We drove to Danny's on Rt88 just before the entrance to South Park and ordered an Italian hoagie and 2 large iced teas. JJ directed me to a table near the golf course with a view of holes 7 (a par 4) and hole 8 ( a par 3). We ate and talked and laughed at some of the golfer's shots and missed putts and even clapped on the good shots. We were talking football and he wanted to know what to expect tomorrow morning and I said a couple of hours of every play being picked apart and you will be thinking how bad we were. JJ I'm not sure if we were good or they were that bad. What I do know is on defense we were damn good. So MJ, how hurt do you think Jim is? Well, I don't actually know but what confused me was when Wyatt faked that leg cramp to get Jim that long pass coach almost shit. JJ said well it was good to see a freshman has the balls to do that. I laughed and said well right now he is better than Jim and he even took me on in the huddle. JJ said I was wondering why you let that happen? JJ he is right and is the QB but if he does it again, he could easily be dumped on his ass. Hell he could call a long pass and the linemen could easily hear screen pass. JJ simply laughed out loud, then asked you sure we aren't in Texas? I replied, dude football is fucking football and it has a universal set of rules, written and unwritten. We police ourselves and hope the officials let us deal with it. Ok MJ and what happened Friday? I laughed and said it wasn't a top crew and we get the best officials and most will be working college games the next day, not big games but D3 and some D2.
Then I said, well I had a fantastic day but I promised dad I would be around some and definitely home for dinner. JJ said hell, it's still be nice to the rents weekend and I promised I would be home for dinner as well. We drove home and I dropped him off at his house so he didn't have to walk 4 houses and I went right to my place, cleaned up and stripped the bed and put on new sheets. At the house I went right to the basement and threw a load of laundry basically the sheets and some towels. Upstairs in the game room I found dad and Megan and as I sat down Cole appeared. I gave him a big hug and said, Pro how the hell are you. He smiled and said MJ, please don't do that I'm a simple high school golfer and damn I has to try out for the team. I simply burst out laughing. MJ it was some shit course Hickory Heights. I laughed and said well get ready for a lot of that. He laughed and said on one hole I putted with my driver as I couldn't hit a put that hard. I laughed again and said well you wanted the high school experience.
Megan announced that the nursery was finished and I jumped up and ran to what was was Cole's room and damn it was fun and cute. Gender neutral and animals all over the place. It would be a fun place for my sister. In my heart I knew it was going to be a girl. Back downstairs I found that dad had actually assembled the furniture and helped Megan pick colors. Megan said that her leave was approved and she would have 6 weeks off, then Cole and Mike would be watching their new sibling. We both laughed and I said well I'm not changing diapers. Cole said well I'm good if the kid fits in my golf bag, Liam will have to deal with it. Dad said he would order dinner and there was a lengthy negotiation about what to order. We finally settled on Chinese and dad got up and placed an order. The conversation was about what we were doing and how business was. Dad and I gave cliff notes. Megan said that she was very happy about the baby but was looking forward having it over. Megan then asked how I was adjusting to being in the apartment. I said it was hard at first but now things felt normal. She laughed and said, I guess it was a simple version of going away to college. I thought about that and said, most likely.
Dinner came and we moved into the kitchen island and it was a fun meal and I laughed my ass off when Cole gave up on the chopsticks and grabbed a fork. I asked Cole when would I meet Jessica? He said well it would easier if you were actually around. I laughed and said well after dinner we can check my calendar and he found that very funny. I still couldn't get over that there was no squabbling at these dinners. Once we were finished, dad and I cleaned up which involve tossing the shit in a bag and taking it to the garbage can. I called for Cole and made him put his fork in the dishwasher. He wasn't amused but I found it funny. While we were alone I asked if he wanted to come to my place once the rents were tired of us. He laughed and said definitely. Back together we just chatted and eventually dad and I went into his office and Cole and Megan were talking. I asked dad if he was ok with what was going on with the business and he said well I should be as I set it up. Mike I was board and you jumped in more than I had thought possible. Mike, just so you know Kyle told a true story, he was done and you turned him around in one hour. Dad, I had no idea and him leaving would have been a disaster. So dad, how set is he now? Mike did you hear him call you his co-worker and friend? I said yup and dad said you have a lifer in Kyle. Ok dad what else do I need to know? Well Dillon is a keeper, Riley will be an issue as she will get pregnant right after the wedding. Mike your most loyal person on board is Tim. I asked about Zaid and dad said, he is very good but won't be around long as he has different goals. Ok dad what are they? Mike, he will start a company or two and he will stay as long as he is learning about business. You could find something when you start up Enterprise again and he might be satisfied. Dad, does it need to be a minority company? Dad simply said yup. I simply filed that away figuring I had time. I thanks dad for the input and I went to my place.
While waiting for Cole I checked my phone for the first time all day. The only thing of interest and that I could deal with right now was a call from Sean. I immediately returned the call and Sean said holy shit dude, you have a Junior linebacker that coach is in love with, a QB that everyone in the country will want and JJ on defense. How is all that possible. I laughed and said Sean, we are special. Well I'm just letting you know Coach is bringing me up next week and we will be there till Sunday. I laughed and asked if they wanted me to fly them back. He laughed said well I'll check but count on that being a no. I just laughed and said well the plane has 2 engines and JJ is a great co-pilot. Sean laughed and said, well that doesn't help. Sean, if Wyatt throws a TD pass, I need to take him Saturday to Oakmont for golf. I was going to ask Cole so if you want you can join us. Mike, if I say no to that Coach will shoot me. Dude, we have a great team and keeping the coach out of our hair is an issue. He just laughed and said, I'll see you Friday, it's my last free weekend. We hung up and I was looking forward to seeing him.
Cole came in and went right for the beer and I asked for one as well. He smiled and handed me a beer and I told him if Wyatt threw a TD pass on Friday I had to play Oakmont Saturday. I am free Saturday night. Then added that Sean would be in town and Cole said cool I would like to see him. I asked about Jessica and he said you just have to meet her. I said well how about Sunday? MJ, I hate to ask as you are golfing on Saturday, but can we fly to Latrobe and the three of us play golf? I thought for a minute and said well how about I see if Josh wants to tag along. He smiled and asked, does he play? I said well he has clubs. If he can't make it I'll see if Mary Ann wants to play. Cole said he was good with either. He said MJ, it's late and I have lessons tomorrow? I looked at him and he said well I trying to help some teammates play golf. We hugged and I was more than ready for bed.
Monday morning brought rain and it didn't matter as we were looking at films. The coaches must have spend the weekend breaking down film. It was complicated for some of us as we had two position coaches. It was even hard to simply divide it by offense and defense as a number of us played both. In fact there was more of that this year than last. I had to wonder about that and if we had a depth problem, I knew I wanted to have less carries on offense. Coach Weston started with 20 plays that he felt were important. The first play was the one where Wyatt faked an injury and Jim threw a long pass. He simply blasted Wyatt, faking an injury and then giving Jim a play that wasn't called. I just laughed at that, as I was unaware. I looked at Wyatt who sat there with a look that said, just deal with it. Coach went on to say, Jim has throwing issues and we were hoping teams would think we can't throw deep. There were coaches from every school we will play there and now, the smart ones know we can throw deep. Jim said Coach, your little secret would have been safe if you would have communicated that bull shit with us. Coach exploded and yelled we are one scrimmage into this and the two jerks who play QB do what they damn well please. It stops now. Wyatt said Coach, whoever is calling the plays meeds to let us know what's going on and communicate and we will both, when necessary call an audible. Can we please get on with the plays that matter. I thought shit a freshman talking to a coach like that at a team meeting? Then I thought not my problem. Chad and I were taken to task for switching positions on defense and Chad looked at me and I said coach, it worked and took a lot of pressure off both of us. Coach replied and what about the rest of the defense? Coach they know and if they pay attention will adjust. Heck I'm tired being doubled teamed all the time and Chad said, trust me it isn't fun. I was astounded by how many guys were pushing back. One of the plays was JJ's TD saving tackle and The kid was blasted for poor tackling and JJ was told he was out of position and could have helped out sooner. JJ politely asked where should I have been? Coach reran the play and pointed out where JJ should have been. JJ said thanks and coach said your welcome. Then JJ said well actually I have nothing to say because the entire thing is ridiculous. How aboutj in all these clips someone gets told nice job. It went on like that for each of the 20 plays and was getting testier with each play. Finally Coach said pad up and be on the field in 30 and he want into his office and closed the door more than a little hard.
I decided to deal with this and went and knocked on the he office door and simply went in and sat down. Coach said well where is your possie? I actually laughed and said well I don't have one but you are losing the team because you are different this year. He looked at me and asked, how am I different? Coach last year when Jim and I changed plays what did you do? He said I got the two of you together and blasted you. I said correct and today what did you do? He thought for a minute and said sent a message to the entire team. I said ok, you definitely did and what is different about this years team? He looked right at me and said I don't know. Well coach we are a very close group and when you publicly piss a couple of us off you piss us all off. So you guys are going to gang up and run the school? Coach I doubt that, you see we support other teams and attend games but when football is over we all go our separate ways. Sure we workout but we don't necessarily hang together. Coach, we have matured both individually and as a team, we are a senior dominated team and no longer starry eyed juniors. Coach this year is different for both you and us and everyone knows how good we can be and I'm here to tell you we are that good and we are aware of the expectations. Coach, deal with the freshman like you deal with me one on one. You wouldn't want either of them having a need for smaller class size and a faith based education. For the first time coach smiled and asked, so that's still an issue? I said yup and we all read the paper yesterday. He said thanks and I got dressed for practice.
On the field coach gathered his staff and there was a shortish discussion and we were called over and coach said, well camp is over and for the next 10 weeks we will approach things the same way. Monday will be like today, films and a review of the previous game and then we will run through the plays we will use for the next game. He looked at Jim and said you and the other QBs have the ability to audible to any play in the weekly playbook, understand those plays need to work more than they don't. Starting tomorrow practice will be at 3:00 as school will be starting and I want a routine. Tuesday and Wednesday will be both films of the opponents and hitting. Thursday will be special teams and a walk through. Friday will will be a pep rally and a team dinner in the cafeteria. Saturday and Sunday will be off days and long as you continue to perform. Then he said there is one other issue and this is the last time I will address it. Many of you think we dealt with Sam poorly and that might be true but here are some details you might not know. Members of the staff and myself met with Sam on numerous occasion as did a few of you and the message was clear, practice with the varsity, start on the JV, learn the position and the reads and fill in as needed on the varsity. That wasn't enough as he felt he should be exclusive to the varsity. Then his family hired an attorney and there were charges of hazing and bullying. We reached a compromise but the attorney got an injunction which permits him to play at his new school with no restrictions. He simply didn't fit in here and you also don't know but all the allegations were investigated and there were no signs of hazing and bullying. Josh spoke up and said so he is that egotistical ass hole most of us thought he was. Coach said well I would say that differently but yes. All of a sudden individual issues were handled individually and there wasn't a raised voice the entire practice and the only foul language came from a player and was immediately addressed. It was perhaps the best practice of the year. At the end coach said we have films of the next team up and I'll see you all at 7 and we will be done by 8:30. Enjoy your day.
We all gathered together and this time it was Adam who said, well it appears Coach Weston is back so we should lighten up as well. Apparently the push back and Mike's chat with the coach mattered. Then he shouted ONE FOR ALL and we responded ALL FOR ONE. On the way to the locker room I found Josh and asked if he played golf? He said well I move the ball forward and mostly in the air. I laughed and said, just answer the damn question. Well I usually shoot in the low 80's at South Park and will on occasion get to the upper 70's. Josh, if Wyatt throws an TD pass Friday, I have to take him to Oakmont, would you like to join us? He said shit can you do that? I said yup but the fourth will be a buddy of mine from VT. He is traveling with the coach this week and he is on the team. Josh, I won't BS you there is some interest and I know that as I walk on water there until I sign that letter in February, then I'm like everyone else on that team. So if he doesn't throw a TD? Well then we play Latrobe. Josh said damn and went on his way.
After a quick shower I drove to the office and found meeting scheduled with Kyle and Tim and since I had time I went and asked Amy to join me in my office. We were seated in guest chairs and I asked so how are things? Mike, they are moving along smoothly and people are really excited about the first phase of the move. I smiled and said and you, how are things and she said settled down and I didn't have to have anyone fired. I laughed at that and asked and Zaid? She said fine, but he has an awful lot of freedom but there are no loose ends here. She said that attorney from DC calls daily and he won't leave a message. I smiled and said simply say, please hold and send it to Tim, I'll give him a heads up. She said thanks. Would you please locate Zaid and let him know I would like to meet. She said sure and I started on the weekly financials.
Kyle appeared and sat right down and I joined him in my guest seating, he smiled and asked do you ever sit behind your desk for meetings? Well Kyle, when it is nasty or unpleasant, should I move behind my desk? He smiled and said nope. Mike, we don't meet much and now that your dad is pulling back, I need someone to bounce thing off on. I watched you closely the other day and damn you are good with large groups. What amazed me was it was groups of all ages. So I was hoping we could meet weekly. Kyle, that's an excellent idea. So once school starts I'm done every day at noon, how about a 12:30 lunch every Monday. I asked about Dillon and was told he is stressed with the move and a couple of tough classes at CMU, I'm helping with that but the move has him and Riley very busy. I said ok, I'll give them Zaid as I hear he has a lot of freedom. Kyle laughed and said, damn how do you know that and he is totally involved when you are around. I just shrugged and as if by design Zaid was at the door. He said excuse me, I'll come back. I stood up and said have a seat, we were just talking about you and I sat behind my desk. Zaid, so how are things? He said well good and I'm busy. Zaid, you are busy when I am here, what about when I am not here? Mike, not as busy but there is a lot to do. Zaid, we are not playing games here and I have top management overworked and I'm hearing from more that one source that you have a lot of free time. So what are you doing that has you busy? There was another vague answer and I said well, I expect you to be involved here when you are paid for being here. So we have a move coming and Dillon and Riley need help and Kyle and I are asking you to concentrate on helping them. I'll manage for a week or two on my own. Zaid asked so what's involved? I said anything the two of them need help with, you will find them reasonable. He shook his head and asked, is this a demotion? I said nope it is other duties as assigned. Mike, I'm not sure, I'm ok with this. I picked up the phone and asked Maggie to please join Kyle, Zaid and me in my office. Sensing an issue she said, I'll be right there. I pulled over a chair from the conference table and when Maggie appeared I asked her to have a seat. I explained where we were and both Kyle and Zaid we asked if that summary was correct and Kyle said absolutely, leaving Zaid no choice but to agree. Maggi pulled out a paper and handed it to Zaid and asked is that your signature and he said yes. I was handed the paper and it was his job description and Maggie asked what on that list of duties does your request reference. I said other duties as assigned. She looked at Zaid and said well you have two choices, either comply with the request or resign. Zaid stood up and said Mike, you will have my notice in writing within the hour. Zaid, why? Well no matter how you slice it I'm being demoted. Kyle, said Zaid, that's simply not true, you are being asked to work like everyone else around here and assignments change. I said Zaid, I won't be needing notice, if you submit a resignation it is immediate, however I will pay you for the 2 weeks. He said fine and left.
Once we were alone Maggie said well that was unbelievable and what was more unbelievable was that you actually did it the right way. I just looked and she said will should I be interviewing for a replacement. I thought for a minute and said not yet as I have an idea or two. She rolled her eyes and said well at least this was a good start. Once Maggie was gone Kyle asked so we're you aware that he was starting a business? I said well there was a warning from dad last night, today Amy said he had a lot of free time and you said pretty much the same thing. With all that it didn't take much. I was shocked when Zaid reappeared and handed me an envelope and his pass and started out. Kyle said Mike, I'll walk him out. I said Zaid, good luck with your business. He stood there with his mouth open and Kyle said, let's go, I have things to do.
I picked up the phone and called Major Jim. When he answered I said please send a company email saying Zaid had resigned to pursue other interests. Add some shit about how he will be missed. Jim laughed and said so you were having a good day until you showed up here. I said yup and hung up. Then I went and told Amy who wasn't that surprised. Back in my office I barely settled in when Tim appeared. He took one look and asked, bad day? I told him about Zaid and he said Mike, you tried with him, just move on. Then he said, I have had several conversations with David and he as you guessed is connected to the jelly people and they would like 25% less grapes. Ok Tim, what's the catch? Mike, none that I can detect. Ok Tim, tell him yes with us getting the full payment or 50% of the grapes and 25% payment, but I don't want to deal with him. Tim started to laugh and said, that's already presented, shit I'm starting to think like you. We both laughed and I asked if he was ready to give up his clients and just work with me and my companies? Is smiled and said tentatively YES. However, let's think about it, we have a good relationship and I don't want it to end up like your dad and Adam. I said fine, let me know when your ready but remember I'm not my dad and you are not Adam. Tim on another matter I have lunch tomorrow with John Carson, Highmark CFO, I have no idea what that is about. Mike, I'll see what I can track down and let you know. He has made an impact on the company in the brief time he's been there. I said thanks and keep me in the loop.
Having had enough I drove to my place and directly to my room. I changed into gym clothes and called Cole. He answered laughing and I asked where are you? He said I just pulled into the driveway and I'll be right there. He came bopping in and grabbed an iced tea and poured me one. He sat down and asked, so what's up? Cole, today my executive assistant resigned and I wanted to know what you would think about me offering the job to Liam? He could attend night classes or I would give him time off to take some credits. Then he could also be available to caddy for you. MJ, you seem to go through assistants and I laughed and said well everyone was promoted except for Zaid who resigned as he is starting a company. Cole laughed and said so you caught him and you forced that decision? I simply said yup. Cole, I need someone I can trust and it involves working very closely with me about some very private shit. I'm about ready to buy land and do another building. That experience alone would get him the experience he would never get anywhere else. Just think about it and take your time. Cole, either answer is fine with me. It was just a thought and a potential easy solution. MJ, it's fine and I trust Liam to do what is best for him. Cole, I'll just have Maggie advertise for the position. I was feeling bad, I even brought it up when Cole said that he would talk with Liam. Cole only if you are sure. With that we headed to the house and I made a sandwich and was off to practice.
There was no practice as the scrimmage films were available for the game on Friday and we watched every play at least twice. There was one in particular that they ran early and repeated about 5 times and it was always when they needed something special or were in a tight spot. Josh looked at me and asked did you see the TELL? I said yup and we have a TD if we catch it just right. We can talk about it and get Chad in the loop. For the most part they were big but not fast and while they dominated the scrimmage it was against a smaller school. I asked coach where the officials would be from as I thought they held a lot and he said a crew from Johnstown was being sent in to work and it's their best crew. I really didn't care just so it wasn't a crew from their area. On the way to the car, JJ said MJ, we need to talk about that play, I think it's a set up. They will fake that pass and once we all bite they will either pull it down and run or lob a pass to the other end. JJ how do you know that? We got burned on a similar thing on film last year. The first time they run it we should bite and it will be for a loss and they will know we studied the film, the second time we cover the option as well. First we talk with the coaches. I said fine and asked if he wanted to run tomorrow and he laughed out loud and said, nope.
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