And I had lit up the high school and college game doing it.
That meant when I found out I would be a New England Patriot, I didn’t really know anything about them, and I had done a little bit of research on the way here.
The guy was tall, a couple inches taller than me. Built, like he knew his way around a gym, but that was every football player, though some did have a habit of arriving to training camp 30-40 pounds overweight. Not this guy.
This guy was Lance Parker, the quarterback of the New England Patriots. He had a reputation for being a choir boy.
“Hey!” He smiled as he dropped his bag and came over to me. “I’m Lance Parker. You must be Drake Rollins.”
I stood up, a little surprised he knew my name at first, but I regained my composure quick. “Yeah, man, Drake Rollins. Good to meet you.”
“Looks like we’re gonna be roommates.” Lance turned around and set his bag on his bed.
“Yeah? You sure there wasn’t some mixup with the room assignments?”
Lance laughed. “No, man, nothing like that. Coach Armstrong has a weird way of doing things. This is only my second year, but I learned that in the first week last year. Expect the unexpected around here.”
“Yeah?” Last year Lance had gone nearly undrafted, taken in like the sixth round or something. He had been a backup his first year, but after last season, the team had shipped the starter out of town for some draft picks, betting it all on Lance to take over. They had drafted a new backup in the 4th or 5th round, I thought.
Lance unzipped his bag and started unloading things, still turned away from me. “It’s not just a way of doing things around here, it’s a way of life.” He put some things away in one of the drawers on the end table next to his bed and sat down. “You’ll find out about it soon enough,” he said with a grin.
“Any tips? I want to make a good impression, make sure I get to stick around a while.”
“Good man. Trouble is, the tips are just cliches by this point, stuff I’m sure you’ve heard your entire life. Try your hardest, try and get better each day, and don’t sweat the small stuff.”
“You’re right, I have heard that stuff all before.”
Lance nodded. “It’s all true, and now even more so. You’re still the same, it’s just that now the competition is a lot better. Know how many college football players there are?”
“Somewhere north of 10,000.”
“Yup, and that’s just in Division 1. How many players are there in the pros?”
I did the math really quick. “About 1700.”
Lance smiled. “Very close. 1696 to be precise, not including practice squads. What does that tell you?”
I thought about it for a second. “It tells you most college players don’t make it here. Only the best of the best even get a shot.”
“Exactly. It’s not guaranteed. If you screw up here, there are any number of other players who will climb over you to get your spot.”
“That’s pretty dark, man, how do you deal with it?”
Lance’s face clouded up, like he was thinking really hard. “Not well,” was all he said.
Suddenly the room had gotten a little still, and the air was heavy. I figured I’d change the subject and keep things light, no sense in finding out your roommate’s dark secrets in the first 10 minutes. “What’s the deal with having guests here?”
“Guests?”
“Yeah, you know, having some girls over. Gotta have fun in the evenings and weekends, yeah?” I smiled.
Lance did not. “This isn’t a frat house, Drake. We’re not here to party.”
“I know, I know, but how do you all let off some steam? You know, relax?”
“I go to the gym for that. I watch film, work on my mechanics.”
So Lance Parker really was the football-playing robot I had heard about. And he was my roommate.
Shit.
It suddenly occurred to me that Lance Parker was not someone I could think of as a friend. Yeah, we were living together for a little while, but that didn’t mean we were brothers or anything. Not yet. I had to watch myself around him, or he could go blabbing to Coach Armstrong and get me kicked off the team faster than I could figure out what was happening.
I had to be careful. No one was on my side but me, not until I had shown them what I could do and just how valuable I was to the team.
“Can I give you a little piece of advice?”
“Sure, man.”
“Something I wish someone had told me when I got here. Keep your eyes and ears open. Yeah, this is a cutthroat business, but we’re all here for the same reason.”
Yeah, I’m here to make the team, get a huge contract, and have that money roll in so I can live the good life.
When I didn’t say anything, Lance continued. “And that’s to win a championship for New England. That’s the only thing that matters around here.”