CHAPTER 86

Alexis led me a few miles away to a store that specialized in linen and bedding. We got out, I grabbed a shopping cart at the entrance and followed the women into the store. We made our way over to section where the bath towels and wash rags were. I there learned that you had to have both guest towels and regular towels. The guest towels were out for display only, the regular towels you would use daily. They both went back and forth over the color of the display towels for both bathrooms. They finally settled on both sets, then turned to me.

"How often do you want to wash clothes every week ?", Alexis asked.

"With my schedule now, maybe once, twice at the most.", I replied.

"Well then we better get you at least a dozen bath towels and wash cloths.", she said.

We did the same routine with the kitchen towels, sheets, curtains, pillows and comforter sets. I noticed several people giving me smiles, I guess I was sort of comical pushing this loaded basket around behind the two attractive women. Another thing I noticed about Alexis, she never bought cheap, it was almost always the best they had. By the time we checked out, I had spent close to fifteen hundred dollars. I stuffed the trunk of my car with the bags, putting the remaining ones on part of the back seat, making sure Paige still had enough room. We drove directly back to the condo, they both helped bring all of the purchases inside. As I was pulling everything out of the bags, I guess I looked pretty confused.

"Alexis, I think Brian may need some help decorating, shall we ?", Paige giggled.

"I think so Paige. I bet he doesn't know a Duvet from a defensive back.", she laughed.

I pretended to once again look through the large bundle of items on the sofa, then back at the women.

"Well I know there is no defensive back here, at least.", I replied.

The two women waved me off and quickly went about their work around the condo. Within a few hours, I have to admit, the place looked really nice. Everything they had purchased went so well with the colors of the room, I was really impressed. They helped me stack the extra towels and things in the linen closet, the place was really coming together. I felt that I owed the both of them for all of their help today.

"Can I take you two ladies out to dinner, it's on me. I owe you both big time.", I asked.

The two women looked at each other in an unusal way, then Alexis turned to me.

"Maybe next time, Paige has to get home.", she answered.

Once again, I thanked the ladies for all of their help and promised to take them to dinner the first chance we could all make it. I looked at the clock, it was still only five in the evening, I had time to go buy a TV. There was a huge electronics store only minutes away, I drove there in less than five minutes. I settled on a large flat screen with a matching stand, the salesman told me it was the best in the store. I arranged for them to deliver it Monday afternoon as late as possible. That way I was sure to be back from practice.

Monday morning's started off with a team meeting, then we broke down into offensive and defensive groups. Coach Reed went over Sunday's game plan, what we would try and exploit, their strength's and their weaknesses. We were opening on the road against Oakland, a division opponent, kickoff was noon on Sunday. Because the game was against a division opponent, it made it all the more critical. We practiced hard all week, the team had definitely become sharper, things were beginning to mesh. Now that Billy was named the starter, he seemed to back off of me somewhat, although we barely spoke. I did get some work in with the first unit, although it was mostly in goal line situations, where my height was effective against the shorter secondary. I called Mr. Timmons on Saturday, to see if the game would be televised there locally, he said it would not. We talked for a while, I could tell he was still grieving from the loss of his child, as I was. Everytime we would start talking about the past, suddenly before mentioning her name, one of us would abruptly stop. He wished me well and we hung up.

I arrived at the stadium roughly about nine o'clock Sunday morning, it was amazing at the crowd already on site. One entire parking lot was tailgating, while vendors were setting up there wares near the various entrances to the stadium. I showed my identification to security and was allowed to enter the complex. When I got into our locker room, maybe a dozen or so players were already there, the trainers were working on them. Since I had made the transition to offense, I didn't require near the preparation that I had in prior years.

Around ten thirty, the trainer taped my ankles and wrists, I then began to dress for the game. I was completely done and joined the players out on the field warming up. Sometime about thirty minutes to kick off both teams returned to our locker room. Coach Stanton gave his game day speech, trying to prepare us emotionally and mentally for the next three hours. We then went into position groups for a last minute mental review.

Soon the game had started, I was officially a pro football player, although I had not gotten a single snap yet. I paced the sideline for a while, then rode the stationary bike to keep loose, then made my way to bench. By halftime, we had a 21-7 lead, we were running the ball extremely well. During halftime, back in our locker room, our coaching staff went through their adjustments. As I was listening to the coaching staff, I saw a permanent marker laying on the floor in front of one of the lockers. I bent over, picked it up and was twirling it in my hand. Suddenly out of the blue, I snapped off the cap, writing a large letter C on the palm of one hand, a large T on the other. I tossed the marker back into the bottom of the locker, then looked down at my hands. If I caught a pass, Courtney would help me hold it. I was quickly brought back to reality, the entire team had gotten up and was heading back out on the field.

The second half started slow for us, Oakland adjusted and we were having trouble running the ball. Several of our receivers dropped simple passes, we blew a few golden opportunities. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 24-17. We had a decent drive going late in the fourth quarter with maybe five minutes left on the clock, we were at our opponents fourteen yard line. Josh had called a time out was on the sideline talking to both Coach Stanton and Coach Reed. After several seconds of discussion, Coach Reed motioned for me to come over. I got up, grabbed my helmet and quickly joined them.

I followed Josh into the huddle, Billy trotting off the field none too happy. While he had caught a couple of passes thus far, I knew it was killing him. Josh leaned over and called the play, which was a screen pass away from me. I simply had to make sure no one came on a blitz, not giving Josh enough time to sell the play. With no one lining up on my outside shoulder, I could now help out the right guard with his man. We ran the play but it was ineffective gaining only two yards. It was now third and eight, we had to get to the two yard line, or we would have to settle for a field goal. We went with a three receiver package, with me on the right side of the line again. Two receivers went left, one right on my side. The play was designed as a pick play on the left, hoping the inside receiver could screen the outside receiver's man, breaking him open. The wide out on my side would break deep into the end zone, then drag across the middle deep along the back endline. I again was responsible for a blitz, if no one came, I would be running an out pattern near the goal line.

We lined up in formation, Josh began his cadence looking at the play clock. Josh was great about getting us to the line quickly, he liked having time to make adjustments before the snap. As I scanned the defense on my side, their cornerback was locked on our wideout man to man. The linebacker was settled in at about the five yard line, the strong safety right on his outside shoulder. As Josh progressed through the cadence, the strong safety was slowly moving across and up the field toward the line of scrimmage. Just as Josh was about to snap the ball he was maybe three yards of the center's head.

"Kill, kill, kill. Twenty eight, Twenty eight, Hold Set, Even Jet Right, delay, giant.", he shouted, pointing first at number 28, the safety who was showing blitz, then putting his hands together over his head.

What he was doing was keeping us in the standard formation and play option he had called, with the hold set verbage. However he added a wrinkle with the Even Jet, Delay Giant call. What that meant is, with the safety creeping up, I would probably be covered up with a linebacker. If that happened off of the snap, I was to take him into the back corner of the end zone, and possibly look for fade pass, up high. As we set back into formation, I took a deep breath, this could be it. I looked up at the linebacker in front of me, he was squared up, his left foot back slightly, guarding against a corner route.

The ball was snapped, I exploded off the line colliding with the backer head on. I was able to get my hands under his pads for a second, pushing him back hard. That was enough for me to break off and start in a direct line for the corner. I snapped my head back over my shoulder, the ball had just left Josh's hand. I turned back and looked for the back of the end zone, it was only four to five yards away. I knew it was going to be close, the ball was thrown extremely high and to the outside. With only maybe ywo yards left to the end line, I planted my left foot hard in the turf, stopping my momentum. I planted my second foot, then went up, as high as I could trying to attack the ball at it's highest point. As the ball was approaching, I felt the linebacker get up, his shoulder and left arm in between my arms. The ball was even higher than I anticipated, I was only able to get a couple fingers from each hand on the ball. As I began to pull the ball in the linebacker leaned into me, pushing me backwards. I concentrated on the ball, securing it in both hands, pulling it into my body. I knew I would be close to the back of the end zone, so I stuck the toes of both of my shoes straight down made contact with the ground then falling backwards out of bounds. I landed flat on my back, the impact taking my breath away. I lay there for a moment, turned and looked at the official who had both of his hands lifted over his head. I had scored my first touchdown, in my first game.

I got up, taking the ball with me towards the center of the end zone. I knelt down right in front of the goal post, my head down for a moment. I then stood slowly, pointed up with both hands, then kissed the palm of each hand on the letters I had written. I trotted off the field, ball in hand to the congratulations of my teammates. No one was happier for me then Josh, he was the first to hug me. I looked over at Coach Reed who just nodded in my direction, a smile on his face. I handed the ball to one of our managers, he cut a small piece of white medical tape off the roll on his belt, stuck it to the ball and wrote the number 89 on it. I would get it back after the game. I looked up at the large screen on one end of the stadium, they were replaying the score over and over. After seeing just how little of the ball I was initially able to touch, I was even surprised, I held on to it. Several players were coming over to me, slapping my shoulder pads, congratulating me on my first score. As I was itting there looking down at my hands, both the C and the T beginning to fade, I had to believe Court was with me on that catch. The game ended 31-17, we had our first win of the season. I showered and dressed quickly, I was asked to answer a few questions during the post game interview. I waited as the coaches all went through their question and answer sessions, then watched Josh conduct his interview. I was amazed at how professionally he conducted himself, both on and off the field. Someone in the media asked him abut the last touchdown he threw, the one to me. Without hesitation, turned and waved me up to the table. I walked up to the table and sat at the chair next to him, a microphone on the table right in front of me.

"Now even though it was probably as good a pass that could be thrown in that situation, I guess the rookie did ok in holding onto it.", Josh told him media, the room exploding in laughter.

One reporter near the front got a jump on all of the others, booming his questions first.

"Brian, how does it feel to catch your first pro touchdown, and just how high up were you ?", he asked.

"It feels good sir, really good. As Josh said, it was a perfect pass, anyone could have caught it. And it was a little high, but no big deal.", I answered.

Josh leaned over and put his arm around me, leaned over and kissed me briefly on the cheek, the room again laughing hysterically. He leaned back into his chair, leaning into the microphone.

"This is why I love this kid. No one else on this team could come close to pulling that ball in, he says it was a little high. This kid is going to be special people, remember I said it first.", he laughed, getting up and slapping me lightly on the back.

I answered a couple of more questions, then scanned the room, no one else's hand was up. I started to get up, when I saw a female reporter for one of the major sports channels raise her hand and stand up.

"Brian, you played defense in college, that's no secret. You caught your first touchdown today, explain to me what the sequence of events meant after.", she asked.

I sat there stunned somewhat, I never expected anyone to ask this question. I thought for a second, everyone's eyes were on me.

"After the touchdown, I went to the goal post and knelt down thanking the Lord for allowing me to get to this point in my life. I then pointed up to heaven, to the two people I have lost in my life ......, " I was struggling to get it out.

"My father and my best friend...I put her initials on the palms of my glove. That's why.....after I .... I just kissed them. I'm sorry, thank you.", I said, getting up and leaving the podium quickly.

I could hear people still shouting questions, as I left the room. One of the trainers patted my shoulder as I walked out of the door. We left the stadium soon after, we were home late that night. We were scheduled to be back at our practice facility the next day to watch film, we would be off on Tuesday, then begin to prepare for our home opener against Tennessee.