“Better yet, we put on the wrong hat and then switch to the right one,” Wolf suggested.
“That’s a terrible idea,” Frank said. “You’ll just piss people off, and they have long memories.”
“Remember that basketball player who had narrowed it down to State and Kansas, and he did that?” I asked.
Both Tim and Wolf got scowls on their faces. We’d been in grade school when it happened, and even now, it would occasionally pop up on the State message boards as someone who’d done them wrong. Despite the fact that they were pissed, they had added a touch of humor. Whenever there was a close recruiting battle, they would be guardedly optimistic. But they talked about wearing their cups so the kick in the nuts wouldn’t hurt so much if it went against them.
“Ohio State will hate us anyway. Why not do it to them? The folks in Michigan will worship us as gods,” Wolf pointed out.
That would be funny.
“Would you want them gunning for you guys when you played?” Dad asked, playing his role of the pragmatic fun-sucker.
“How long is the presentation supposed to be?” Tracy asked.
“We scheduled the streaming service for thirty minutes,” Frank shared. “The announcement will be in the last couple of minutes.”
“I would like you to play a video at the beginning while the student body files into the field house. It’ll give them a chance to get settled,” I suggested.
“We have plenty of video of the three of you playing. Why don’t I put together a twenty-minute film and then have the last ten minutes live?” Frank suggested.
“I don’t want the focus to only be on us. I’d like it to be on the teams we were a part of. We wouldn’t be here without them,” I reminded everyone.
“We talked about building a legacy,” Tracy added.
“She’s right. Yeah, it’s our big moment, but let’s do something better than making it just about us,” Tim suggested.
That gave me a great segue to discussing what I’d been mulling over. I explained my idea of mentoring the younger guys and what I’d talked about at church. I considered Lincoln High to be a part of my larger family and wanted to reinforce that culture at our school. Tracy was right; we all wanted our success to continue after we left. It was all part of my ‘make a difference’ life goal.
We bounced around ideas and came up with a plan for Wednesday.
After that, Frank cornered me to talk about his numerous ideas for the Academy Awards and the events surrounding the show. I quickly put a stop to that, which brought him up short in surprise.
“Frank,” I explained, “this spring is the very last chance I’ll have to just be a high school kid, and I don’t want to lose that. I’m going to the awards ceremony, and I’ll hang around the rest of the night, but even then, I’ll probably have to catch a red-eye back here.
“To handle all this, I’ve put Lexi in charge of coordinating everything out there. I’ve also asked her to keep a muzzle on Saul and his next batch of ideas. He’ll be after me to quit school and work my ass off to make him money.
“I’m sure Lexi will be coordinating with you and listening to your thoughts, but I don’t want to be bothered with this until I have to be.”
Frank nodded his agreement, so I continued.
“For now, you should assume that I don’t want to pay much attention to the Academy Awards until I’m actually on my way to board a plane for LA. I trust that between you, Lexi, and Kent, you know what to do for something like this. I do reserve the right to override you if you make me look like a goof,” I said.
Frank gave me a slow nod, which I took as acceptance. Thank God. The truth was, they had this, and I didn’t want to get in the middle of it.
◊◊◊
Lexi and I had gone up to my apartment to catch up.
“Who’s the guy you’re dating?” I asked Lexi.
Over the weekend, one of the gossip websites had shown her on a yacht with a South American playboy. I had an app that alerted me when there were stories about people I knew. It saved me a lot of time when I surfed the net. I was surprised when Lexi’s name had a hit.
She looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“A friend of a friend of the guy got me an invitation. His name is Alejandro Sandoval. He’s a Colombian soccer player. Rumor has it Alex’s great-grandfather made his money in drugs, and his family owns half the country. His parents moved him to California for high school.
“I never really got to know him because I didn’t hang out with the soccer guys. I did know that he was good enough that in his junior year, he made their national team and moved back to Colombia.”
“Was he here looking for an American trophy wife?” I teased her.
She shoved my arm.
“If I were ever going to do something like that, he would be on my list for a sugar daddy. He’s not too bright, spends his time looking great, and has lots of guy toys to play with. I think you would like him,” Lexi said.
“Guy toys?” I asked.
