Soapy
04-30-2013, 04:36 PM
“Let me tell you something, we need to forget about all this god damn quarterback call! All you need to know is that Gerard Wicks is the next big thing! I've done seen this kid play since he was about eight years old and he's the truth! Best running back I've seen around here since Hershel was here. Now listen, we got a good defense with Price and Brown and you know coach Lara --"
John leaned in and turned the radio off, tired of hearing callers talk about us.
"Don't you got Section 80 in here?" asked David as he looked through my CD booklet.
"It's in the radio," replied Jayon as he pressed the eject button, before pushing the CD back in.
"Gather around....I'm glad everybody came out tonight...."
"Don't y'all ever get tired of Kendrick?" complained John as he buried his head back into his cell phone.
"You really don't care that they're badmouthing you on the radio D.J.?"
"Not really," I shrugged, "We're a run first team and I don't have have any game time. I don't expect them to say anything good about me,"
"Fuck that D.J. You're dad was a big time ballplayer at Poly, everyone knows you're brother was putting in mad work back in the days with Vaughn and you completed every pass in the spring game. It's about damn time people gave you some respect,"
"I'm a two year clip holder and I can't even beat out two damn underclassmen for the job"
"Bruh, believe me when I tell you this, you're going to start. Coach might start out with two or three quarterbacks, but you're sure as hell beating out Tai and my money is you against E.J.," said Jayon as he dapped me up.
I wish I had the same confidence that Jay had in me. I had been on Varsity for the past two years and had yet to even touch the field. Even when we were blowing out teams out, coach would look straight past me and grab the next available signal caller.
It didn't bother me much to be honest. When we won the Section Championship and I rocked the championship shirt and the hat, people around the town didn't know I was just recording the plays being called in that game. They just knew I was on the championship team and a Long Beach Poly player.
I wish I could say the same for my father. Seeing me on the sidelines, just following coach with my pen and clipboard, it irked him in every imaginable way. At first he tried to hide it, realizing that I was just a sophomore and lucky to be on varsity. As the year went on and I became a junior and it was still the same song, and he let his frustration show. Whether it was confronting coach in the parking lot or yelling at me from the bleachers during practice, he let the world know that his son wasn't going to be a backup forever.
I wasn't sure if I was going to be half the player he or my brother J.J. were. They had the drive, the will. I wasn't sure if I had it. I think coach saw that too. Pops and J.J. viewed the game as more then just a game, something that they honored respected. To me, it was just a game that was fun sometimes. I once told my brother that I didn't think I loved football. He simply smiled and told me that I loved football, and I just didn't know it yet.
John leaned in and turned the radio off, tired of hearing callers talk about us.
"Don't you got Section 80 in here?" asked David as he looked through my CD booklet.
"It's in the radio," replied Jayon as he pressed the eject button, before pushing the CD back in.
"Gather around....I'm glad everybody came out tonight...."
"Don't y'all ever get tired of Kendrick?" complained John as he buried his head back into his cell phone.
"You really don't care that they're badmouthing you on the radio D.J.?"
"Not really," I shrugged, "We're a run first team and I don't have have any game time. I don't expect them to say anything good about me,"
"Fuck that D.J. You're dad was a big time ballplayer at Poly, everyone knows you're brother was putting in mad work back in the days with Vaughn and you completed every pass in the spring game. It's about damn time people gave you some respect,"
"I'm a two year clip holder and I can't even beat out two damn underclassmen for the job"
"Bruh, believe me when I tell you this, you're going to start. Coach might start out with two or three quarterbacks, but you're sure as hell beating out Tai and my money is you against E.J.," said Jayon as he dapped me up.
I wish I had the same confidence that Jay had in me. I had been on Varsity for the past two years and had yet to even touch the field. Even when we were blowing out teams out, coach would look straight past me and grab the next available signal caller.
It didn't bother me much to be honest. When we won the Section Championship and I rocked the championship shirt and the hat, people around the town didn't know I was just recording the plays being called in that game. They just knew I was on the championship team and a Long Beach Poly player.
I wish I could say the same for my father. Seeing me on the sidelines, just following coach with my pen and clipboard, it irked him in every imaginable way. At first he tried to hide it, realizing that I was just a sophomore and lucky to be on varsity. As the year went on and I became a junior and it was still the same song, and he let his frustration show. Whether it was confronting coach in the parking lot or yelling at me from the bleachers during practice, he let the world know that his son wasn't going to be a backup forever.
I wasn't sure if I was going to be half the player he or my brother J.J. were. They had the drive, the will. I wasn't sure if I had it. I think coach saw that too. Pops and J.J. viewed the game as more then just a game, something that they honored respected. To me, it was just a game that was fun sometimes. I once told my brother that I didn't think I loved football. He simply smiled and told me that I loved football, and I just didn't know it yet.