Junior Year Box Set

“Okay, so much for the scary part. Let me tell you the benefits. Being the best-of-the-best at quarterback can give you a nice payday. The top quarterbacks make in the $20 to $25 million range. Average is around four million per year. The average NFL career is a little over three years, six years if you make the roster your rookie year.

“Let’s compare that to major league baseball. If you last your first three years on a major league roster, you can expect six more years or a total of nine. The average salary is just under four-and-a-half million per year. Top salaries are in the thirty-five million range.

“I think there’s a good case to be made for you to consider baseball. Longer career, higher average salary, much higher top-end salary, and the probability of injury is much lower. I’m not going to try to talk you out of playing football, because I believe you could be special. I just want you to slow down and consider your options. Heck, you might want to be a movie star,” Coach Mason said.

◊◊◊

After we talked to Coach Mason, we were sent to watch game film of King High School. It was a good thing we hadn’t done this on Monday. We watched them demolish their opponents on both sides of the ball. Our toughest opponent the last two years had been Springfield, and I would put money on King beating them by four touchdowns. We would need our best game to even have a shot.

When we came out of the film session, someone shoved a camera into my face, and I saw Margaret Chin, the sideline reporter I’d met at the Northwestern game.

“David, I’d like to ask you a few questions,” she started in.

“Can we do this somewhere other than in the middle of the hall?” I asked.

She leaned in close so only I could hear.

“I have a story I don’t want to get out, so I don’t want to take you to the media rooms. Could we use one of the coaches’ rooms?” she asked.

I nodded and led her to the room where we’d met with Coach Mason to talk about our recruiting. When we were done, I had a little smile on my face.

◊◊◊

Coach Hope allowed us to go off and spend time with our families for a couple of hours. The ones that didn’t have families with them decided to go to the zoo. Coaches Mason, Hope, Zoon, Alan, and Moose had all gotten together to watch game film of King High School. While that sounded like fun, I needed to get away from football for a couple of hours.

I suggested that we go to the Canal Walk that looped through downtown Indianapolis. I’d seen where you could go for a gondola ride or rent paddle boats. You could also rent bicycles and pedal cars, which looked like golf carts. Half our group decided on water transport, and the other half picked the pedal cars. Tracy told me I was to be part of the second group. I agreed because I could see the potential for getting wet with the first group and felt it a little too cold for that type of fun.

We rented a four-person rig. I ended up in the back with Pam, and my mom and Lacy sat in front. There were pedals in the front and back for everyone, but somehow it seemed I was the one who did all the pedaling. Dad joined Tom, Mary, and Tracy in another rig. We enjoyed a leisurely ride along the three-mile trek through downtown Indianapolis.

While our moms talked, Pam decided that she needed to catch up and make up for not talking to me for a couple of weeks. I leaned back in my seat and pedaled as her monologue washed over me. I found she’d taken hold of my hand. Holding her hand felt right. I gazed at my California surfer girl and imagined what our child would look like. He would be a gorgeous little boy if he shared our looks. I smiled at Pam, and she looked nervous.

“What?” she asked.

“I still like you,” I said.

She had always seemed to ask me that, and I wanted her to know that we’d be okay. She turned away and suddenly became quiet. I squeezed her hand.

“Look at me,” I said, and she turned to face me. A small teardrop trickled down her cheek.

I leaned towards her, she leaned into me, and we kissed. It wasn’t a kiss of passion but rather a kiss of love and friendship. If we were to have a baby together, we needed to put what had happened behind us. While I still wasn’t ready for a girlfriend, I was ready for Pam and me to be good friends. I guess that as we kissed, I quit pedaling because we’d stopped and both our moms had turned around to watch us. They both smiled, and I could see that they also had tears in their eyes.

Great! That’s all I needed, a bunch of crying women on my hands. Pam laid her head on my shoulder.

“I always knew you liked me.”

◊◊◊

When we returned to the hotel, it was time to go to the stadium. The Booster Club had arranged a buffet so we could eat before the game. I put on my headphones and started to listen to my rock music that psyched me up to play. They had a variety of food, so I could try to keep it healthy. There were salad, pasta, and fajita bars where you could make your own concoction. I made a big salad, then went to the fajita bar and added chicken and beef to top it.