I AM FOOTBALL
Lucas Carrington
EACH SPRING BROUGHT hope for National Football League teams, especially for those that had poor win-loss records in the previous season.
The NFL draft was an opportunity for the organizations to improve their roster by adding those college players considered to be the most talented in the world.
I was among those.
It was crazy to think the winner of the Super Bowl in 2019, 2020 or even 2030 could very well be determined by the decisions a bunch of executives were making right now.
This year’s draft was about to commence, and trying to accurately predict the outcome was a nearly impossible feat for anyone. The true fans, the players, and even the board had a knack for getting it wrong every time.
Nothing was guaranteed.
It was just before 8 p.m., and I was sitting in front of the television staring at the outdoor theater steps that led to Philadelphia’s Art Museum on the screen. Those were the very same steps from the movie Rocky, where Sylvester Stallone famously triumphed at the top.
I knew it was my turn.
An odd excitement flowed through my veins as soon as the sign above the stage began flashing, “THE FUTURE IS NOW.”
With my elbows resting on my thighs, I held my breath when the football commissioner took the podium, and then, along with everyone else, I booed him.
It was tradition.
Once the crowd settled down, the commissioner made his annual speech, and then the draft was on. Since the order of player selection was determined by the reverse order in which the teams ranked at the end of the previous season, the suits predicted I would be the final pick.
I was in for a long night.
Because of the importance of the position I played, there was no doubt I would be selected as a second-string quarterback. It was cool. All the teams in the league currently had capable quarterbacks, and I knew this going in.
If things went according to plan, and I was selected last, that would mean ending up with New England.
Chowder and champions, baby, chowder and champions.
Grooming under their current elite quarterback wouldn’t be a cakewalk, but I was looking forward to the challenge. Really, really, looking forward to it . . . that, and getting the hell out of Chicago.
The buzzer sounded. Excitement was in the air. Every team had a table set up in the venue and the ten-minute clock had begun to tick for the 49ers.
Time seemed to pass so slowly. Impatient. Anxious. Unable to interact with anyone in the room, I slouched back on the sofa and took a large gulp from my glass of water before setting it down on the table beside me.
Cutting it close to the wire, the 49ers announced their pick, and the tight end selected was as predicted. This had me gripping my knees tightly with my sweaty palms in anticipation.
Things were going according to plan.
The clock was just about to be reset, but this didn’t stop the CNN sportscaster from interrupting with breaking news.
“Earlier today, Quarterback Dan Bailey of the Chicago Bears was let go from his contract for misconduct. Without him, it only makes sense that Jack Whitney abandon his original pick and draft someone to take Dan’s place—”
I thought that was both an appropriate and unlikely assumption, since the Chicago Bears were next up for their draft selection, and they had little time to work any magic.
All of a sudden my cell phone rang. When I picked it up, the chatter in the room fell to a nervous hush. Not knowing if New England was calling me early or if it was going to be a crazy long lost friend, I answered with a simple, “Carrington here.”
A voice came through the line loud and clear. “Lucas, this is Terrance Hines.”
My entire body went cold.
No!
No!
No!
I wanted to hang up. Pretend I’d never answered. Change my fucking name. “Yes, sir,” I managed to say to the General Manager, but he was not the GM for New England.
“Lucas, how would you like to play football for your hometown?” he asked.
My world stopped spinning.
Playing ball for a living and getting the hell out of the city I’d grown up in had not only been my dream, it had been all I’d been thinking about for years.
Growing up below the poverty line on the south side of Chicago, I’d spent all of my time training and staying out of trouble—mostly. I knew what it took to land the position you coveted, and I undertook the challenges, not once, but over, and over, and over again.
Yet it would seem, regardless of the amount of blood, sweat, and tears I had put into my future, luck would always be the dominating factor.
Luck.
One word.
Luck.
Four letters.
It turned out, after everything I’d put into football, I didn’t have a fucking ounce of it. The worst part—I never saw it coming.
In a total state of shock, I sat with my mouth open wide and tried to figure out how the hell this had happened. It made no sense—the cards had been stacked in my favor in so many ways, or so I had been told.
Delusional as it was, I thought tonight was my time to rule the world.
Fuck, had I been wrong.
I ran a hand through my hair and tuned out the voice speaking to me in order to focus. Refocus. Figure things out.
The quarterback was considered the leader of the offense, and was responsible for calling the plays in the huddle.
It was a prime position.
An important one.
It was my position.
Just not on the team I wanted to be it on. It looked like there wasn’t going to be a Boston tea party, after all.
Fuck!
“Lucas,” I heard, but didn’t answer.
I stared blankly ahead.
“Lucas, are you still on the line?”
While I remained in a state of shock, my brother, Nick did not. He was ten years older than me and had been more like a father to me than my own. He was also close enough to hear the conversation taking place.
When he lightly slapped me across the face to wake me up, I snarled at him. He ignored me and mouthed, “Say yes.”
A cold sweat coated my forehead, my skin started to prickle, and my balls drew up tight when I realized that I had to give an answer.
That was when my gaze slid over to my old man. He was sitting in a chair with a beer in his hand. I didn’t want him here, but Nick insisted on flying him up from Florida.
The diehard Bears fan had a smile on his face, and just because of that I wanted to say no.
Looking over at him, everything in me screamed, say no. Fuck no. I needed to get out of this town. But I knew if I said no, there was a very real possibility I would never go pro. More than likely the Bears had worked something out with the Patriots, and I was no longer the Patriots’ number one pick.
It happened all the time.
Nick started nodding his head, and when that didn’t work, he started nodding my head for me, and mouthing, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
“Son, are you there?” Mr. Hines said once again.
I was choked up, just not for the reason he might think I was. “Yes, sir, I am.”
Just then someone else came on the line. “Lucas, this is Jack Whitney. We’ve got a group of people here who are really excited about you, and I’m one of them.”
The head coach.
Fuck me.
The applause in the background.
Fuck me.
With him on the line, I dropped my head and squeezed the bridge of my nose. I don’t think I was breathing, but somehow I found the breath to recite what I had rehearsed to say to the Patriots. “It would be an honor to be a member of your team. I can’t wait for training camp. I’m going to give it all I’ve got, sir. You won’t regret this.”
Or I said something like that.
Honestly, it was all a blur.
After blinking a few times, I allowed my gaze to rise. When it landed on my brother, there were tears welling in his eyes.
Tears.
He never fucking cried. And with the smile on his face, I knew they were tears of joy. In those tears I could see all the pride, all the joy, and I could remember all the years of him giving up everything for me so I could end up where I had right now.
I.
Was.
Going.
Pro.
It was my dream . . . and I was about to start living it.
That would be what mattered to him.
Still, the Bears.
The fucking Bears.
A quick glance at the television was all I needed to prove this wasn’t a nightmare. Up on the screen were my picture and stats with the Bears name flashing under it. The announcer at the podium said, “With the second pick in this year’s NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears select quarterback, Lucas Carrington.”
There was no going up on stage. I wasn’t there. I’d opted to stay home and be with my brother and his family.
I glanced down on the floor where the Patriots’ jersey and hat were neatly folded. Those were going in the trash.
In some twisted turn of fate, I was going to be a Chicago Bear. It was a team I didn’t want to be on, one I didn’t even like, and I would be living in a city I didn’t want to stay in, but I’d be playing professional football.
Talk about bitter fucking sweet.