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+---- Thread: Who even is "bye week" anyway? (/showthread.php?tid=10814)
Who even is "bye week" anyway? - nckkss - 2026-09-19
“Hey, who is this bye team we’ve got this week?”
Nick is looking confused at the fixture list on the corridor wall at Kaapstad’s training ground.
“I’ve never heard of them? I didn’t think the expansion teams were in Division One.”
“It’s a bye week”, says fellow midfielder Felix Pedro walking past in their training kit, “and since we’re out of the cup we’ve got a whole week.”
“A week between games?” Kasak called out to the departing Pedro.
“A week off! Go do...anything!”
Pedro disappears around the corner leaving a shocked Kasak with this news.
“Anything???”
___________
Nick is belting out Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business” in front of an enthusiastic crowd at a Karaoke night in the city, with fellow players and partygoers on stage too. The champagne is flowing and the grins are wide.
Airhorns sound and balloons, confetti and possibly even wads of cash drop from the ceiling.
Nick Kasak is belting out words tunelessly, in dark glasses and a shirt with just a single button done up.
__________
BANG BANG
Nick wakes with a start in a dark room, his sunglasses still over his eyes. He has a necklace of flowers and one shoe missing.
BANG BANG
The metallic banging is followed by a door slamming open, which seems to tip the room slightly – or is that… are we on a boat?
“Wakey wakey!” the man says in a strong South African accent.
Nick blinks and lets the glasses drop down. “Where…?” He indicates the immediate surroundings with confusion.
“Oh yes you were a bit worse off last night, but we’ve no time for your Babelas.”
“My… babies?”
“We’re here at the best time of day for it.” He pauses, “Look, you paid good money for this and I let you sleep it off down here. We’re going cage diving with some Great Whites.”
Nick throws up immediately.
“Oh and clean up that up.” The man says.
_____________
“Are you sure this is safe?” says Nick, wetsuit on, inspecting the cage hanging off the side of the boat.
“Oh yeah, really safe. So safe.” Replies the man from before. Behind him another sailor idly chucks a bucket full of meat into the water. Nick looks green around the gills.
“Just punch them on the nose if they get too close, yeah?”
__________
“Ok, that was amazing!” Nick has seemingly recovered from his heavy night and is buoyed by his brush with the sharks. He is wearing a t shirt far too big for him that says “Springbok pride” and some awkward sports shorts that have seen better days, as well as a carrier bag with his dirty shirt in.
The sailors wave him off the jetty and into a waiting taxi.
____________
He is at a loud sports bar now, clean again, simultaneously watching two different screens behind the counter he is sitting at.
“...The Osaka Kaiju pick… Christopher Biscuits.” says one of the screens, showing a huge figure in green American Football gear lining up with his team, but failing a hide a huge grin.
“Oh get in my son!” Nick picks up his phone and fires off a quick text.
“He’ll love that, he will. That’s amazing.”
“The pick is in and Great Falls pick… Nico Fury from London, England…” says the other screen airing the SMJHL draft.
“Oh that’s sick!” He fires off another couple of texts. “But where the hell is Great Falls anyway?”
Nick checks his phone once more and double checks both screens, proud of his two friends from school getting drafted to their respective sports.
“Excuse me…” we suddenly notice an annoyed woman sitting next to him, “I thought we were on a date? Are you actually going to talk me now or what?”
“Errrr……….”