"Excuse me?" the interviewer said, confused.
"Kate’s a painter. And a very good one. So it’s time for me to go be the adoring boyfriend and goo-goo at her painting," Chad laughed, then hurried off.
BC plowed through the rest of their schedule. Clemson, Maryland, Duke, and Georgia Tech were quickly dispatched. That put them in the ACC championship game against their traditional nemesis, Miami.
Miami was also undefeated. They were ranked first in the country. BC was third. The winner of the ACC championship would surely head towards the national championship game, which this year was the Orange Bowl. Second-ranked (and also undefeated) Michigan awaited them.
The ACC championship was held the first Saturday in December, in Charlotte, NC.
ABC, which was televising the game, had Chad sit for an interview a few days before, to be played during the pre-game show. He answered the standard questions. Then, because Kate had become part of ‘the story’, they called her over at the very end. She sat next to Chad.
"Kate, do you have an inspirational pep talk for Chad?"
"Hmm, let’s see," Kate said with a twinkle in her eye. "We live in Boston. It’s 12 degrees there. If BC wins this game, I get to spend New Year’s in Florida." She turned to Chad. "Sweetie? Here’s your pep talk. Win-or die!" Then she got up off the couch and sauntered out of camera range.
Chad cracked up laughing to the interviewer. "And I’m supposed to be worried about Miami’s defensive line when I live with her?"
The game started out as a disaster for BC. Miami scored on their first possession. Then a BC running back fumbled, and Miami scored again. By the end of the first half, it was 17-0.
Then they got it in gear. Chad went to work and quickly drove down for a touchdown. He got them another one before halftime. Miami was only able to get a field goal in between. The halftime score was 20-14, Miami.
BC got the ball to begin the second half, but was thwarted. Miami came back with another field goal to take a 23-14 lead. BC answered, and with a touchdown, to make it 23-21. Then the teams traded touchdowns, making the score 30-28 Miami. With three minutes left in the game, Miami was trying to score the clinching touchdown, but were stopped. They had to settle for another field goal. They led 33-28, with 3 minutes left.
"OK, boys, more than enough time," Chad said as he entered the huddle. And he was right. He steadily and efficiently led BC down the field, bit by bit, in the remaining time. And, with 10 seconds left, he threw a perfect pass to his best friend Chad in the endzone. Once again Chad had lived up to the nickname he had picked up, Comeback Kozak. BC won, 35-33, and would be headed to the Orange Bowl to play for their very first national championship.
"Miami in January. Gotta love it," Kate said to Chad with a grin after the game.
"Better than Quebec City in February, though we’ll be there, too!"
THE FINAL TUNE UP (Chapter 162)
A week and a half before Christmas, the leading lights of the figure skating community landed in Berlin for the Grand Prix finals.
Sophie and Warren were excited. Because this was their last year in skating, they were trying to savor everything. And they’d never been to Berlin, so this was an opportunity to check out a new city. They arrived early, with Betsy in tow, and did copious sightseeing. They checked out the Brandenberg Gate and strolled down the Unter Den Linden. They checked out the Berlin Wall Museum and Checkpoint Charlie. They took a tour of the Reichstag.
"This is possibly the best thing about being a skater," Warren said. "We’ve seen so many places. It might be the part I miss the most."
"Now we’ll just have to do it as tourists," Sophie laughed.
"Maybe, maybe not," Warren said. "I’ve been thinking about my career."
"How so?"
"I was thinking about what the doc that operated on my knee said to me. About becoming an orthopedic surgeon with a specialty in sports medicine, instead of a pediatrician. He says he still works with mostly kids and teenagers. And it’d give me a way to stay connected with sports."
"You mean like volunteering to be the doctor at competitions, stuff like that?" Sophie said.
"Exactly," Warren said. "I have time to think about it, but I’m seriously thinking about it."
"That would be cool, actually. You know how I feel-whatever you want to do. But, hey, you are an athlete. You know how an athlete’s body works. I think you’d be dynamite at it."
"Yeah. And it’d be fun to go more places."
"We’ve seen a lot, haven’t we?" Sophie said. "I mean, we’ve been all over the US and Canada, but, even outside of that, we’ve seen a lot."
"Yeah. Paris, London, Moscow, now Berlin. We’ve seen Switzerland and Norway."
"Beijing. Nagano, Japan. Don’t forget Amsterdam," Sophie grinned.
"How could I forget Amsterdam?" Warren laughed. "And if we go to Worlds this year, we’ll get to see Budapest."
"That’s the best reason for going to Worlds," Sophia laughed.
The schedule for the Grand Prix Final was thus: the short programs (or original dance) on Thursday; the first free program on Friday; the second free program on Saturday. The second free, which was the current year’s free, was worth half the score. The original program and the other free were worth one fourth each.
Since there are two OD’s in ice dancing now, one would be drawn for the Final. Warren and Sophia were kind of hoping to rip off their rock and roll OD, but it was the quickstep that was drawn. That was OK, too, they were confident in that.
The order of skaters was the same as the Olympics: Pairs, Men, Dance, then Ladies. So, the pairs started out with their short program. The battle seemed to be between Andrea and Brett and the Canadian champs, Sellers and Poulin. However, at least in the short program, that battle was pre-empted, as both the top teams had problems. The leaders after the short program were the Czechs, Trogonickova and Kepul, who had finished fourth at last years’ Worlds. Second were the young Russian pair of Yaskovarina and Chebinskiy. Andrea and Brett were third, Sellers and Poulin fourth. The defending world bronze medallists, Yin and Li of China, plummeted to sixth after major difficulties.
No surprises in the men. Three-time World Champion Lavrenti Bladanikov won, with Tom in second.
Then it was time for Warren and Sophia, who romped. Their Scott Joplin quickstep was almost unbeatable when skated clean-and skate it clean they did. The big surprise was the Brits beating the Canadians for second; and Amy and Ryan beating the Russians for fourth.
Also no surprise in the Ladies: Liz first, Allison second, the rest fighting for third.
The first free skate was the next night. This was to be the ‘second’ free skate, the one not from this year.
Andrea and Brett got a bit more on track, but finished behind Yaskovarina and Chebinskiy. The Czechs fell to third-and Sellers and Poulin, having major problems, were fourth again. The men went right to form.
Warren and Sophia reprised their Bruce Springsteen free dance from last year, which they had only skated once and not at their best. They wanted to perform it right one time. They did, it was excellent, but it placed behind the Canadians just as it had last year. This phase of the competition was the most difficult for Amy and Ryan, since they really didn’t have a second free dance, being a new team. They cobbled something together, but finished sixth and last.
The big shock was in the ladies’, where Liz Cushman had the worst skate in about five years, and finished all the way back in fifth. She was still second overall, but so far behind she’d need help to defeat the leader-a completely stunned Allison Bowman. And Liz was only slightly ahead of a three-way tie for third place.
Andrea and Brett skated the final free program well, but not perfectly, and lost to the Czechs, who skated a wonderful, inspired program. The Canadians managed to pull themselves together somewhat and finish third in the final three, but fourth overall.
The big upset came in Men’s, where Tom Bellamy, for the first time in his career, outskated Lavrenti Bladanikov to win the final. Bladanikov was excellent, but Tom skated the performance of his career and eked out a deserving victory. Kristin went nuts in the stands, and it was a good boost of confidence for Tom going into the Olympics.