When it would air on TV, it would show a graphic of who each player was and what position he played. They wanted us to move to show it was video and not just a still picture. All the guys had watched games where this was done and had plans for what they wanted to do. Typically, you would show your game face and maybe flex. Some chose only to smile. Others did something goofy, like try to dance.
I was hanging with Tim and Wolf as the line moved forward. I cringed when Phil tried to dance. Sometimes I wondered if we really were related.
“What do you plan to do?” I asked them.
Tim clenched his fists and did his imitation of The Incredible Hulk. At least he didn’t try to dance. Wolf’s was better. He simply took a football and tucked it like he was going to run.
“What’s your plan?” Wolf asked.
“That’s a tough one. Maybe I’ll strike the Heisman,” I said as I demonstrated what the Heisman Trophy pose looked like. “Or I could always point at the sky and give the ‘glory to God’ move.”
They both rolled their eyes at that one. I was almost convinced that was what I would do regardless of what my friends thought because it fit the all-American boy image.
“Why don’t you go get the ‘Irrelevant!’ sign?” Tim asked.
“Dude, you have to do it,” Wolf urged.
“Why don’t one of you do it?” I asked.
“Because Coach would kill us. You can get away with it,” Tim explained.
That was why I wanted one of them to do it. I didn’t need Coach Hope up my butt for doing something in retaliation for what Broadview had said. Then I used my get-out-of-jail-free card. My first instinct was
I jogged to the locker room and grabbed the sign. When Wolf and Tim saw I had it, they made an executive decision that I should jump the line before one of the coaches spotted me. It was Ty’s turn, and when he saw what I planned to do, he let me go next.
I kept the sign behind my back, and as they started to film, I pulled it out and held it over my head. Out of nowhere, Coach Hope appeared.
“Nope, not happening. Give me that and do it again,” he ordered.
What a fun-sucker. I asked Wolf to lob me his football and smiled when the video started as I tossed the ball up and caught it. Then I reached down, lifted my jersey to show off my abs, and then pointed the football at my stomach as I stuck my tongue out. The cameraman got a smirk on his face, so I’d gotten a reaction.
“What happened to the glory to God?” Wolf asked.
“The Spirit came over me.”
Let them laugh at me. I believed in the Old Testament, vengeful God!
◊◊◊
They asked a handful of us to do sit-down interviews with ESPN that they would use as filler during the game. I was sent to where they’d set up in the end zone, and there I found a familiar face.
“We meet again,” Margaret Chin, ESPN’s sideline reporter, said laconically.
“What do you plan to ask me?” I asked to get an idea before the actual interview started.
“We want to build on the rivalry that’s developing between your two schools to help sell the game.”
“But we’ve never played each other,” I complained.
“And yet you have a sign calling out what Percy Wilkes said about your team.”
“Coach Hope is so going to kill me. Can’t I give you five minutes of me just being lucky to play such a fine team as Broadview Academy?” I asked, hopefully.
“We’re ready,” her director told her.
“Tomorrow night, two titans of the high school football scene will clash here on ESPN. From Texas, we have Broadview Academy, who has won 17 straight games and is the defending state champion. They are loaded with division-one talent, and the current number-one recruit in defensive end Percy Wilkes. They will face off with the pride of Illinois, Lincoln High, a two-time defending state champion. According to recruiting services, Lincoln also has several top-level prospects on their team, not the least of which is defending Gatorade Player of the Year, David Dawson.
“David was injured in a horrific vehicle collision earlier this year. Concern about the effects of those injuries has dropped him in the national recruiting rankings. This will be David’s first serious competition since the collision,” she said, and then turned to me.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
She forgot to tell me about this part of the interview.
“To be honest, our coaches talked about me not playing in tomorrow night’s game because I’m still healing,” I shared.
That conversation had happened a few weeks ago … but she was the one who wanted to generate a story. I already knew that Percy and his gang would be after me tomorrow night. If they believed I was still injured, it would be like blood in the water for a pack of sharks. I figured I could handle myself. Plus, if I never played another down of football, I would be okay. For someone like Wolf, football would change his life, even if he never made it to the pros. At the very least, he would get a college education out of it. The last thing I wanted was for someone else on my team to get hurt.
