She took off to help me. Tracy was there so I waved her over. She was talking to a man in a Northwestern polo shirt. She came over.
“Can you act as MC and run the press conference?” I asked her.
She gave me a big smile. I think I made her day.
“Of course.”
I told her who all was going to be on stage, and to save me for last so the crazy sports lady didn’t leave after I talked. There were a couple of print-media types and a handful of bloggers setting up. This was the first time we’d talked to the press after the game this year. You could tell when you were starting to be a story by who showed up. The switch in the offense, and me getting well, had started to bring the local guys out. If I could put a few more games together like tonight, we’d start seeing the major-market reporters.
Tracy went up and did her bit. She hadn’t missed a beat from last year. She was a natural in front of the camera, and the sports guys loved her. Alan had given her the stats for the game, and I think the sports reporters asked her more questions than the rest of us. It finally got to me, and the reporter I was dreading kicked off the festivities.
“Is it true that Lincoln High is supplying its athletes with performance-enhancing drugs?” she asked.
I had to be careful because this was being taped. Tracy stepped in front of Coach Hope to keep him from coming to the mic. I should have done my usual dance where I ignore the question and say what I wanted to. She had hit a nerve tonight and I was pissed, exactly what she was looking for.
“No,” I started. The press hates one-word answers. They make terrible sound bites. “Before we continue this interview, I’m going to get something off my chest. I really don’t know where you come up with this crap.”
Tracy smacked me in the back of the head. I knew at that moment I needed to be very careful about what I said next. This was made for TV and the Internet. I had cussed and gotten whacked for it.
“I guess I’m not supposed to speak my mind; but for once, I’m going to. I thought reporters were supposed to report the story. It’s obvious that’s not what you do. Your focus is on you. You want to sensationalize everything so that you can move on to a bigger market. I personally look forward to the day when you’re gone, and we can talk sports, not made-up stuff that gets you sound bites.”
She had gone beet red. At first, there was dead silence; then people started to clap. This was our home turf, after all. The cameraman winked at me. He turned off his camera so she couldn’t follow up. The print reporters wanted examples of what she’d done in the past. I teased them about being lazy. I wasn’t going down that rabbit hole.
Jeff Delahey got us back on track and we talked sports. The sports gal got some comments on the way out from our supporters. Jeff stopped me before joining my date in the banquet room.
“You are by far my favorite player to cover. I have so much to work with for my Sunday article that I should be paying you,” he told me.
“Jeff, you’re as bad as she is. You just want to make a splash with your readers.”
“Heck yes! By Monday evening, I bet she’s no longer on the air,” he said.
“Why? They know what she is, and they’ve kept her on until now.”
“We’ll see,” he said, like he knew something I didn’t.
I just shrugged and went to ‘bump’ into the recruiters that were here tonight. If I worked the whole room, I figured it wasn’t blatant. I’d told Tracy to tell them to contact Bo Harrington since he agreed to be my main contact for recruiting. He was sending everything to Tracy so she could keep track of it.
Northwestern wanted me to make an unofficial visit with all my guys. Bill was scheduled to make an official visit next Saturday. They were playing Nebraska for homecoming. When I ‘bumped’ into their guy, I told him that we would probably be there. I inquired where I might get tickets. He said he’d talk to Bo once we figured out how many we needed.
I FINALLY GOT TO THE banquet room and found Mona with all the varsity cheerleaders. When I came up to the group, she gave me a kiss. That got all their attention. We hadn’t exactly advertised that we were going out tonight. I was surprised my freshmen hadn’t spilled the beans.
I was a little taken aback when Reese Daniel, who was one of the groups I didn’t like all that much, got in my face.
“Where’s your school spirit? I hear you haven’t signed up for the Band Auction tomorrow.”
“It might have something to do with them not asking me,” I shot back. “Plus, do you remember last year’s auction? It kind of sucked. Why would I want to go through that again?”
Sammie Goudy, whom I did like, backed up Reese.
“Beth asked us to help the band recruit bachelors. She said you’d do it.”
I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head.
“Okay, but if no one bids on me, I’ll come looking for you all.”
“Don’t worry about it. Someone will bid on you,” Tracy assured me.
Where had I heard that before? They all laughed at me. I was contemplating telling them ‘no’ when Mona got smart and took me over to the pizza to distract me. I knew how much something like this cost, and I found Mike and his parents. I gave Mr. Herndon a couple of large bills to help cover the bill. He tried to give it back, but I could see he was grateful. I made sure a couple of the guys saw me do it, and they started coming up with money as well.
I took Mike aside and told him to get Jim, Wolf, Tim, Jake, Ed and their parents together if they were here. We took over a section of the banquet room.
“Bill Callaway is making his official visit to Northwestern next weekend. They’re playing Nebraska for homecoming, and I was thinking about us all going up for the weekend. Drive up Saturday morning and then come back Sunday. If we all want to play together in college, we need to get serious about looking at some colleges,” I said.
“Are you just asking the boys, or can parents come?” asked Ed’s dad.
“I would love for everyone to go and see the campus. The boys may want to go out and play Saturday night,” I warned them. “I just need to know how many are going so we can get the tickets. I’ll pay for them up front, but you need to pay me back. On unofficial visits, you have to pay for everything. I can also see about getting a block of rooms for the night.”
I would later learn that was true as far as paying for the trip, but the university could give a potential recruit and his family three tickets to the game on an unofficial visit.
“You might have to find a hotel outside of Evanston at this late date. I’m a little concerned about you guys driving if you go out Saturday night,” Mrs. Tams, Wolf’s mom, said.
“I’ll bring a van and drive. I don’t drink,” I said.
“That’s true. David takes his conditioning seriously,” Mike told the parents.
After everyone agreed they wanted to go, I took Wolf’s parents aside and talked to them. It looked like most of the parents were going, too, but I knew money was tight, and they hadn’t committed.
“I don’t want to make this awkward, but are you worried about the cost of this trip?” I asked.
They both looked at each other, and then Mr. Tams nodded. He had just gotten back to work and he was underemployed, as were so many others, and money was still an issue in the Tams household.
“If you wouldn’t be offended, I would like to invite you all to come as my guests. Wolf and I are good friends, and I wouldn’t want him to miss out. I also know he relies on you for guidance. I would like for you both to go next weekend.”
“I don’t know if we can do that. I’d hate to feel indebted more than we already are,” Mr. Tams told me. “We know that you played a big part in helping Wolf go to Prom.”