Two Minute Drill (Bases Loaded Jam Series #2)

Ch. 60: Intro, Anthem, Kickoff (Gordon/Kendra)

Gordon

From the moment I woke up that morning, there was a silence amongst myself and my teammates. Sure, we did have conversations and we were loose like always prior to the game. Yet, we really weren't displaying that looseness as much as we had done in the season. I think we all understood the situation. This was the fucking Super Bowl of all places.

Was I nervous? I mean sure, I was always a bit tight before every game. What I hated the most was having to wait for the game to start. Why do we even bother with times when we could just kickoff at any point? I was always impatient in waiting for the game to start.

Maybe I was nervous or maybe I was getting sick of all the chatter I was hearing about the Cowboys and Brad Cummings by the media personalities.

Skip Bayless: My Dallas Cowboys will not only shred Houston. But Brad Cummings will give Gordon Henry a demonstration of Quarterbacking 101.

Colin Cowherd: We all know Brad Cummings is the best quarterback in the league. He was better as a Gator then Gordon Henry was and he is better as a Cowboys quarterback then Henry was as a Texans' backup quarterback.

Rob Parker: I don't know nothing about this Gordon Henry fellow other than he's lucky to be in the league. He will remind everyone of what a fraud he was. And besides, Houston can't win this game and will never win. Dallas is the more superior team. It's that simple.

It wasn't just the media that got to me. It was also how everyone treated us with disrespect from some of the celebrities at the game to people around the world that knew of the Cowboys. We were the underdogs here. We might not have been America's Team, but if I'm not mistaken, didn't the rest of America wanted to see the Cowboys lose? That's what I always thought even growing up as a Cowboys' fan.

During the warmups, I kept looking around to see other celebrities. I saw Tom Holland, Zendaya, Miley Cyrus, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Garner, Dirk Nowitzki and even Derek Jeter at the game. At one point, Troy came right up to me.

"Hey old man," he said. "Can you believe that you and I are the stars of this show and we're being watched all these stars and people?"

I could only smile. "It's a team game Troy. We're all the stars."

"I know. But while you and Brad will be putting on a duel, I'm going to make sure these other Cowboy punks get introduced to me. Let's go win this game together. Hey look, there's a group wearing out gator t-shirts."

I glanced up see where Troy was pointing and sure enough, there was a fanbase with gator t-shirts on. Those shirts that became popular ever since Troy helped rescue an alligator had made their way to the Super Bowl. I couldn't help but laugh. Troy was always a crazy guy on the field. But, I knew his intentions were to make himself well-known to everyone and to help us win. I knew he was ready to play. I was hoping I was ready to play as well.

We got done with the warmups and went back towards the locker room. As I approached my locker, I glanced at the three pictures that were at the door. Two of the pictures had always been with me. One was with me and my parents while the other was with me and my high school teammate Kip Styles, who I replaced at quarterback from our high school days before he died in the plane crash. I wished all of them were here to watch me perform. I could hear everyone of them telling me the same things they would say to me when I was nervous.

"Don't let the moment overtake you if you become vulnerable," Kip would say.

"No matter what happens, you're still our baby at the end of the day," Mom would say.

"Get your ass out there and deal with the pressure you might be feeling," Dad would say.

I then glance to the third picture. It was one with me in a uniform next to Kendra in a cheerleader's outfit back when we were dating in high school. She was smiling and hugging my waste while I had my arm around her with a smile. I remember this being after our state championship win. This happened a few months before prom night.