Intro:
There's not many bets you ever make where all the stars align but this was one of them for me. My name's John Rivera & I was born in Harrisburg, PA, been a Penn State fan since my uncle took me to a game as a kid, & a Cowboys fan since the first time I saw Emmitt Smith at RB when I was 12 or so.
In 2017 was when I first started to see Micah's athleticism in the sport of basketball actually. I have a basketball company borntoballtv where I was filming teams in the area & since my cousin Tito was the PG of the Harrisburg basketball team, I went to almost every game of the season. As someone who's played basketball most of my life, I was impressed by the raw strength Micah had practically grabbing any rebound in his vicinity no matter how tall/strong the opposing Power Forward’s/Center’s were. You can’t teach heart, competitiveness, & willpower which is what he & the whole team had.
Micah vs Lonnie Walker:
Almost nobody knows this outside of Harrisburg but Micah actually beat Lonnie Walker (Lakers SG now) in the district playoffs when at the time I think Lonnie was on a 20+ game win streak. That game was at the Giant Center & one of the best games I’ve ever seen in person. The game came down to the final minute & most were surprised Harrisburg ended up winning but from watching them play throughout the season, they had a very talented/athletic team that could match up against anyone. That also was Lonnie Walker’s last loss as a high school player as after losing in districts they ended up winning the State title. Full Court Game:
This is something Micah wouldn’t remember but we played full court at the friendship center (basketball gym), mybe a year or so into his Penn St career & on a fast break layup he drove into me & I flew like Jazz on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air lmao I’ve played against a ton of great basketball players & that was the first time in my life I got moved out the way like that (at least 8 feet or so) from body contact. For reference at that time, I was 6’4 200 lbs in the best shape of my life training high school to D2/D3 basketball players & was boxing. So it was at that moment I realized just how strong & explosive he was & knew he had a bright career ahead of him.
College Football:
Fast forward later on & Micah was playing his last college game vs Memphis taking over the bowl game like I’ve never seen before. Had 14 tackles, 2 sacks, & 2 forced fumbles which are video game like numbers in the biggest game of the year.
Draft Time:
Micah fell a bit in the draft because he didn’t play his last year of college football but I knew 100% after everything I saw from high school basketball to the last bowl game that whatever team drafted him in the NFL would be extremely glad they did. Just so happens he got drafted by my favorite team the Cowboys!
When I made the bet:
I knew the Cowboys would be playing the Bucs in week 1 so I anticipated Tom Brady making Micah in his 1st NFL start to make some mistakes & the odds would probably rise after the game for him to win DROY. The Cowboys ended up losing that game & that's when I bet it at +650. Before the season started I remember seeing Micah was 80/1 or so to win DPOY and I really thought about betting it but didn’t as I couldn’t think of a time a rookie was the best defensive player in the NFL. Crazy to think he almost won that award too had TJ Watt not snapped the last week of the regular season with like 3 or 4 sacks. The rest is history as everyone knows. If there was no risk of Micah getting injured in the season I would have bet way more on him but to me what meant more than winning was seeing someone firsthand make it out of this city at the highest level there is which was an inspiring thing to watch!
Lastly, I just wanna say Micah’s a real one for giving Harrisburg a shoutout as this city has always been full of talented people who sometimes just need hope to stay on the path of their goals/dreams. And while we're at it S/O LeSean McCoy too #717 
