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It was a short tweet, full of sadness and even pathos, if you knew the player and the situation.

“I just want to ball and be great.”

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John White posted those words without explanation on Twitter after the game.

It was hard not to have sympathy for him.

Injuries happen in sports, particularly in football. The games go on. Next man up and all of that. But sometimes, one comes along that can give fans pause. And in the case of the Edmonton Eskimos, it seems like one comes up like that every week this season.

White had career year written all over him. He looked to so many unbiased observers to be perfectly positioned to seize not only the year but the career that had so far eluded him.

Now you have to wonder if he’ll end up one of those stories of unfulfilled greatness, of a player who showed glimpses of greatness but could never stay in the lineup long enough to be able to achieve it.

The expectation was that there would be thousands of words written about the Eskimos running back this year. But his eight-word tweet was followed by a 26-word news release at 3:15 p.m. Monday said otherwise: