Chapter 5
After practice, Lucky, D.J. and Happy decided it would be a good idea if they went to Happy’s and jumped in his pool for a while. It was a good way to cool off after practice. They lounged around the pool for almost an hour before their stomachs reminded them of the need for food.
D.J. and Lucky left, leaving Happy sleeping on an air bag. He was already starting to turn a little red, but would not respond when they tried to wake him. D.J. flipped Happy over earlier when he did not respond, but got body slammed and decided not to bother him again.
Lucky walked home, ate a sandwich and tried to rest before going back to practice.
He quickly grew bored and decided to go out to the garage and work on his latest project. Lucky was building a desk for his room and wanted to finish it before school started. He realized that was not going to happen but hoped to have it ready soon.
Lucky could spend hours doing little things like this, never bothered being by himself. When his father was busy, Lucky spent time alone and always found something to pass the time. He liked spending time with friends, of course, but also needed time alone.
While walking by his brother’s room, Lucky stopped and walked inside, looking around at all the pictures and trophies. Lloyd had set the bar high for the sons of Cole Lester. His brother was easily one of the better athletes Lucky had seen.
Lloyd was now a little shorter than his little brother, but easily carried 200 pounds on a body that looked like it was chiseled from stone.
Lloyd was a great runner, probably the best running quarterback at Petros. As a senior, he rushed for over 1,500 yards and scored thirty touchdowns. Lloyd led his team to the state finals before the Panthers lost again to Anson.
He did not really get into basketball until reaching high school, but improved enough as a senior to start at forward, average over 20 points a game and lead the Panthers into the state tournament.
But his best sport was baseball. Lloyd was an excellent catcher, hitting over .500 as a senior with twenty home runs and fifty RBIs. He played one year of college baseball before stunning everybody by quitting school and joining the Army.
As was usual for his brother, Lloyd did not follow the normal path everybody expected. Lucky had seldom seen his brother over the last few years, missing him badly.
Lloyd was working for some company in Tulsa now and they saw him more since he was out of the service, but still not enough for Lucky.
People always told Lucky how good his brother had been, not that he needed reminding. Lucky had followed his brother all those years, always wearing a Petros jersey with his brother’s number 15 on it. Other than Tatum Sloan, nobody else came close to the admiration Lucky felt for his brother.
Lucky wasn’t worried about following in his brother’s footsteps. If he got close to being as good as his brother, that was fine with him. As far as he was concerned, his brother could walk on water.
The favorite picture was one Scoop took of Lloyd swinging a bat during a playoff game. The timing was perfect and the ball looked like it was stuck to the bat. Lucky had never seen a person swing a bat like his brother, always expecting a home run with every swing. Everybody thought he had a chance to play in the majors, never expecting Lloyd to quit baseball and join the military.
Lucky turned to leave and saw his father standing in the doorway, watching him. It startled Lucky for a second but he recovered quickly.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey yourself,” Cole countered, looking around the room, feeling the emptiness and missing his older son. Lloyd was a real pain at times, but nobody lived life like he did. Lloyd lit up a room when he entered, even a room full of strangers. He was outgoing, always needing a crowd. Lloyd was determined to have the time of his life, every second of every day. His little brother was nothing like that and the house seemed empty with just the two of them.
“You miss him?” his father asked, leaning against the doorframe.
“Every day,” Lucky responded, picking up a picture frame and looking at it. Lloyd was holding a football high in the air after scoring a touchdown, three opponents left in his wake.
“Want to watch some film?” Cole asked.
“I’m going to work on that desk for a while.”
Cole nodded, watching his youngest son grab another picture and stare at it.
“What’d you think about practice?” Cole asked.
“It was okay,” Lucky stated, putting the picture back in the same spot. “I thought I was in good shape but still got a little tired.”
“Everybody does, it doesn’t matter what kind of shape you are in. You’re making your body do something it’s not used to doing.”
Lucky picked up another picture of his brother scoring a touchdown, two defenders holding on to a leg while being dragged into the end zone. The same white jersey he wore to score the touchdown was hanging from the wall.
“You think I can be as good as Lloyd?” Lucky asked.
“You can be as good as you want to be,” Cole answered. “Don’t worry about trying to be as good as your brother or anybody else. Just be as good as you can be.”
“Everybody always talks about Lloyd. I know they all expect me to be as good or better.”
“It doesn’t matter. I learned a long time ago you can’t listen to or worry about what people say. You and your brother are different players. But if you want to be compared to anybody on the field, your brother isn’t a bad one. Just don’t try and follow him off the field. I can only handle one son who acts that way.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Lucky said, picking up a baseball and tossing it in the air, catching it with the same hand. It was a baseball his brother crushed over the fence in the state tournament against a pitcher who later made it to the majors with the Mariners. “I hope he can watch us play this year.”
“So do I. Lloyd needs to visit more.”
“Man, he was good.”
Cole walked up beside his son and placed his hand on Lucky’s shoulder.
“Yeah, he was good,” Cole agreed. “But you’re gonna be a good one also.”
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Not many coaches put as much emphasis on lifting weights as Petros’ coaches did. The players lifted almost every day, only skipping Sundays and game days. The players usually lifted weights for an hour either before school or practice.
The players were split into three different groups by position and by the areas they were concentrating on. One group worked on backs, the other chest and arms, while the final group hit the legs. The three main areas the players concentrated on were the bench press, dead lift and squats.
A board on the wall listed the school record for each event, broken down by weight classes. After all these years and with the emphasis the coaches put on the weights, if somebody broke a record, it meant something.
For the backs and receivers, it was leg day. Most of the players had been pumping iron all summer so it was not a big deal, except it came after a hard practice in the morning. For the players who had not worked out seriously, the weight session along with the start of practice would leave them with an agony nobody wants to experience.
All the guys busted their rears lifting weights. They really had no choice. The starters knew they had to or somebody bigger and stronger would take their place. The reserves worked just as hard, hoping their efforts got them more playing time.
After lifting weights, the Panthers practiced again, going through a session much like the morning’s workout. The main difference was they spent more time running to finish practice.
The guys were worn out by then, but still had plenty of enthusiasm.
For most coaches, the most difficult practices are the ones held the days following the first practice. Players are sore and tired, and they question if this football deal is really worth the effort. Their friends are lounging on the couch in the air conditioning, or working to make some cash.
But because of Petros’ tradition, most of the boys in town had dreamed about being a Panther all their life and there was not much regret about the sacrifices they made.
Practice was a little sloppy. The coaches had done this long enough to expect this and became more of a cheerleader, knowing encouraging words lifted spirits and gave a boost more than screaming.
Andy had gotten his physical and was able to practice. As the Panthers went through special-team drills, Lucky noticed Andy standing by himself. He walked over to introduce himself.
Happy and D.J. followed, along with a few other sophomores.
Andy was a little out of whack on the drills and his new teammates tried to help, showing him the right way to do the different drills.
His new teammates were amazed when they got close to him.
“Man, look at the size of them dogs,” Happy remarked.
“You could ski with those feet,” D.J. mentioned.
“What size shoe do you wear?”
“Fifteen,” Andy answered, wishing to change the subject. He’d always had big feet and didn’t like to talk about them.
He impressed the coaches with his balance and speed, the long legs featuring a stride that carried him along at a good pace. Andy was placed at defensive end and safety on defense and picked up the positions quickly, asking the coaches and his teammates a lot of questions to make sure he did things right.
On offense, the coaches tried him at tight end and flanker. The offense went against the defense in some drills with receivers lined up against defensive backs. Even the starting defensive backs had trouble covering him as Andy could leap high above them to catch passes and his size and strength kept opponents away.
The first time Lucky threw him a pass, he came up with an idea. He decided to throw a lob pass and see how well Andy judged it and if he could go above a defensive back to grab the ball. It worked perfect and Lucky knew it would be tough to stop.
After practices ended, Lucky, D.J. and Happy stayed late to work with Andy. They figured out quickly that while Andy was a little raw, he was a good athlete.
He caught passes most people could not get close to reaching. Lucky, D.J. and Happy had played catch so many times over the years their timing was pretty good. It wasn’t that way with Andy at first, but it didn’t take long for Lucky to get his new receiver’s stride down.
Chapter 6
D.J. and Lucky left, leaving Happy sleeping on an air bag. He was already starting to turn a little red, but would not respond when they tried to wake him. D.J. flipped Happy over earlier when he did not respond, but got body slammed and decided not to bother him again.
Lucky walked home, ate a sandwich and tried to rest before going back to practice.
He quickly grew bored and decided to go out to the garage and work on his latest project. Lucky was building a desk for his room and wanted to finish it before school started. He realized that was not going to happen but hoped to have it ready soon.
Lucky could spend hours doing little things like this, never bothered being by himself. When his father was busy, Lucky spent time alone and always found something to pass the time. He liked spending time with friends, of course, but also needed time alone.
While walking by his brother’s room, Lucky stopped and walked inside, looking around at all the pictures and trophies. Lloyd had set the bar high for the sons of Cole Lester. His brother was easily one of the better athletes Lucky had seen.
Lloyd was now a little shorter than his little brother, but easily carried 200 pounds on a body that looked like it was chiseled from stone.
Lloyd was a great runner, probably the best running quarterback at Petros. As a senior, he rushed for over 1,500 yards and scored thirty touchdowns. Lloyd led his team to the state finals before the Panthers lost again to Anson.
He did not really get into basketball until reaching high school, but improved enough as a senior to start at forward, average over 20 points a game and lead the Panthers into the state tournament.
But his best sport was baseball. Lloyd was an excellent catcher, hitting over .500 as a senior with twenty home runs and fifty RBIs. He played one year of college baseball before stunning everybody by quitting school and joining the Army.
As was usual for his brother, Lloyd did not follow the normal path everybody expected. Lucky had seldom seen his brother over the last few years, missing him badly.
Lloyd was working for some company in Tulsa now and they saw him more since he was out of the service, but still not enough for Lucky.
People always told Lucky how good his brother had been, not that he needed reminding. Lucky had followed his brother all those years, always wearing a Petros jersey with his brother’s number 15 on it. Other than Tatum Sloan, nobody else came close to the admiration Lucky felt for his brother.
Lucky wasn’t worried about following in his brother’s footsteps. If he got close to being as good as his brother, that was fine with him. As far as he was concerned, his brother could walk on water.
The favorite picture was one Scoop took of Lloyd swinging a bat during a playoff game. The timing was perfect and the ball looked like it was stuck to the bat. Lucky had never seen a person swing a bat like his brother, always expecting a home run with every swing. Everybody thought he had a chance to play in the majors, never expecting Lloyd to quit baseball and join the military.
Lucky turned to leave and saw his father standing in the doorway, watching him. It startled Lucky for a second but he recovered quickly.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey yourself,” Cole countered, looking around the room, feeling the emptiness and missing his older son. Lloyd was a real pain at times, but nobody lived life like he did. Lloyd lit up a room when he entered, even a room full of strangers. He was outgoing, always needing a crowd. Lloyd was determined to have the time of his life, every second of every day. His little brother was nothing like that and the house seemed empty with just the two of them.
“You miss him?” his father asked, leaning against the doorframe.
“Every day,” Lucky responded, picking up a picture frame and looking at it. Lloyd was holding a football high in the air after scoring a touchdown, three opponents left in his wake.
“Want to watch some film?” Cole asked.
“I’m going to work on that desk for a while.”
Cole nodded, watching his youngest son grab another picture and stare at it.
“What’d you think about practice?” Cole asked.
“It was okay,” Lucky stated, putting the picture back in the same spot. “I thought I was in good shape but still got a little tired.”
“Everybody does, it doesn’t matter what kind of shape you are in. You’re making your body do something it’s not used to doing.”
Lucky picked up another picture of his brother scoring a touchdown, two defenders holding on to a leg while being dragged into the end zone. The same white jersey he wore to score the touchdown was hanging from the wall.
“You think I can be as good as Lloyd?” Lucky asked.
“You can be as good as you want to be,” Cole answered. “Don’t worry about trying to be as good as your brother or anybody else. Just be as good as you can be.”
“Everybody always talks about Lloyd. I know they all expect me to be as good or better.”
“It doesn’t matter. I learned a long time ago you can’t listen to or worry about what people say. You and your brother are different players. But if you want to be compared to anybody on the field, your brother isn’t a bad one. Just don’t try and follow him off the field. I can only handle one son who acts that way.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Lucky said, picking up a baseball and tossing it in the air, catching it with the same hand. It was a baseball his brother crushed over the fence in the state tournament against a pitcher who later made it to the majors with the Mariners. “I hope he can watch us play this year.”
“So do I. Lloyd needs to visit more.”
“Man, he was good.”
Cole walked up beside his son and placed his hand on Lucky’s shoulder.
“Yeah, he was good,” Cole agreed. “But you’re gonna be a good one also.”
-----------
Not many coaches put as much emphasis on lifting weights as Petros’ coaches did. The players lifted almost every day, only skipping Sundays and game days. The players usually lifted weights for an hour either before school or practice.
The players were split into three different groups by position and by the areas they were concentrating on. One group worked on backs, the other chest and arms, while the final group hit the legs. The three main areas the players concentrated on were the bench press, dead lift and squats.
A board on the wall listed the school record for each event, broken down by weight classes. After all these years and with the emphasis the coaches put on the weights, if somebody broke a record, it meant something.
For the backs and receivers, it was leg day. Most of the players had been pumping iron all summer so it was not a big deal, except it came after a hard practice in the morning. For the players who had not worked out seriously, the weight session along with the start of practice would leave them with an agony nobody wants to experience.
All the guys busted their rears lifting weights. They really had no choice. The starters knew they had to or somebody bigger and stronger would take their place. The reserves worked just as hard, hoping their efforts got them more playing time.
After lifting weights, the Panthers practiced again, going through a session much like the morning’s workout. The main difference was they spent more time running to finish practice.
The guys were worn out by then, but still had plenty of enthusiasm.
For most coaches, the most difficult practices are the ones held the days following the first practice. Players are sore and tired, and they question if this football deal is really worth the effort. Their friends are lounging on the couch in the air conditioning, or working to make some cash.
But because of Petros’ tradition, most of the boys in town had dreamed about being a Panther all their life and there was not much regret about the sacrifices they made.
Practice was a little sloppy. The coaches had done this long enough to expect this and became more of a cheerleader, knowing encouraging words lifted spirits and gave a boost more than screaming.
Andy had gotten his physical and was able to practice. As the Panthers went through special-team drills, Lucky noticed Andy standing by himself. He walked over to introduce himself.
Happy and D.J. followed, along with a few other sophomores.
Andy was a little out of whack on the drills and his new teammates tried to help, showing him the right way to do the different drills.
His new teammates were amazed when they got close to him.
“Man, look at the size of them dogs,” Happy remarked.
“You could ski with those feet,” D.J. mentioned.
“What size shoe do you wear?”
“Fifteen,” Andy answered, wishing to change the subject. He’d always had big feet and didn’t like to talk about them.
He impressed the coaches with his balance and speed, the long legs featuring a stride that carried him along at a good pace. Andy was placed at defensive end and safety on defense and picked up the positions quickly, asking the coaches and his teammates a lot of questions to make sure he did things right.
On offense, the coaches tried him at tight end and flanker. The offense went against the defense in some drills with receivers lined up against defensive backs. Even the starting defensive backs had trouble covering him as Andy could leap high above them to catch passes and his size and strength kept opponents away.
The first time Lucky threw him a pass, he came up with an idea. He decided to throw a lob pass and see how well Andy judged it and if he could go above a defensive back to grab the ball. It worked perfect and Lucky knew it would be tough to stop.
After practices ended, Lucky, D.J. and Happy stayed late to work with Andy. They figured out quickly that while Andy was a little raw, he was a good athlete.
He caught passes most people could not get close to reaching. Lucky, D.J. and Happy had played catch so many times over the years their timing was pretty good. It wasn’t that way with Andy at first, but it didn’t take long for Lucky to get his new receiver’s stride down.
posted by Craig Hall at 3:51 AM
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