Right before the half, I scored again on a ten yard corner fade, the ball was perfectly thrown. Once again, the hyper dunk was activated.
By halftime, we had a 24-7 lead, Josh had already thrown for close to two hundred fifty yards. We were told at halftime, there would be no backing off, although we would run the ball a little more, we would still basically stay in our normal offense. We scored three more times in the second half, winning the game easily 45-14. Josh had thrown for three hundred seventy seven yards, we had a total of four hundred and fifty five yards of offense. I had caught seven passes for eighty six yards and two touchdowns. At the post game news conference, I was sitting at the table with Josh, Coach Reed, Coach Cullen and several other players. The questions came furiously once it started.
"Coach, can you explain to us what happened today, you threw the ball over seventy percent of the time, will that be normal ?", one man asked.
"No, we will throw the ball a bit more in the future.", Coach Cullen stated into the microphone.
The room exploded in laughter, but I sensed our offensive coordinator wasn't joking.
"Seriously coach, this new offense you have implemented, while it's unique, do you really think you can sustain the type of numbers you guys put up today ?", another reporter asked.
"No, I don't. I think we can do better.", Coach Cullen responded.
Sensing they were getting nowhere with the new young coordinator, the group shifted into another direction.
"Josh, you threw for just under four hundred yards, your second best day as a pro, how do you feel ?", asked another reporter.
"Good, I feel good, but we have a lot of work to do. I missed some key reads out there today, I could have been better.', he answered, a smile on his face.
A young female reporter for our local news station raised her hand in the front, she was always in the same spot. Coach Reed nodded the floor to her, she stood microphone in hand.
"Brian, after both of your scores today, it was apparent, the celebration was preplanned with your quarterback. What was that ?", she asked, grinning ear to ear.
I glanced down at both Coach Reed and Coach Cullen, neither of them having any apparent reaction. I leaned forward into the microphone trying to think of the right words.
"Well ... .I guess it's….", I started.
"It's called the hyper dunk, get used to it, you're going to see more of it.", interrupted Josh.
"The Hyper Dunk ? Can I quote you on that ?", she asked.
"You sure can.", he replied.
We watched a film the following morning, leaving the facility about one o'clock in the afternoon. Since I had to pass in front of Children's Hospital on the way home, I decided to stop in and see what was going on. I parked and went up to the fourth floor, exiting the elevator and walking to the new arts and crafts center. There were two small girls and one older boy all working diligently at their stations. I continued down the hall to the nurse's station recognizing one of the nurses from previous visits.
"Hello Mr. Stevens, good to see you today. What can I do for you ?", she asked.
"Nothing, I just stopped to look around, see how things were going.", I answered.
"Really well, the kids have been making great use of all the new facilities and equipment," she responded.
"Good, I am glad to hear it.", I replied.
"Oh you know what, I have a young man down the hall, he's eleven, I bet he would get a kick out of meeting you, do you have time ?", she inquired.
"Sure, lead on.", I said.
As we walked down the hall, she explained to me the child had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which basically meant he had too many immature white blood cells in his body. Apparently he was not in the best of spirits, his body was weak from aggressive treatment. I followed her to his door, she pushed it open, and made sure he was awake.
"Hey Myron, I have someone here who wants to meet you, can we come in ?", she asked.
"Okay.", the boy said softly.
He was a very good looking black boy, somewhat thin, the familiar stocking cap covering his head. I walked up to the bed slowly, his eyes were locked on to me.
"Do you know who this is, Myron ?", the nurse asked.
"Nope.", was his reply.
"This is Brian Stevens, he plays for our home team, he is a football player.", she informed him.
"You play for San Diego ?", he asked, his eyes widening.
"I sure do.", I answered.
"I wanna be a football player too, I'm really fast.", he said, excitedly.
"Well that helps out, coaches always like fast.", I replied.
For the next thirty minutes I sat and talked with the young boy, until it was obvious he was beginning to tire. I promised to come and visit him again next Monday, I would bring him a surprise. I thanked the nurse and made my way out of the facility and back to my car. I was home just before three o'clock, I went down to the pool, swam a few laps, then laid out on the chaise lounge. I must have dozed off for a while, when I woke up after five, several people had gathered by the pool area. I sat up in the lounge, stood up and made my way back into the pool. I swam a few more laps to cool off, then climbed back out and sat back down. Several minutes later, I received a call from our main office. I was given the name of a local apparel manufacturer who wanted to speak with me. I took the number, then called it back immediately, the party in question answering the phone.
"Hello Mr. DeAngelo, this is Brian Stevens, how can I help you sir ?", I started.
"Mr. Stevens, thank you for calling me back, I wanted to talk to you about a business opportunity. I would like to market a tee shirt with the new HyperDunk logo, perhaps a full photo of you dropping the ball over the post. I think it could be beneficial to both of us.", he queried.
"Well Mr. DeAngelo, you can call my agent Alexis Clarke at PSA, run it all by her. If she is ok with it, it meets all the necessary criteria, we can meet and talk about it. Only one thing though.", I replied.
"What's that?"he asked.
"A portion of all sales must go to my foundation at Children's Hospital, that's not negotiable.", I answered.
He agreed quickly, I gave him the number for PSA, he agreed to contact Alexis immediately. I got up, walked back up to my apartment, took a shower , then watched TV for several hours before falling asleep on the sofa. I was still there at eight the next morning. It was Tuesday, our day off, I had no really big plans. I laid about for a while, then decided to go downtown to a large athletic store that had just opened to do some shopping. While I was in the store, my cell phone rang, it was Alexis.
"Brian, how are you ?", she said, cheerfully.
"Fine Alexis and you ?", I answered.
"I'm good, look I just got a call from a man who said he spoke to you about doing some clothing apparel, he said he spoke to you ?", she asked.
"Yes he did, I told him he had to contact you.", I responded.
"Ok, it sounds pretty standard, I will meet with him later today, then get back to you on the details. I also received a call from a footwear company, they want to meet about you wearing and endorsing their product. I have their rep coming in later in the week for a meeting.", she informed me.
"Ok, just let me know what you need from me.", I offered.
"Will do, talk to you later.", she said, hanging up the phone.
I was laying on the sofa watching TV around seven thirty, when there was a knock at the door. I got up and walked into the foyer, opening the door, it was Alexis. She was obviously just coming home from work, she still had her business suit on.
"Hey, I have the proposal from Dynamic Graphics on the shirt he wants to market, I have the sketches and the preliminary numbers. I am going to clean up and change, I need to go over these with you tonight if possible.", she asked.
"Sure, come back down when you're ready.", I replied.