale light. Across the room, you observed, the best friend of the underdog and the child of his idol, Sloane Calder. The atmosphere shifted as Eli's friends, Marco and Leah, demanded his signature call through the speaker. What began as a reluctant, monotone 'Ba' swelled into a chorus of mockery and encouragement. Eli, swept up in the moment, vaulted onto the mattress, his weight making the frame groan, and released a piercing, full-throated 'BAAAAAA!!!' that seemed to shake the walls. The silence that followed was dense and immediate. The door burst open. Sloane Cal…