November 7th
Turbulence.
Ainsley
“Another Saturday, another win,” I say to Damon when he video-chats with me after his game. This week, they played in California. “Sammy went back home for the weekend, so I made myself some hot wing dip and watched it by myself. I might have yelled at the TV a time or two.”
It was the first game I hadn’t either been at or watched with Sammy. And I might have been doing my own play-by-play, talking through the game and telling our baby exactly how their daddy was doing—which, for part of the game, was not that great. The team really struggled.
“It was a rough one,” Damon says. He’s freshly showered, his hair still wet. And looking different from when I watched him speak at the postgame press conference a little bit ago. “We had bad turbulence on the plane going there, and it seems like it was indicative of the game we played.”
“It was turbulent. Chase threw two interceptions. Got sacked multiple times. The reporters, of course, were going for the kill. Saying that your weaknesses were being exposed.”
“They were, honestly. Our offensive line was being manhandled, and I don’t know how many sacks they ended up with, but it was way too many. The defense was lethargic. We were a mess.”
“But you stuck with it. I’m always amazed how one play can change the momentum in a game.”
“Yeah, the defense’s pick six was huge and put us back within two touchdowns.”
“The comeback of the century, according to those same reporters, who were suddenly singing your praises. They thought you were going to go the safe route, kick the field goal, tie the game, go to overtime, and hash it out there.”
“But we had other plans,” he says with a smile.
“As usual, I watched your postgame interview. You did really well, Damon. But you always do. You’re good at public speaking. I think I would get up there and freeze.”
“I just try to talk to them like I would a friend,” he says with a shrug. “That makes it easy.”
“Except they were pretty brutal with some of their questions. Especially the one about if you are overrated.”
He rolls his eyes, causing me to laugh.
“That’s exactly the expression you had when he asked. You rolled your eyes.”
He chuckles. “I try not to do that. To let them get to me, but …”
“You stood up for your team. Mostly Chase. Is he feeling okay? Some of those hits were pretty brutal.”
“I’d say he’s going to be sore tomorrow, but right now, he’s flying pretty high. We all are.”
“And did you happen to see who lost today?” I say, referring to the team that served up their one and only loss of the season so far.
“We sure did. If things keep going as planned, we’ll be playing in the conference championship.”