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Stories from a Guy Named Taco

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Stories from a Guy Named Taco 2012-2013

Written By: Nathaniel Hernandez “Taco”

Taco Publishing

Huntsville, Arkansas

May 10, 2013

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Dedication

I would like to thank first off all my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for being so good. Next I

would like to thank my family who all pushed me to always be my best. I would also like to

thank all my great friends for being then inspiration for the majority of these stories. Also

the Huntsville football coaches who inspired me, both on and off the field, especially Coach

Sone and his great words of wisdom. Last, but certainly not least I want to thank everyone

who ever said I couldn’t do something. All the doctors who said I wouldn’t live after my

lung collapsed when I was three. Well I’m alive, healthy, and on my way to the NFL. Then to

those who said I couldn’t do anything, well I’ve done almost everything.

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If you are not going to do something all the way then don’t do it at all.- My Family’s Motto

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Table of Contents

Part 1- The Game

Introduction- Page 6

The Championship- Page 7

The Mighty Eagles – Page 8

Pre-Snap- Page 9

Football Crazy- Page 10

Thursday Night- Page 11

Part 2- Goofy Dumb Friend and Me

Introduction- Page 13

Taco Land- Page 14

The Name- Page 15

The Prank- Page 16

Facebook Status- Page 17

The Party- Page 18

Part 3- The Deeper Side of I

Introduction- Page 19

My Beliefs- Page 20

Ideas- Page 21

Solution and Problems- Page 22

Answers and Twelve Angry Men- Page 23

Cliché Thankfulness- 24

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Part 1- The Game

The First part of my writings is about one of my greatest loves. That love would be the

game of football. Some of the following writings are about me playing for my team, the

Huntsville Eagles, and some of the adversity we face on the field. Others are jus t that I

wrote based on the game. All and all this entire first section is about The G

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The Championship

“He stepped out of bounds!”

“No he didn’t!”

Coaches and refs were arguing whether or not John’s ‘winning catch’ was really a catch or

not. The play was simple, John was supposed to run a go route to the end zone and wait for

the pass there. Things didn’t go as planned, John had to make the catch ear ly because the

quarterback was getting rushed. John made the catch at the fifty on the yard line and ran

into the end zone. There was a challenge though the other team’s coach thought John had

stepped out of bounds at the twenty. John knew he did, but he just couldn’t give up being a

conference champ. He just couldn’t, could he? John knew what the right thing was; he

walked up to the ref and told him he had stepped out of bounds. The ball was placed at the

twenty with only two seconds on the clock. It was almost impossible to make a touchdown.

Coach called a Hail Mary pass, the ball was snapped, and the clock counted down two

seconds, one second, and the zero seconds. The quarterback dropped back to pass, John

was the only open receiver. The quarterback saw him and threw the most perfect pass,

there just wasn’t a perfect catch to back it up. The conference championship was lost. It was

all John’s fau

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The Mighty Eagles

Shoulder to shoulder side by side

Side by side listening and waiting

Listening and Waiting for the play

The play we need to take us to glory

The game is so close

So close either team could dominate

Could dominate the game and win

And win the Eagles will do

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Pre-Snap

Soft ground under my fingertips. My entire mind focused on the seconds soon to come.

Filled with anger and rage I’m ready to end this game, ready to knock the cockiness ‘outta

number eight and ready to earn a new mark on my helmet. I’m ready to pull off what

Michael Oher did in The Blind Side. Sending the cocky little Goblin back to the bus and all

the way to Harrison. “Down” (Brace). “Set” (For). “Hut” (Impact).

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Football Crazy

Is it wrong to have football on you mind all the time? To only be thinking about my

comeback? To think about when I’m going to be back on the field? To imagine my first

comeback play (49 Sweep probably)? To try and rember what it feels like to have all tho se

pads on? To wonder what I’m supposed to tell my coaches about what the doctor said when

I can’t even see one? Is it wrong to have football on your mind 24/7? Is it wrong to be

football crazy?

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Thursday Night

It’s a Thursday night, there is a dark sky the on lights that are shining are the stadium

lights. There is a cool breeze in the air, the smell of hotdogs and popcorn fills that breeze.

The crowd is chanting “Eagles! Eagles! Eagles!” What does this all add up to? Perfect

football playing weather that’s what it adds up to. The screams from the stands don’t

hardly bother me one bit. When I put my helmet on it’s like I’m in my own world. The first

home game of the season is always very special, this game shows the town what the season

is going to look like. Right now the season is looking very good. The score is 24-8; there is

only a minute and a half on the clock and we have the ball. The Coach Sone know the

smartest thing to do is to just run the clock down by running well run plays , which is just

fine with me. To anyone who doesn’t know this an offensive lineman’s favorite type of play

is a run play. I am an offensive lineman, left guard to be exact, and my favorite run play is a

sweep to the left side, my side. The reason for this is because I get to run and lay a huge hit

on the small little cornerback or anyone else that gets in my way. I’m hoping that is our

next play because I know with our fast running back and my lead blocking we can score

another touchdown and run the clock down. It’s almost like coach read my mind cus that’s

exactly what he calls. The quarter back tells us the play and we break the huddle. We walk

up to the line and get into our positions. I look over at the corner and give him an evil smile;

he knows I’m coming for him. The quarter back calls the cadence “Down! Set! Hut!” As soon

as he says hut I’m flying over to the corner; drop my shoulder and get ready to lay a huge

hit on him. Bam! The corner is sailing back to the sidelines, and I’m looking for my nex t

victim. The left outside linebacker is racing for the running back trying to be the hero. Well

I don’t allow heroes on defense. Now I’m running at a full sprint to lay him out, at the five

yard line we finally make contact, a huge pop fills the stadium as we hit and I send him

flying about five yards. The running back on the other hand crosses the goal line.

“TOUCHDOWN HUNTSVILLE EAGLES!!!!!!!” the announcer cries into the speakers. Ther e is

a party in the end zone as the running back and I are both getting hit across the helmet by

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our teammates who are whooping and yelling. The score is now 30-8; the season is looking

better already. We calm down and get back into the huddle. Coach decides to run a fullback

dive to get the two point conversion. We break the huddle again and get into place. This is

my second favorite play because all I have to do is run straight forward and find the first

person not wearing maroon and knock him out. The quarterback calls the cadence ounce

more, “Down! Set! Hut!” I am shooting out of my stance like a cannon and into the fat

defensive tackle in less than a second. He is on his back in about the same amount of time. I

see the fullback trying to get into the end zone he is clawing and digging with all his might,

but the linebacker has him wrapped up. I can’t let this happen. I run to the fullback and try

to push him forward, but when I come to the aid of my fellow teammate so does the

linebacker’s teammate. Soon it is rugby styles push both teams giving it their all to push the

ball carrier into the end zone. Both teams are giving it all they have and even then some

more. My legs tell me to give up we already have this won, but my mind is telling me to dig

a little deeper there is never enough. The score is like money. How much do you need? The

answer is more! The entire team knows this and we push with all our might with

everything we have with all our strength and heart and body. We finally fall forward into

the end zone. The feeling I have is amazing when I finally get up and look at the scor eboard

32-8 and zero seconds on the clock. This season is going to be the season our undefeated

season.

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Part 2- Goofy, Dumb Friends and Me

This next part is well all told in the title! Mostly this part is about my friends and I and our

stupidity. A few stories are about my own misadventures. Hopefully these stories will at

least make you chuckle. Now onto the stories of my goofy dumb friends and me!

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Taco Land!

I didn’t know where the train was going. After paying my fare, I simply stood on the

platform waiting for it to whisk me away somewhere, anywhere but here. And that’s when

it happened, my train finally arrived. I got on and sat in the first empty seat. I sat and sat

and sat some more. Constantly sitting, nothing to do, nobody to talk to, I just sat there and

sat there even more. Finally the train stopped after what seemed like several eternities. I

stepped off the train and stretched my legs and walked into the town. From my first glance

at the town I could tell this was no ordinary town. I saw a sign that read ‘Welcome to Taco

Land!’ Strange right? Well I am one who likes strange and weird things. Don’t judge I’m just

like that. I went into the town and saw and saw something amazing. The entire town was

taco themed! I walked up to a woman and asked “Excuse me mam may I please ask how

come everything is taco themed?” I thought it was Taco Tuesday. The woman replied, “It’s

because we are waiting on out mayor to come back who was named Taco and we think the

taco theme will do it.” It was my turn to tell her something, “Really? My name is Taco!”

“Oh my goodness! You are our mayor than!” She was right there was a huge parade for me

and everything. The town was too good to be true. Sadly it was too good to be true because

while I was in the middle of making my birthday a national holiday I woke up.

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The Name

It’s the middle of the seventh grade. My friend Cole and I are in science class being stupid

like usual. I ask Cole “Hey you know what?”

“What?” he replies.

“I think my name is to long”, I say, “what do you think would be a good nickname for me?”

“Taco ‘cus one you’re Mexican and two you’re always wanting a taco.”

“Taco?” I think it over the name is short and sweet and humorous, “alright I’m good.”

From that day I have been called Taco. The name has gotten so popular even my teachers

and coach’s call me Taco.

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The Prank

Not many people know this, but I was a natural born prankster. Literally I was born on

April 1st, April Fool’s Day for those who don’t know. Well one day me and my friends Ethan,

Tyler, Trenton and Coby all decided to pull a prank on my sisters for ratting us out for

eating all the food in the pantry. Sorry if we are growing teenage boys who crave junk food.

So we decided put a piece of clear tape on the trigger of the hose connected to the kitchen

sink. The plan was that when the girls went to do dishes they would get sprayed as soon as

the water was turned on. Oh yeah buddy the plan was perfect, but we didn’t think of one

thing or should I say someone. Instead of my sisters doing the dishes my mom did them

instead. Well can you guess how much trouble we got it? If not let me say on a scale from

one to ten about a billion.

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Facebook Status

One day on Facebook I put a status that went a little something like this:

My Mom’s and I conversation this morning:

Me: Good morning Mom.

Mom: Morning Son (Looks at what I’m wearing) you look like a Mexican.

Me: Thanks……. (Under my breath) Love you too

This status got me about thirty likes. For a week whenever someone saw me they said,

“Taco you look like a Mexican!” yeah I think I’m one of the only people who got told “you

look like a Mexican” when I’m full blooded Mexican. Well that’s a part of the life of being

Taco. Who looks like a Mexican.

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The Party

One of the craziest times me and my friends have ever had is The Party. The Party was

celebrating my friend James’ fourteenth birthday. Most people say, “Hey, rember James’

party?” The Party was so crazy though we to this day say “Dude rember The Party?” We

started off playing football, but we played with our shoelaces tied together. Then when it

got dark James’ mom took us night bowling. We were doing all kinds of ‘trick’ shots. When

we returned to James house we went to ‘sleep’ in the smaller house next to his. The small

house we named the fantasy factory because it was cluttered with different things so we

could go crazy. We broke into two teams and had an airsoft war with airsoft pistols, rifles,

and shotguns. I was covered in whelps from getting hit so much. We also stayed up all night

playing truth or dare. One of my worse dares was to stick my tongue to a light bulb that was

on for ten seconds, I lost all my taste buds after that. We did a lot more stuff, but I don’t

know if I’m allowed to tell due to that this is supposed to be ‘school appropriate’.

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Part 3- The Deeper Side of I

This final section will show case my deeper side. When I’m not being stupid with my

friends or thinking about my friends I’m in deep thought. My deep thought usually goes

towards random things. These random things are usually about problems and their

solutions. Now time to close with showing you the reader the deeper side of I.

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My Believes

One day I was asked if I would stand up for my believes. My response was yes I would stand

up for my believes. I would not go along with the crowd because the crowd is not always

right. If someone told me I had to give up my believes and they were holding a gun to my

head, I would take the bullet. One of my believes is that it is better to die for something than

to live for nothing.

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Ideas

I think that both logical and emotional thought can work together. Sometimes when we are

presented with facts our emotions start to act up. Say if someone told you that your

boyfriend/girlfriend was cheating on you, you would get mad and confront them more than

likely. Emotional thinking is what made you mad, and logical thinking is what made you go

and confront them.

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Solutions and Problems

Use your talent to bring solutions not problems

This world has too many already

They’re kids starving women getting raped and much worse

Every single day

The world needs solutions not problems

Instead of whining complaining and not doing anything

Do something

Use your talents to bring solutions not problems

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Answers and Twelve Angry Men

I believe it is impossible for someone to not put their own opinion into their answers . This

point is shown in Twelve Angry Men. We see that the jurors are putting their own biased

opinions into the answer if the defendant is guilty or not. Many times the jurors are talking

about the defendant’s background.

Many times the jurors say that the boy grew up in bad home. They also talk about where he

grew up and how many times that is the breeding ground for murders. Many of the jurors

believe that because of these things the boy is guilty of the murder of his father. As shown

is Twelve Angry Men, there is no possible way for people to not put their opinion into their

answers.

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Cliché Thankfulness

As I start our Thanksgiving holiday I will give thanks for many things in my life. My family

and friends because these amazing people are what bring joy to my life and who help me

out when times are tough. I will give thanks for another year of life because I know that I’m

here on borrowed time. I will be thankful that I have food at my house and a house at that.

These things I write about I know are a little worn from so many others. When you think

about it though, would life truly be good?