Guts vs Glory (23 page)

We never talked about how much
money either one of us made; I just knew that he made a lot of money.  But once
I read about his new contract in the paper, it made sense why the starting
players didn’t play much during exhibition games.  Simply put, teams didn’t
want to lose any money by injuring their star players during scrimmages.  Once
the teams knew who their starters would be, it was up to the backup players to
play out the rest of the game.  The concept made sense when I was making $6,000
a week and was playing nearly half of the exhibition games.  It made less sense
as I was standing on the sidelines with Mike for most of the exhibition season.

Our annual roster announcements
were made a few days before the first exhibition game was set to kickoff.  For
the first game, I wasn’t surprised to hear the defensive line coach call my
name as a starter.  I figured that the defensive coach was going to do what he
did the previous year; give everybody a shot at starting.  In my first game, I
had a couple of good tackles before sitting out of the game for three
quarters.  Going into the second game, the defensive line coach declared me a
starter for yet a second straight game.  Surprised, I asked him why.  He told
me that he liked the way I had improved over the course of three seasons on the
Michigan Knights.  He had watched me come in as a center who barely made the
practice squad, and turn into a defensive end who helped take us to the
playoffs.  Because of my work, determination, ability to progress, and commitment
to the team, he wanted to give me a shot at starting during all of the
exhibition games, with the reminder that it was mine to lose.

I loved being a starter at first. 
I was treated with respect on the team, and had more confidence than I had
money.   But as the exhibition games went on, I was beginning to feel
disappointed.  I loved the game of football, but I loved playing it even more. Unfortunately,
I spent most of the exhibition games on the sidelines, where I had watched the
games as a backup for half of my football life.  I suddenly felt like I was
being punished for being a starter.  I wasn’t making that much money on the
team, so why couldn’t I go out there and hit somebody?

By the third exhibition game, after
hearing me complain for the last time, Mike told me to snap out of it.  He
reminded me that the defensive line coach had told me this was mine to lose. 
If I survived the exhibition games and continued to play the only way I knew
how, I would have a career as a starter on my favorite professional football
team.  With less time on the playing field, I had less of an opportunity to
screw up.  All of the sudden, I loved the sidelines.

At the conclusion of the exhibition
games, I racked up 10 tackles in the short amount of playing time.  It was no
surprise that I made it to the 53 man roster.  What did surprise me was my
meeting with the general manager.  I didn’t know what to expect as I walked
into the boss’s office for the first time.  In high school, a meeting with the
principal was never good.  I had only met the general manager once, so I knew
the meeting was either really good, or really bad.  As I sat down, he got right
into it.  He told me he had good news and better news.  The good news was, as a
starter, he wanted to raise my pay to $1 million for the upcoming season.  The
better news was, if I continued to have a good season, they would give me a big
contract that would guarantee me a place on the team for a few years, while
making a lot more money, and would include a bonus just for signing the
contract.

I went on a spending spree the next
day.  I flew my parents, Christine’s parents, and even Mike’s parents in to
Lansing so that we could all celebrate together.  I even invited the other
three players that would be starting on the line with me.  We had a lot to
celebrate.  First of all, Mike and I would both be making a lot of money. 
Second of all, we would both be starting on our favorite team.  Third, and best
of all, after seven long years, the two of us would not only be playing on the
same team together; we would both be starting on a professional football team
that had a good chance to make it to the Showdown Game.

All of our parents stayed in town
to watch the Michigan Knight’s home opener.  It was a game that everybody was
excited about.  Mike and I were obviously excited, which in turn made our
families excited, but the rest of the state was excited too.  After declaring
the previous season a “rebuilding season”, we came back and made it to the
playoffs.  Then, we had a defense full of young players with very little
experience, and an offense fueled by only one running back.  This year, our
defense had gained a year of experience after finally shaping in to a solid
unit, while our offense gained an additional weapon.   After a season of no
expectations, who knew what we were capable of in a season with high
expectations?

As we rushed onto the field in our
silver and gold home uniforms, The Kingdom erupted.  Prior to that season, our
stadium was simply known as the place where the Michigan Knights played their
home games, and was named after a company that paid a lot of money to sponsor
us.  But the general manager wanted to add hype to the already-hyped season. 
He talked the sponsor into naming the arena “THE KINGDOM… presented by ‘Some
Company That Paid a Lot of Money’.  He then spent a lot of money on changing
the interior so that it looked like we were battling our opponents in a
jousting arena during the Renaissance Era.  They even served turkey legs
without silverware, just like they would at a Medieval Times restaurant.

With the team’s high expectations,
a solid defense, a heavily armored offense, and an arena disguised as an event
known for its beheadings, the anticipation for kickoff was intense.  Finally, as
the ball was kicked into the end zone by our new kicker, numerous cameras
flashed and we were ready to go to work.  Since our opponent had the ball
first, I would waste no time as a starter.  The very first play of the season
would end with a tackle behind the line of scrimmage, compliments of yours
truly.  After stopping the offense from gaining 10 yards, it was our turn with
the ball.  After Mike broke free for a 75-yard dash, the game broke open. 
Granted, we were playing the worst team in the league, we were still more than
happy to take the 28-point win.

As we ran off the field, we were overwhelmed
by sports reporters.  I was used to them on the field, I was used to them
talking to Mike, but I was not used to them talking to me.  They really had no
idea who I was, or where I came from, but they were impressed with my 4 sacks
and 10 tackles.  I knew I wouldn’t have that kind of game every time, but I was
more than willing to soak in the 15 minutes of fame while it lasted.  By the
end of the day, they predicted I would break the record in tackles by defensive
linemen, while Mike would break 2,000 yards. He was already 1,700 yards away
from it.

My 15 minutes of fame stretched
into a week.  After the game, I was surrounded by local media.  By the end of
the week, I was talking to national media.  They were really interested in my
earth-shattering game, but they were even more interested in the story of how
Mike and I began together as high school nobodies, and turned into gridiron
heroes for the Michigan Knights.  Some of the stations briefly mentioned us,
while others had special segments dedicated to us.  Even in practice, we had
members of the media waiting for us.  I didn’t let it interfere with my
practices, though; if anything, I used the attention to enhance my practices. 
If they were only there for my high-caliber playing ability, I would have to
maintain that ability in order to stay in the media.

Practice was no different as a
starter than it was as a backup.  I was treated the same during practices, and
had to run the same plays.  I knew that in practice, everyone was expected to
perform at starting-level performance, even those on the practice squad, so
that any one player could be used during any play of any game.  Although I was
held to higher expectations as a starter, I had already kept myself to those
higher expectations during the previous three seasons on the team.

Ready for another home game after a
hard week of practice, we ran onto the field.  The atmosphere was even more
electric.  The team was led onto the field by two white horses ridden by two
black knights.  The game started just like the first one did; we kept the other
team from scoring and countered with a score of our own.  Even our new kicker
was looking good after not missing a single extra point or a field goal.  Even
though we won the game, our stats weren’t quite what they were the previous
game.  Mike only came up with 100 yards, while I managed to tackle the ball
carrier 4 times.  Both impressive statistics, but not when compared to our
numbers from the first week.

I anticipated another flock of
sports reporters as we headed into the locker room after the game.  However,
the only cameras I saw were the ones surrounding our new kicker.  After we
changed into our street clothes, I was still expecting reporters to be waiting
for us outside the locker room, but again, they were nowhere to be found. 
After going through most of the week without seeing the media, Mike finally
explained why.  When an athlete had an out-of-this-world game, the media was
all over them; but when the athlete finally came back down to earth, the
cameras were gone.

The media left us alone for most of
the season, but caught right back up with us at our last game of the season. 
Going into that game, I had been averaging 4 tackles per game and was leading
all defensive linemen in the league.  Meanwhile, Mike was closing in on two
major milestones.  The first was touchdowns in a season; he only needed 2 more
touchdowns to break the league record.  The second milestone was yards.  He was
less than 60 yards away from being 1 of 5 players ever to rush for over 2,000
yards in a season.  We were nearly guaranteed success because we were playing the
South Dakota Mountaineers, the team that we embarrassed in week one.

After the game, we were again
surrounded by cameras and reporters.  As predicted, Mike had broken the season
record with 30 touchdowns, while entering the 2,000-yard club.  Meanwhile, I
recorded 5 tackles that game, which gave me the most tackles as a defensive
lineman in the professional league.  Oh, and by the way, we also helped our
team win the division for the first time in nearly two decades.

One benefit of having the second
best record in our conference was that we were given the first week off, while
the other four teams played the first round.  Our team, and the team with the
best record in the conference, would play the two winners from round one.  If
we won that game in round two, we moved on to play the remaining team in round
three.  A win there would put us in the Professional Football League’s Showdown
Game against the round three winner from the other conference in our league. 
So, not only did we get an extra week to prepare and heal, but we were also one
round closer to being champions.

After their near-upset in round
one, we were faced with the Florida Pythons in round two.  I was very familiar
with the Pythons, as they were the team that gave me my first professional
football touchdown.  I also remembered them as the team that had already been
in the playoffs the previous season and were used to winning.  We were riding
the momentum of one of our best seasons, but they were riding the momentum of
five consecutive successful seasons.  None of that really mattered.  All we had
to do was beat them once to eliminate them from the playoffs.

We hit them hard with our running
back, and followed that up with our wide receiver.  They were able to counter
with a wide receiver of their own, and a defense that couldn’t be beat.  At
halftime, we heard something new.  We were down by 10 points while in the
locker room and were soon listening to a halftime pep-talk delivered by one of
the players.  It was the first time I had heard a locker room speech as a pro
football player, but it was definitely needed.  We were reminded of how far we
had come and how quickly we had turned around.  We should’ve been proud to be
where we were at, but we should not be willing to simply accept the loss.  He
told us that we could, as a team, beat them and take this game.  For the first
time I could remember, Mike was able to inspire others by his words, not just
by his running ability.

We needed the speech but it didn’t
seem to make a difference; their lead only got bigger and they won the game. 
However, like Mike said, we had the right to be proud just for making it to the
second round of the playoffs.  As the rounds went on, we watched the tournament
from home.  For the second season in a row, we lost to a team that ended up as
the season champion.  I guess there wasn’t much shame in that.  At least it
gave us a new goal for the following year.

A few days before the Showdown
Game, two major announcements were made.  The first regarded the player of the
year awards.  Those awards were given to the best offensive player, the best
defensive player, the best rookie, and the best overall player from that given
season.  With his phenomenal performance with the ball, Mike was given the
Offensive Player of the Year and the League MVP award.  With my incredible
amount of tackles, I was given the Defensive Player of the Year Award.  The
second announcement was that we had both been selected as players on the Professional
Football League’s All-Star Game roster.

I was married to the love of my
life, who gave me the second love of my life, James.  I was able to make a lot
of money while I played the sport I loved so much, with the friend I grew up
with.  I had the best season of my life, and was getting ready for the biggest
contract of my life.  And if that wasn’t enough, we were getting ready to play
on one of the biggest stages in professional  football with some of the biggest
names in the game.  Mike and I were now considered all-stars.

The Professional Football League’s
All-Star Game was similar to the Major College Football Committee’s first and
second-team selections, however, the two teams actually played each other in
the pros.  We were both selected to the first team, so we would be playing
football on our fourth different team together .  A week after the Showdown Game,
we were all flown out to sunny California with our families to partake in the week-long
festivities.

We didn’t have a team plane, but
the three of us, with James in tow, flew to the Pacific Ocean in first class. 
When we landed, we were given a day to ourselves so that we could be tourists
in the state.  We ended the day on the beach watching the sunset.  For
Christine and I, after having watched the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean on
our honeymoon, we were able to watch the sun go down over the Pacific Ocean. 
For Mike and I, we were watching the sun set that day on the achievement of a
life-time goal.  Watching the sun slowly settle into that big body of water for
us was like closing the book on our seven year goal.  Even though we still had
a lot of football life ahead of us, we took the time to appreciate the journey
we had endured.

The next morning was the first day
of practice for the All-Star Game.  As much as we hated practice, that one was
by far the best.  We were playing football with legends.  The kid in me wanted
to run right up to players and ask for their autographs; the adult in me did. 
I didn’t feel too bad, as I wasn’t the only one to fill a football with
autographs.  In fact, every player was given their own football for just that
purpose.  We spent the rest of the day walking through the plays; of course we
took numerous breaks to consume catered meals and sign autographs for people
not on the playing field.

We practiced for two more days
until it was game day.  The All-Star Game was outside, so we were able to play
right next to the ocean.  The air was salty, warm, and full of excitement. 
When the game started, all the players seemed to have fun.  Since it wasn’t a
real game, the score didn’t matter much.  The game was merely a celebration of
being selected as an all-star and having fun was highly encouraged.  I still
wanted to take the opportunity to show the voters why I deserved to be on the
first-team, though.  When the ball was snapped, I pushed the offensive tackle
from Arkansas out of my way.  Within seconds, I was facemask-to-facemask with
the quarterback from Anchorage.  As we lied on the turf together, I had massive
amounts of adrenaline flowing through my body after having earned my first sack
as a Professional Football League All-Star.  The adrenaline was quickly
replaced by giddiness as reality set in and I was now nose-to-nose with one of
the best quarterbacks of all times.  I went from trash talking, to speechless,
in less time than it took me to get past the lineman from Arkansas.

A few hours later, the game was
over.  I don’t remember who won that game, but I do remember how much fun we
had.  We hung out with a bunch of the players at the hotel that night, and flew
home the next day.  With the season officially over, we again had a few months
to enjoy the off-season until we had to get ready for that next year.  After
the two of us winning the Offensive Player of the Year, the Defensive Player of
the Year, the league’s MVP, making it to an all-star game, going to the
playoffs, breaking records, and leading the league in stats, who knew what the
following season would bring?