EThere is this day, a Saturday in February 2015, that changed Patrick Mahomes’ life forever. He was standing in a stadium, shivering slightly, the outside temperature was ten degrees Celsius, and the light wind didn’t make it any better. Mahomes had the ball in his hand, his right hand, the precision machine trained in thousands of hours. Mahomes drew up his left knee, reached out, threw – and failed. Not just once, several times. The coach, Tim Tadlock, reacted, he had to react, and replaced Mahomes, who had just been substituted. It couldn’t have been worse. Not for him, not for Mahomes, not for the team. It was a day that Mahomes, he later said, “really isn’t proud of.”
Mahomes wasn’t playing football that day, the sport of which he is a star today, eight and a half years later. But baseball. And not just anywhere, but at the highest college level for Texas Tech University. Many had predicted a professional career for him in this sport; he was talented enough and had the best qualifications. Then this day came in February 2015. A day after which he put everything on one card.
The post first appeared on www.faz.net
