IMPETUS

Flavor of the month (phenom)

The sportswriters christened him "phenom." A term they liked to throw out for every young hotshot who was on the way up. During his own meteoric rise, Mikey Angelo had craned more than a few necks himself, to which more than a few chiropractors could attest.

But those days were unfortunately long behind him.

Now they were on to some new flavor of the month. Marve was still holding his own in the points department, but his curb appeal could not match that of a young driver from Europe, who'd burst onto the scene from the F3 series and taken the world by storm. His name was Gabriel Espinoza, and when asked after his most recent victory in North Carolina to name some of his heroes, among Formula One legends like Schumacher, Hamilton, and of course, Alonzo, he dropped one name in particular nearly no one would have expected to see coming.

"Mikey Angelo."

From his home in Miami, Mikey nearly spit out his Coco Puffs.

"When I was a boy growing up in Barcelona, we got one only American channel, where I saw all the American races, and no one was more exciting to watch."

Was that supposed to be flattering?

"Word is he's recovering quite nicely. So how'd you like to go up against Angelo one of these days?"

Mikey leaned in closer.

"That would be a dream come true."

The casual name-drop did wonders to lift his low profile, not to mention boost his sagging confidence. All of a sudden, a tsunami of emails and text messages flooded his spam-cluttered inbox with inquiries; everyone from ass-kissers to out of the woodwork fan-wankers (curious to see if he'd respond), and even a few viable job offers mixed in for good measure. And what with his insurance lapsing rapidly, there could be no better time to cash in on the resurgent interest. So when Fox Sports contacted him with an offer to sit in the broadcasters booth for Sunday's race in Ohio, he responded with an enthusiastic 'Sure, that could be fun," in an attempt not to come across as too eager.

His excitement quickly waned, however, downshifting to cautiously flattered, then anxiously terrified.