Praying For A Hail Mary - 8. Chapter 8

The locker room got completely quiet and every eye was on Jason and Coach Campbell. At that very moment, Jason realized that he wasn’t ready. He has no idea how his fellow teammates were going to react to the news. With his past history, some of them would react with silence, but snicker behind his back when they think he’s not listening. Others will tell him straight out to his face what a disgrace he is and he will have to shake it off and ignore those comments. And there will be those very few who wouldn’t care what he does in his private life.

No matter what the reaction is going to be, he’s just was not ready for them at that moment. Being that he’s just getting off the roller coaster ride from his college years, he didn’t want to jump right back on another similar ride that he knows he won’t be able to stop. No matter how much he tries to keep this news from getting out, it will. When that day comes, he’ll be better prepared for it than he was when the news came out his freshman year in college.

Coach Campbell knew exactly why Jason was hesitating and didn’t want him to feel he has to open up about his private life in order to stay as the starting quarterback. Just as he was about to interject, Jason stepped forward and cleared his throat. It took a few moments for the entire locker room to totally quieten down, but once it did you could hear every breath the person standing next to you was taking.

“There’s something I need to tell you guys and some of you may take offense to it. So before I say a word I would like to let you know no matter what each of you think or how you react to the news I’m about to say, I will always respect you as I did when I first walked into this locker room several weeks ago.” What was going through each of the players’ minds was completely wrong and soon they’ll find out how far off base they were.

“The night before last I sat with my agent and asked him what I should do about what I’m about to say. He told me that he knew almost all of you and you guys are cool. If I felt comfortable enough to talk to you guys on this subject I should and I would be surprised on the reaction. I really hope he is right because if anything has taught me from my past is that this kind of news puts a wedge between those that would have been friends if this wasn’t there.”

Jason took a quick glance around the room and saw a lot of confused faces looking back at him. He knew if he didn’t get to the point and soon, he was going to not only lose them, but he might cause the reaction that he is trying to keep from happening. A reaction that can end a career that hasn’t really had a chance to get started.

“I really hope what I experienced in the past was a onetime thing, but at the same time I know if you guys find this out in other ways than me telling you, there is no coming back from it. It will ensure my destruction with a team I hope to spend my entire career with. A team I hope to help get to the Super Bowl not only this year, but for many years to come.”

That got a reaction from everyone in the locker room. Almost all at once, everyone broke out in cheers in support of the last thing Jason had said. It has been a while since the Cowboys has made it to the Super Bowl and for many of them their time in the NFL is coming to an end. They want to be able to leave the NFL with a Super Bowl ring around their finger.

It took Coach Campbell to step in to quiet down the locker room. “I’m sorry Coach I didn’t mean to get them all riled up like that.” Coach Campbell leaned in and whispered it was okay but to get to the point. Nodding his head, Jason turned his attention back to his fellow teammates.

“I’d better get this off my chest because I’m eating away our practice time.” Taking a deep breath, Jason looked out into the distance at no one in particular and said it. “I’m gay!” Jason didn’t want to look at his fellow teammate. He knew this news caught them by surprise by the sounds they were making. It was like the wind was sucked right out of the room when he said it.

“I know there are others like me in the NFL, but feel they can’t do what I just did for fear of not only losing their career, but their friends and a place in the community. Since I’m barely starting, I don’t have neither, but those are not the only reasons why I’m being open with you guys. I’m being open with you all because you deserve it. You deserve to know who is in the locker room with you and know that no matter who I am, I will always respect you guys.”

Still no one said a word. Jason didn’t know if he should keep talking to try and get a response from his fellow teammates, or just let them deal with the news and see if they come up to him and say something. After a few more minutes of dead silence and blank faces looking back at him, Jason decided to try and explain why he came out to them.

“Um, I, guys, um I felt this needed to be said because of what I have been through already in my life. Because I kept it a secret and thought I would get away with keeping this a secret, I got treated worse when it did finally get out while I was in college. One of my fellow teammates heard a rumor, repeated it to another, than that teammate repeated to another and so on and so on. Before I knew it, the rumor became fact and I had no chance in hell to defend it no matter how untrue it was. Because I kept my sexuality a secret, they felt I was a liar and that nothing I said from that point on was the truth. So the rumor, no matter how untrue it was, became my downfall.

I don’t want that to happen here. I’m not in the locker room gawking at each of you while you are in the showers or running around half dressed or in your towels. As many of you have already seen I don’t take a shower with you guys and that is why. I don’t want a nasty rumor started about me again that I would lose your respect. Respect I want and I know I have to earn, but I think over the last couple of weeks I have earned already a little from you guys.”

That got a smile from a couple of the guys. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable with me. If you feel me being who I am, I will walk. I will take whatever penalty it is to break my contract with the Cowboys and move on. When it’s all said and done, I want to be part of a team that is comfortable with who I am and I don’t have to hide myself from them.”

Ware jumped to his feet and interrupted Jason. “Let me ask you a simple question.” Ware looked around at his fellow teammates who were looking at him. “Now that you opened up to us about who you are, do you plan to become the poster child for gay rights? I mean I don’t have any problem with that, but it will distract from what we are really trying to get done here.”

Not meaning to, Jason started to laugh, getting a confused look back not only from Ware, but from most of his fellow teammates. “I’m sorry I’m not laughing because of I think the question is dumb or anything like that. It’s just I didn’t expect that to be the first question.” That eased the tension in the room. “And no I don’t plan to become the poster child for the gay movement. I’m a very private person and I don’t want my personal life out there for all to dissect.

As I already said earlier the only reason I’m letting you guys know this is because I want you guys to hear it from me first, not from a rumor or a reporter chasing a rumor. You deserve to know this about me due to us playing so close together and yes…” Jason looked around the locker room a couple of times. “We change and shower together in a very small area. Something I won’t do if you guys either don’t want me to or aren’t comfortable with me while you guys are changing.”

“To hell with that!” Miles jumped to his feet yelling. “I know I’m not speaking out of turn here when I say we don’t give a shit about your personal life. Hell we don’t care if you love sleeping with cows or donkeys, as long as you keep doing what you have been doing!” All at once the majority of the team jumped up and in one way or another say something like Austin had just finished saying. “You have been our first chance in a very long time to get to the Super Bowl. There is no way we’re going to let your personal life get in the way of that. Now if you do something stupid like hit the guy you are with, we’re going to be all over you!”

Austin playfully hit Jason on his back as he stepped out of the way to allow the others to take their playful jabs. Once everyone that wanted to say something to him had their turn, which was all in good humor and acceptance, they took their seats back in front of their lockers. The few that didn’t join the others didn’t even look at Jason. At that moment Jason knew those were the ones that he had to watch out for, as did Coach Campbell.

“Okay, Okay let me have your attention once more!” Coach Campbell yelled. “Now that our love fest is over with our newly signed starting quarterback, let’s welcome him to our team as our quarterback.” Once again very jumped to their feet and welcomed Jason to their team except for the same players that didn’t get up before, which didn’t sit well with Campbell.

He walked over to the players and asked them to step into the weight room and wait for him there before turning his attention back to the others. They didn’t see what he had just done or saw their fellow teammates making their way to the weight room. They officially welcomed Jason before returning back to what they were doing before Jason walked in and gave his big speech.

When Campbell was certain nothing was going to happen to Jason, he made his way to the weight room where the players were standing against the wall. “Look I don’t have time to deal with you guys and to tell you the truth I don’t want to waste a single second on this. But you guys have left me no other choice than to do what I don’t want to.”

One of the players interrupted his coach, which they all knew wasn’t tolerated. “Leave you with no other choice, leave you with no other choice!” The player repeated several more times. “You and Mr. Jones have left us with no other choice than to play on a team with a faggot. That isn’t right and you guys know it. You know it Coach because you were one of us at one time. There is no way you would have sat back and allowed a faggot play on your line, dress alongside of you in the locker room or even step an inch in the shower with you while you were naked.”

Campbell was blown away with how much hatred he was hearing in his player’s voice. He knew when Jason told him his secret and then quickly wanted to tell his fellow teammates he was going to get some blow back from some of them, but not like this. By the hatred he is hearing in his player’s voice and seeing the same in his face, Campbell knew there was going to be problems. A lot of problems if he doesn’t try and put an end to them right there and then.

“I will not make any excuse about my time and how we would have reacted if we had a player like Jason on our team. It would have been wrong then as much as it is wrong now.” The players looked at their coach with stunned looks on their faces. “There is no excuse for hatred of any kind. No matter what it is, no excuse. Those that have that in their heart need to look deep inside themselves and see really what is driving their hatred because I can promise if they do they will find that the hatred is not really of the person they are pointing to but themselves.”

Campbell started to pace along the wall like he does whenever he is giving his team a pep talk during half time. “Jason has not done anything wrong to you, me, anyone in that locker room or outside it. He’s trying to live in a world were a majority of the people hate him for something he has no control over. Something he himself I can promise tried to ignore and change but found out quickly that he couldn’t because it’s something that can’t be changed.”

“That is bullshit coach and you know that!” One the defensive players jumped up to his feet and spoke for the first time. “He had a choice and he chose to be sick because only those that are sick lay down with the same sex. So don’t stand there and say he had no choice if he would rather lay down and have sex with a guy than a girl.”

That remark didn’t sit well at all with Campbell and the guys saw it. None of them went in there to get on the coaches bad side, but they weren’t about to sit there and be told something that they know to be untrue. What they have been taught since they could remember any one that lays down with the same sex are going to hell. They could choose not to and here before them was a person that chose to sin. So in their eyes he’s lower than scum and he should be treated as such.

“Damn it!” Coach Campbell yelled over his player to get him to shut up and sit back down on the bench. “I don’t give a shit what your personal feelings are in this matter. The Cowboys organization isn’t paying you to have one. It’s paying you to play ball out there on that field and that’s all. So leave your fucking luggage at the door when you walk in here is that understood?” None of the guys responded. “I said is that understood?”

It took a few seconds, until the first of the players nodded his head before the others joined him. “Oh one more thing before I let you guys go.” Campbell spoke as he walked towards the door. “If I hear that you guys give Jason a hard time in any way, a bad remark, wrongful tackle, hit or just an ugly look you will be benched and depending on my mood may be off the team. I’m sure I will find a clause in your contracts in order to get that done.”

“You’ve got to be kidding us coach!” The first player that spoke up matched his coach’s voice level as he stepped forward. “You can’t honestly think you can make us follow those rules. If Jason rubs the wrong way, a look or just a feeling we get from him, we will react. We have the right to react whenever we feel that another in some way is either doing or planning to do harm to us.”

At that moment Coach Campbell saw in that player’s face so much hatred for a guy he really doesn’t know. A guy he hates on principal alone, nothing more. Something he knows he can’t control or even change in a person like him because that is what he was taught. To make matters worse that kind of hatred can’t be undone. It’s there for good.

“Do you think I will honestly choose you guys over Jason?” Campbell chuckled. “If you really think that you’re mad because I won’t. In fact there are very few players on this team I would choose over Jason because he is needed to get us where we want to go, and you guys aren’t.” Campbell looked straight at the player that is standing toe to toe with him. “And if they would come at me with this bullshit I would probably bench them as well because I can’t stand this kind of hatred towards anyone.” Campbell took a couple steps back to try and calm down.

“You know what I don’t need this crap right now. Not after what we have just gone through on getting us a quarterback that can get us back to the Super Bowl.” Coach Campbell turned and started walking back towards the door. “A young man that not only has natural talent, but a big heart in his chest that doesn’t deserve this shit. Gather your stuff and go home. Don’t come back until you get a call either from me or Jerry Jones.”

As Campbell walked out into the locker room he called over one of the assistants of his other coaches to carry out his order. Once he explained to him what he wanted done, he turned his attention to the others that hadn’t spoken up as much as the player he just sent home, or at least not as much. They knew by the look on their head coach’s face he was serious.

“Am I going to have problem with any of you?” Immediately they shook their heads no. “If I so much have a tingle in my little finger that something is about to go wrong with you guys, I will send you home. No matter if you like it or not, you have to accept Jason for who he is and play with him if you want to stay on this team.” Campbell looked over at the player that he had sent home to make sure he was packing his stuff as he continued talking. “At the end of the day this is a business and we must treat it as such. Those seats out there have to be filled each time we play at home and the only way that is going to happen is by winning. Jason can help us do that.”

With that Campbell walked out of the locker room leaving the players standing there not sure what they were supposed to do. They looked at each other for a few seconds trying to see if the other knew what they should do. It wasn’t until the one that was sent home passed them that they broke out of their trance and headed out to practice to join the rest of the team.

Jason was stunned how practice was going. Not one of his teammates treated him any different than they did the last time they were on the field together. When the play they ran went right, they slapped him on the butt without a second thought. Something he never got out of his teammates from college once they found out that he was gay. Something he likes because it made him feel part of the team. A team that he feared he might lose after his secret was out.

As the day went on, Campbell and the rest of the coaching staff stopped walking on egg shells. At first they were worried that one or two of the players would take a cheap shot at Jason after finding out that he was gay, but that never happened. By the time they took their second break, the coaches were back to their normal selves running their lines of practice.

The player that Campbell sent home did a detour from the locker room and the parking lot to Jerry Jones’s office. He had to wait almost two hours since he had no appointment before he was called in, but once he was, he had a plan on what he was going to say. He had no doubt that once he spoke with Jerry and told him what would happen if he kept Jason on the team that he would side with him because as his coach just told him and his fellow teammates this is a business.

After getting through the pleasantries, the player got down to business. “Thank you again sir for seeing me without an appointment. As I told your secretary it was urgent that I spoke with you before the day was up.” The player settled into his seat as Jerry kept working on the paperwork on his desk. “Coach Campbell sent me home today for no reason at all.” That got Jerry’s uninvited attention. He put down his pen as he made eyes contact with the player for the first time.

“I’m sorry Skyler I think I heard you wrong!” Jerry spoke in a low, but commanding voice. “I think I heard you say that Coach Campbell sent you home for no reason at all. That doesn’t sound like Campbell so I’m going to need you to be truthful with me and tell me why.” The looked on Jerry’s face went from cautious to serious in seconds. “And I need you to keep in mind that I will be confirming what you tell me here with Coach Campbell.”

“I expect nothing less than that.” Skyler held his ground. “After all he is the head coach of this team and you need to make sure what I’m telling you is the truth, and it will be.” Once again the way Skyler was talking got Jerry’s complete attention. “As we were changing for practice…” He went into detail on what happened in the locker room when Jason and Campbell walked in and then in the weight room. It didn’t surprise Skyler that Jerry didn’t know that his new golden boy was gay and hopes that would help him because he knew Jerry didn’t like being kept in the dark.

“Okay first of all this is the first I’m hearing this about Jason.” Jerry tried to sound sincere, but it wasn’t the first he heard of Jason being gay. Up until that moment it was nothing but a rumor and now it’s been confirmed. “And second I’m sure up until today Coach Campbell didn’t know, just like the rest of you. So there is no doubt I would have been briefed about this the minute practice was over. Therefore I still don’t know why you are in my office.”

Taking a deep breath, Skyler gathered his thoughts. “Well is wasn’t just to tell you about what we had found out about Jason and Coach Campbell going off the deep end with me because I didn’t come right out and accept that I have a gay teammate and sent me home. No I asked to speak with you to let you know if you leave Jason on this team you are going to have a walk out.”

Jerry didn’t like the tone in which Skyler was speaking in or the threats he was giving. “Let me make this as clear as possible to you Skyler. If you or anyone else on the team walk out, it’s a breach of your contract and I won’t hesitate on terminating your contract. Also if I or anyone else on my staff finds out that you are trying to put together a walk out, I will terminate you contract with this team and blackball you. You will never play another second in the NFL.”

“Hold on sir!” Skyler put up his hands. “I didn’t come in here to threaten you that I was going to put together a walkout. No sir! That started the minute Jason announced to the entire team that he is gay. If you don’t want the walkout to happen before the next game, you need to find us another quarterback. There are plenty out there that are free agents and aren’t gay.”

Jerry didn’t like being pushed into the corner and didn’t try to hide his dislike from Skyler. “If you and other members of this team feel that you guys can’t play on a team that has a member that is gay than this team will be better without you. Times are changing and everyone either changes with the times or gets left behind. Don’t be one of those that get left behind.”

Just then Jerry’s secretary come over the intercom on the phone to let him know that his next appointment was waiting. The minute he was told that, his facial expression changed. For the first time Skyler is seeing fear in Jerry’s face. Something he thought he would never see because this guy has never shown it in public or in private until now.

“Look I will look into this and find a middle ground that everyone could live with.” Jerry spoke quickly as he got up and started to usher Skyler to the door. “But let me make one thing straight here and now, Jason isn’t going anywhere. If Campbell and I have to put in certain rules to keep everyone happy, we will, but Jason is going to be this team’s quarterback.”

With that he pushed Skyler out the door as he invited the young guy waiting in. As Skyler and the young man passed each other, Skyler took a real good look at him. He has seen the guy somewhere before, but where he couldn’t put his finger on it. The only thing he was certain of is whoever this guy was he has to be important to get Jerry all nervous.

Meantime across town Spencer was sitting down with Nike to complete a contract of another player he represents. The contract signing went off without no surprises, which made Spencer’s job a lot easier. He hates last minute changes in contracts because he gets the feeling the other side thinks he’s dumb and wouldn’t notice that they made a change, but that didn’t happen in this one.

What did happen was when all everything was finalized and the meeting was wrapping up one of the Nike representatives asked about Jason as he and his colleagues were walking out. At first Spencer thought it was just a general question if Jason had a shoe contract and ignored it because he thought it was too soon to be talking about endorsements. After all Jason has only played in two games, but when the representative stopped and asked again made Spencer think twice.

“Michael because you and I started out almost at the same time in our fields I will be completely honest with you.” Spencer thinking quickly on his feet. “Even though Jason has only played in two games I know he is a hot commodity right now. Not only due to what he has done in his first two games, but signing the largest rookie contract in history as well. Even though there is a pay scale that all teams normally follow that the NFL set up, Jerry Jones ignored it. He saw what I’ve been saying since I met Jason several weeks ago. He’s worth a lot more than he got.”

Michael shook his head as his colleagues walked out of Spencer’s office, leaving them alone. “The reason I’m repeating something I know without a doubt you already know is because I have been shopping him around with several shoe companies out there like Adidas. I didn’t bring him to you guys because I had this contract on the table and didn’t want it to look like I was piggy backing another deal for another client of my mine on it.”

“No I understand why you didn’t come to us, but now that the contract we have been working on is done, signed and delivered I don’t see why we can’t talk shop about Jason.” Michael and Spencer made their way back into the office and sat down. “We at Nike would really like to have Jason’s name associated with our brand. Not just because of what he has done, but because of what we know he will do.” Michael stopped, rethought of what he was about to say and then continued.

“He will not only bring the Cowboys back from the wilderness that they have been wandering in since nineteen ninety six, but he will also bring the NFL into the present.” Spencer couldn’t help but wonder if Michaels had been hearing little birdies singing. “Since Jason has popped up on the big stage of the NFL, there has been a lot of rumors circling around about him. Most of the time we at Nike ignore rumors, but when the rumors seem to be the same thing over and over again, we look into them to see how true they are. Even though we haven’t been able to confirm any of the rumors to be either true or false, we would like to bring Jason into our family.”

“Well I would like to take Jason offers from as many shoe companies out there as I can, but before we go any further I would like to know which rumors you are talking about.” Spencer shifted in his chair. “Being his sports agent I need to know about all rumors that are circling around about him so I can either confirm or denounce them if I know the truth. And if I don’t know the truth I will get to the truth so I can either confirm or denounce them.”

“There is one rumor mainly out there that we have been able to trace back to another young quarterback that started it, Orton. Not only was he in college at the same time Jason was, but he was going out for the same position that Jason got. Those reasons and those reasons alone are the only ones we gave the rumor any attention to at all.

However, the more we looked into the rumor, we couldn’t find any proof or person to back up his claim that Jason could be the first gay NFL player. At least a NFL player we can one hundred percent say is gay.” Michael straightened up in his seat. “Not one former player on his college or high school team we talked to was willing to confirm the rumor, but some of his former college teammates gave us a feeling that we were going in the right direction by the way they were acting when we were talking to them. They denounced the rumor, but their body language told us there is a lot more to the story than we know. There is no doubt they are hiding something.”

Spencer chuckled as he shifted around the folders on his desk. “If it’s not one thing about a new player, it’s another. We have seen so much already come across our desks and I’m sure we haven’t seen nothing yet.” Spencer looked up from his desk and made eye contact with Michael. “If the rumor is even true will that affect any contract that Jason might sign with Nike.”

“We don’t care if Jason is gay!” Michael stopped and held out his hand as if he was telling Spencer to stop. “Hold on, scratch that! We do care, but not in the way you or anyone else might think. There is no doubt there has been NFL players in the past that are gay, but never had the nerve to come out because of how society was. That’s all changed now. Society is more open to this and I don’t see why the NFL wouldn’t. At least we hope the old boys club of the NFL wouldn’t care if they had players that are gay playing football.”

Spencer didn’t know what to make with what is going on. On one hand he knows Michael very well and he can take him at his word when he says something. On the other hand, Michael works for a huge company whose sole purpose is to make money. Because of that reason and that reason alone is why Spencer is questioning the entire conversation. He is getting a nagging feeling that his good friend Michael was sent in to try and confirm the rumors of his client Jason.

“Come on Michael if the rumor is even true, which I’m not saying it is, I can’t talk about it. The only one that has that right is Jason and Jason alone.” Spencer light heartedly spoke, trying to lighten the mood in the room. “Look you know whenever a new player comes along and doesn’t have a girl hanging off both of his arms and double digits of them falling him all over the place the guy gets stamped gay. That isn’t right and Jason shouldn’t have to fight that as his first battle. Let’s put that topic aside and get down to serious business about Nike being one of Jason’s sponsors.”

Not liking how Spencer quickly changed the conversation, Michael had no other choice than to move on. “Well as I stated earlier we at Nike believe Jason is not only going to be around for a long time, but breaking a lot of records. In his first two games alone he has broken or tied records and we want our brand to be associated with those kind of successes.”

“You’re not going to get any objection from me!” Spencer pulled out a file and opened it up. It didn’t take him long to find the page that he was looking for. “In his first two games in the NFL Jason has done something no other quarterback has done and that is no dropped passes. I’m not saying that is going to continue, but right now he is at one hundred percent. Then there is his rushing yards, the number of blocks he has already done and let’s not forget the field goal he did in the last game. Before he went out there and kicked the field goal, the longest stood at sixty three yards, but no more. Jason has that record right now and I don’t see it being broken any time soon.”

“That’s no lie!” Michael leaned forward. “Man I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was watching at home last Sunday. I thought Coach Campbell was out of his mind when he sent Jason out there to kick that field goal, but when he made it I was on my feet cheering the guy on. This young man somehow can connect to people without opening his mouth. I mean if my memory serves me right he hasn’t said a word to the press since he arrived in Dallas.”

Until now Spencer really hadn’t give much thought about Jason talking to the press. He has gotten so used to his clients being all over the air waves during football season, he never looked to see if Jason has joined the fold. Now that Michael mentioned that he hasn’t, he doesn’t know if it will work in his clients favor or not. More so that he is now the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. The most looked at team in the NFL.

“This guy can do a lot for the NFL and a lot for the Cowboys’ image if he not only is as clean as he seems and stays that way. For too many years now the Cowboys have been overshadowed by what their players have done off the field than on it. Hopefully with Jason now at the helm that is going to change and that is one of the reasons why we want him part of our family.”

“Like I said before Michael I would like that as well, but we’re going to have to come to an agreement on an actual contract. I can’t in good faith let him do anything that allows any company out there to make money and he doesn’t. So let’s start shooting out numbers and see where we end up so I can take it to my client. What do you say?”

“No problem at all.” Michael pulled out a file from his briefcase and opened it up. As he started going through a question popped into his head. “Can I ask you a question?” Michael looked up and saw Spencer nodding. “By any chance do you know what brand of shoe Jason is wearing right now? He’s been playing the game for years he has to have a favorite.”

Spencer leaned back in his seat to think about the question. For the life of him he couldn’t come up with an answer. After a few minutes of trying to picture Jason in his uniform he gave up and asked his secretary to bring in tape of the last game he played in. They didn’t have to wait long before she returned with the DVD in her hand.

Without asking, she put the DVD in as the two men moved in front of the TV. Since Jason wasn’t a starter, they had to fast forward the tape until they got to the part where he came out on the field to kick the field goal. Since the camera view was landscape, they had to wait until they zoomed into Jason as he was preparing to kick the field goal. As he put his foot into motion to kick the ball, Spencer paused the video and zoomed in. They couldn’t believe their eyes.

“It looks like Jason is really frugal!” Spencer chuckled as he pointed to his client’s foot. “He isn’t wearing a brand name on his feet. It looks like he not only buys his groceries from Wal-Mart, but his shoes as well.” Spencer lightly laughed as he walked back to his seat.

“Those shoes can’t be comfortable at all! And how do you know there from Wal-Mart?”

“I’m not certain they are from Wal-Mart, but they are not from the mall that I’m sure of.” Spencer pointed to the TV. “Just look at them. They are mostly plastic, not much leather on them. There is no brand name or symbol on them and they remind me of the shoes my parents bought me and my brothers and sisters as we were growing up. They didn’t have two pennies to rub together so whenever we needed new shoes they bought them from Wal-Mart or K-Mart because that’s where they were the cheapest. Jason doesn’t come from wealth and that tells me he grew up getting his clothes from places like Wal-Mart. They are good and affordable.”

Michael could see where Spencer was coming from. The shoes Jason wears could only come from stores like Wal-Mart or K-Mart because of no brand name on them and the way they were made, or at least looked like they were made. Even though over the years the shoes have gotten a lot better at these stores, they still don’t measure up to the shoes of his clients. Hopefully because of that he will be able to get Jason signed to a low contract. He couldn’t help but think that because of his past experience he has had with other clients that came from nothing into a lot money overnight.

“It’s great looking at videos and chatting up a storm….” Spencer snapped Michael out of his thoughts. “But I have several more appointments so let’s get down to business and start throwing numbers around. I know there is no way there will be a contract in place by the time this meeting is over, but I would like to have something to go along with the other offers I have for Jason.”

Before Michael could say a word Spencer’s phone rang. At first it looked like Spencer wasn’t going to answer it, but after the third ring he picked it up out of frustration. He didn’t yell at his secretary, but the tone of his voice told her that he wasn’t happy being disturbed. However, in seconds of him picking up the phone his mood changed drastically.

The conversation was short and when he got off the phone he didn’t want to discuss the possibility of Jason joining the Nike family. “I’m sorry, Michael. I’m going to have to end this meeting. Something has come up with one of my clients that needs my full attention.” Spencer tried to speak in a calm voice, but Michael saw right through it. He wasn’t calm at all. His body language gave him away. “So if you can send me a proposal that I can present to Jason and when I say time is a factor, I’m not just blowing smoke up your ass. There are already several proposals on the table.”

Michael didn’t want his company to not get a fighting chance on signing a player who he and many others at Nike believe is going to be a star player. As he was being ushered to the door, he tried to talk numbers, but when he realized that Spencer wasn’t listening, he promised his friend that he will have a written proposal faxed to him by the end of business, which seemed to satisfy Spencer.

Back at the Dallas training camp, Campbell had just ended practice. He went with the team to the locker room to make sure no problems would arise about what Jason had informed them. Just like during practice, the guys acted as if Jason hadn’t told them he was gay. They treated him as one of the guys and didn’t change a thing on how they acted in the locker room.

The only time alarm bells did go off for Campbell was when several of his players walked up to Jason who was sitting by himself off to the side. He knew why Jason was sitting alone, and there was no doubt in Campbell’s mind that his players knew. That is why when he saw several of them walking towards him, he got worried. Worried enough that he started walking towards the players ready to jump between them and Jason, but he soon realized he didn’t have to.

They weren’t going to Jason because they wanted to cause problems or hurt him. Their reasons were totally the opposite. Jason Witten and Ware looked to be the ones in charge because they were the ones that started talking to Jason. They playfully punched him on the shoulder and asked him why he was sitting off to the side. When he tried to answer the guys, they stopped him before he was able to get a word out. They made it clear that he was now their quarterback, which made him part of their team and no one on their team gets isolated.

Jason didn’t even attempt to fight the guys. He grabbed what he needed to shower with and joined the rest of the team in the shower room. Not one of them walked out when he walked in, which settled Campbell down quite a bit. Even though he will always worry about what could happen to Jason, at that very moment he could relax enough to go to his office.

However, the second he walked out of the locker room, he ran right into Jerry Jones. “Hey just the guy I was coming down to see.” Jerry said in a concerned voice. “Can we go to your office and talk in private?” Campbell looked at Jones nodding his head but was thinking to himself did he have a choice in the matter. The minute they walked into his office and he closed the door, Jerry started going at it on the very subject he knew he was there to get answers on.

“Earlier this morning I had a meeting with Skyler who told me some disturbing news.” Jerry said with anger in his voice. “News that backs what the attorneys I fired found out. Please tell me this player heard about the rumor and because he wouldn’t shut up about it you sent him home! Please tell me that we don’t have what could be the very first gay NFL player on our team.”

Campbell sat down behind his desk and waited for Jerry to stop asking him to tell him what he wanted to hear. “I won’t sit here and lie to you.” Campbell finally was able to say between Jerry’s requests, which got him to stop talking. “Yes I did send Skyler home and no it wasn’t for what you want me to confirm to you.

“Before practice started, Jason walked in here and confided in me on something he was under no obligation to do. He told me he was gay, which I told him I didn’t care. I further went on and told him we didn’t hire him for his personal life or who he falls in love with. We hired him to play in our quarterback position and as long as he does that to the best of his ability, he will always be this team’s quarterback. Please tell me I didn’t speak out of turn when I made that promise?”

Jerry was blown back on the last thing his head coach said. He didn’t expect to be pushed into the corner and put on the offense. “No you didn’t speak out of turn. You were right on what you told him, but I wish you would have called me in on that conversation. As owner I need to know what could hurt us in the press, and this can and you know it.”

“How in the hell will Jason’s personal life hurt us in the press?” Campbell for the first time in the conversation showed his frustration. “I know once this gets out there the press is going to eat it up and there is nothing we can do about it. But once the wins start adding up and we get into the playoffs, the topic will change. Until then we have to weather the storm.”

“That’s just it Russ! If you would have called me into the meeting you had with Jason this morning I could have stopped you guys from talking to the team. At least until there was a plan in place on how it gets out to the press. Now that is out of our hands. The minute those guys leave this building one of them, if not all of them, will grab the nearest microphone and spill it all. At that point we are not controlling the story, the story is controlling us.”

Campbell knew exactly what Jerry was talking about, but he couldn’t see any other way with him being part of the meeting would have changed what Jason had done. His young quarterback was set on telling his teammates and there was nothing or nobody could have stopped him. That includes the all mighty owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones.

“As I stated already Jason wasn’t under no obligation of any kind to open up and tell me or his fellow teammates what he told us. But as you said by having so many people knowing this about him is going to be a PR nightmare for all concerned.” Campbell leaned back in his seat as Jerry finally sat down for the first time since they walked into the office. “There is nothing we can say or do to keep this from getting out there. At this point we have to assume the minute the players start heading home one of them is going to talk to the press.”

“Yes and that is what I would have tried to avoid if I was part of the conversation that took place in the office.” Campbell was getting tired of hearing his boss say he would have been able to change the outcome of what happened after Jason met with him. “If I was there I would have made it clear to our young quarterback that there is a time and place to talk about this or that matter and this wasn’t it. If he still demanded an audience with the team at that point, I would have made it clear if he went ahead and told the team he would have been benched.”

That didn’t sit well at all with Campbell. He wanted to jump down his boss’s throat so bad and rip out his vocal cords, but he held himself back. He knew if he let his anger get the best of him he was going to say things that he wouldn’t be able to ever take back. Things that might actually make him lose his job. A job he loves and wouldn’t know what to do if he didn’t have it anymore.

“Well we could sit here all day long and throw back and forth what ifs and should ifs, but it won’t change what has already happened. Jason chose to open up to me, my staff and his teammates on a secret that was probably eating him alive. So instead of sitting here going back and forth the way we are let’s figure out a solution to what we know is coming.”

“Exactly and I think that is why I was called in!” At the same time Jerry and Campbell looked over at the door and saw Spencer poking his head in. “I’m sorry for barging in like this, but there was no out here and I have been waiting for a while.” Spencer walked into the office and closed the door behind him. “You know even though this door was closed, anyone sitting out there near the door could hear what you guys were talking about because at times you were getting a little loud.”

Both of them knew at times they were not talking, but yelling, but that is how a lot of their conversations go. It doesn’t mean they dislike each other. All it means is that they get into heated conversations when they want to get their point across. And always at the end, they come up with a solution by finding the middle ground and walk out as friends.

“By what I caught through the walls it doesn’t sound good for Jason.” Spencer looked at Jerry. “Is this the reason you called me to come down?” Jerry answered yes. “Well Jason did do something I wish he wouldn’t have done before we had a chance to sit down and make a plan on getting it out to the press, but that is neither here or there now. It’s done he has opened up and told everyone that he felt needed to know about his secret. What we need to do now is figure out a way to control the story which will be out there by the end of the day.”

“Exactly Spencer!” Jerry jumped in. “I don’t want to be on defense on this story, I want to be on offense. I want to be controlling it from the get go, but that is out of the picture now. So we need to figure out a way to get control of the story as quickly as possible and keep control of it because once we do we decide how much life the story has, not the press.”

“Oh don’t kid yourself Mr. Jones this story is going to have a long shelf life and I know everyone in this room knows it. Jason is going to be the first gay NFL player, or at least the first open gay NFL player that is. On top of that he beat out one of the greats to become quarterback of the American team which will give more life to the story. And of course there are so many other things out there that will come out that we won’t be able to control that will keep the story alive. So we’d better buckle ourselves in for a long ride here because there is no telling when it’s going to end.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the training ranch, Jason was making his way to the parking lot to get a cab back to the hotel. Just as he was waving one over he heard Patrick yelling out his name as he exited out the building. As he turned around he couldn’t help but laugh to himself on the way his friend Patrick looked running towards him with this huge duffle bag beating him down.

“Man what’re you doing?” Jason walked over and helped Patrick with his duffle bag. “You have everyone’s laundry in here or something?” Jason laughed as he helped grab and reset the bag on his friends shoulder. “I hope this isn’t some kind of hazing you have to go through because if it is I don’t want to know what they have in store for me.”

Patrick looked over at Jason with a half grin on his face. “Yeah it’s started!” Patrick dropped the bag to the curb as they waited for the cab. “In this damn bag is the entire second string jock straps and I don’t know what else that I have to wash and bring back in tomorrow as part of my hazing, which sucks…” He looked down at the bag as he waved his hand in front of his nose. “And man does it stink literally and figuratively!”

“That’s no lie!” Jason couldn’t hold back. He broke into full out laughter as he waved his hand in front of his nose as well. When the taxi pulled up, he helped Patrick get the bag into the trunk before they got into the backseat. “Hey man I’ll help you with this because if I don’t you’ll be up all night long in the laundry room and we don’t need that.”

Patrick looked over at Jason and for the first time since he walked out with the bag broke out into laughter. “Thanks I really appreciate it and whatever they throw at you I’ll be there to help you as well.” Patrick barely got out between laughs and then all of a sudden stopped laughing grabbing Jason’s complete attention. He wanted to talk to Jason about what happened today, but had no idea how to get the conversation started or if Jason would take offense if he went there.

“Hey Pat, you know you can ask me anything?” Jason broke the uncomfortable silence between them. “Out of everyone on the team I consider you my closest friend here. So whatever is on your mind you can ask and not have to worry how I’m going to react because I won’t take anything you have to say or ask wrongly. In fact I want your opinion whenever you have one on anything I do, say or you think I might do or say.” Jason playfully hit Patrick on the shoulder.

Patrick didn’t respond immediately, but once he did there was no stopping him. “So all that thing with Thelma is a ruse?” Jason nodded his head. “I understand why you felt you needed to do that, but I had hoped that you would have trusted me enough to tell me the truth. You’re my friend and like you I consider you the only friend on the team right now.”

“If you went through what I went through in college you wouldn’t trust a soul either. I mean we have only known each other for a couple of weeks, which isn’t much time if you really think about it. And because of the short period of time we have known each other I couldn’t take a chance on opening up. I did that once and it came right back to bite me in the ass.” Patrick was about to jump in, but Jason stopped him. He knew exactly what he was going to say. “Wait, I know I should have trusted you and not think you would have done the same thing the other so called friend did, but you’ve got to see where I’m coming from.”

Patrick slouched back into his seat thinking about what Jason had just said. It didn’t take him long to agree with every point his friend just made from the amount of time they have known each other to not knowing what he has been through already. He had heard rumors and if one fourth of the rumors he heard are even true he felt for his friend. No one should go through anything like Jason has gone through simply because of who they fall in love with.

“Well I’m glad that you were able to trust all of us enough to tell us what you told us. But you can’t get too comfortable around the guys on this. I mean most of them are probably okay with who you are and really don’t care. The only thing on their radar right now is getting to the Super Bowl and they believe you’re the person to get them there. But, and yes, there is a but... There are a few on the team don’t like your way of life and in time their ugliness will pop up!”

Jason chuckled as the taxi drove up to the hotel. Neither said another word as they got out, grabbed the bag from the trunk and headed in. However, once they were out of earshot, Jason did answer Patrick’s concern about those few haters he knows are on the team.

“I’m not kidding myself Pat about my standing on the team. The only reason I was accepted was because of how I do on the field. If I wasn’t the kind of player that I am, I would have been bounced out of the locker room before I had a chance to explain myself. The minute that I stop performing on the field is the minute that many of those guys will pull away from me.”

“Yes but I’m afraid there are going to be a few out there that will show their ugliness before that. I know there are a few on the team that if given a chance to take you into a deserted alley and beat the shit out of you, they would.” Patrick paused as he held the door to the laundry room open for Jason. “Screw the dark alley! If they could get you alone period they would beat you into another world and not think twice doing so.”

“I saw a few of them in the locker room today. In fact Coach Campbell pulled a few of them aside and one of the ones he pulled aside didn’t practice today which tells me that that one I have to keep a close eye on.” Jason stopped speaking because he was holding his breath as he helped Patrick empty the jock straps into the washing machines. Once the lids were closed he continued. “Those and probably a couple of the ones that patted me on the back I have to be careful with as well.”

Not wanting his conversation with Jason to be all dark, Patrick quickly changed the course. “Um it might be wrong for me to ask, but you told me I could ask anything so here goes.” Patrick looked directly into Jason’s eyes. “I’m not going to ask you those stupid questions like when you knew or anything like that. What I do want to know is the more juicy stuff like do you have a boyfriend right now and if so who is he?”

That got Jason to smile. “Yes, I do have a boyfriend right now, but out of respect to him I won’t give you his name. But I will leave you with this little nugget. You probably know him and have seen him on TV. You might have even seen in him person if you like the sport he plays in. Even though the sport isn’t as popular here as it is in Mexico and overseas.”

“Come on Jason tell me who he is! I promise you I will not tell a soul, anything that you tell me is between the two of us.” Jason kept shaking his head no. “Okay let’s go about this a different way then. I’ll throw out names and if I get the name right you tell me. If I don’t no harm done. What do you think can I do that to try and find out who the guy is?”

Patrick didn’t wait for a response from Jason. He started throwing out every name he knew in every sport, basketball, baseball and even football. At first he threw out names of guys that he heard rumors that might be gay and when he didn’t get a nod, he moved on to everyone else. Still after twenty minutes of throwing out names, Patrick wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.

“Am I at least close?” Jason shook his head. “Okay you said he plays sports like you, so he has to be one of the ones I named.” Once again Jason shook his head. “Unless you are into older guys, there is no way I didn’t guess his name. I threw out every name that came into sports that is around our age, plus or minus three or four years.”

“Yes you did, but none of those guys I’m dating. You’re not even in the right sport. He doesn’t play basketball, baseball or football, or at least American football that is.” That got the gears moving in Patrick’s head. “And even if you do guess his name I won’t confirm it because like I told you I have to respect his wishes on not wanting to be out yet.”

Even though he really wanted to know who Jason was dating, he respected his friend’s wishes and stopped throwing out names. “Just promise me this one thing! If and when the day comes the guy you are dating wants to meet some of your friends please let me and my wife be among the first. I want to meet the guy that makes you so comfortable that you were willing to lose it all today.”

Jason didn’t see it that way. He knew by coming out he was risking a lot, but not to the point that he was going to lose it all. The worst that would have happened was what happened when his college team found out about him, the rules. Campbell or the team might have demanded that rules like he had to follow in college had to be implemented. Even though he would have hated them, he would have honored their wishes and followed whatever rules would have been put in place.

The guys dropped the subject as they finished up the wash. Once everything that was in the huge duffle bag was washed and dried, they tossed them back into the bag and headed up to their rooms, all along horse playing with each other. When they reached their floor, they straightened themselves up as they bid each other goodnight and headed to their rooms.

As soon as Jason stepped into his room he was met with a worried looking Thelma. Because of his lateness she was walking the walls thinking all sorts of bad things that could be happening to her Jason, none of which had a happy ending. Jason knew the look on Thelma’s face and realized that he did wrong by not calling her and letting her know that he was going to be helping out Patrick and will be late due to that fact. Before he could say a word, Thelma grabbed him and pulled him into a hug with tears rolling down her face.

“You can’t be doing what you did tonight!” Thelma broke the hug. “More so now that you told everyone about yourself.” Thelma’s facial expression changed from worry to anger. “I wish we would have talked about this before you did what you did today because if we had I would have tried everything I could to stop you. You opened a door that now can never be shut!” All of sudden Thelma slapped Jason across his face. “You were almost killed once by idiots and I can’t go through that again. Not again Jay!”

Tears started to steadily roll down Thelma’s face as she fell to floor. On the other side of the room, Jason was frozen where he stood for a few seconds before he reacted joining her on the floor. He pulled her into him and held her not saying a word. At that moment he knew there was nothing he could say that would calm her and put her at ease on what he had done earlier. There was not a moment before or after he told his teammates about himself that he thought about how it would affect Thelma or his family, which now he regrets.

After sitting on the floor for almost an hour in complete silence, Thelma had stopped crying and had fallen asleep. Jason didn’t know what to do at first, but knew he couldn’t leave her on the floor the way she was. So as carefully as he could, he got up trying not to disturb her. Once he was on his feet, he picked her up and carried her to the bed and laid her down. Before he was able to pull the blankets over her, she opened her eyes.

“What’s going to happen now Jay?” Thelma could see the question confused Jason. “I mean now that your teammates know about you, what’s going to happen to you. Are they going to do what your team did in college with the rules and stuff? Or are they just going to simply cut ties with you and let you go because they don’t want to deal with what could happen in the future.”

“For now Thelma nothing is going to change! Most of the guys had no problem with my personal life, which they didn’t have the right to have anyway. But I won’t sit here and lie to you and say that all of them were okay with what I said. There were a couple that Coach Campbell had to pull to the side, one didn’t even return to practice. I know those I have to watch out for and probably a few others that right now are acting like they are my friends.”

“Those that are acting like your friends there the ones that you have to be more watchful of.” Thelma scooted herself up in the bed until she was in a sitting position. “They might think they have the upper hand because they’re fooling you into thinking that you don’t have to worry about them. You got to be on your guard more on them than those that showed their dislike straight out. Friends have no problem stabbing each other in the back in the sports world if it gets them ahead.”

“Yes I know that and those are the ones I’ll be watching out for.” Jason grabbed a hold of Thelma’s hand as he sat next to her on the bed. “Thelma I need you to stay at my side. Even though I opened up to my teammates and more than likely because of that Spencer is going to have me do some kind of press conference, I want you to stay at my side. Pretend or not, I love you and man if I was straight I would have proposed to you years ago.”

Thelma wanted to lean in and give Jason a kiss on the lips, but knew better. Even though she has dreamed of that moment for years, she has also known that her best friend is gay and will never think about giving her a kiss, and more so now that he is in a committed relationship. Little did she know Jason has been thinking about asking her for some time now to be the mother of the kids he wants, but doesn’t know how to ask if she’d agree.
The two talked the evening away about all the possible outcomes that can come from what he had done. The only time they took a break from talking about it was when they went out to eat dinner with Patrick and his wife. Other than that, when they returned back to the room they picked up where they left off. Somewhere along the way they both just wore themselves out and fell asleep in each other’s arms. Neither stirred until the alarm clock went off the next morning.

Meanwhile at the Cowboys training camp, Jerry Jones and Coach Campbell were back in his office talking about what they were going to do now that their worst nightmare has happened. One, if not a few of the players had talked with the press and the press ran with it. Every channel, sports and news were reporting on Jason. When they arrived they could barely get through the gates due to the amount of press camped out waiting to get a chance to talk to Jason.

“I told you this was going to happen, didn’t I?” Jerry yelled as he paced around Campbell’s office, every so often looking out as a player passed by. “You need to go in there and find out which of those players talked to the press. Once you find out, send them up to my office so I can have a one on one with them about not airing out what happens in the club house in public.”

“No I won’t do that!” Campbell quickly responded, stunning Jerry. “You were right about some of them talking to the press and there’s nothing we could have done to stop them. That is why we put a plan in place on how to get control of this story. So I suggest we stick with the plan and not get knocked off course from it before we can even start.”

Jerry didn’t like it and he was about to make it clear to his coach that he didn’t when Campbell got up from his seat to call in a Ware, Miles, Witten and Bryant. When the four men walked into the office and saw Jerry standing there, they looked like deer caught in headlights. Campbell saw the look on his players faces and couldn’t help himself from laughing.

“Look no one here is in trouble, so please take a seat.” Campbell pointed to the free seats in front of his desk. “The reason I called you guys in here is to enquire about the things you might have planned for Jason.” The four guys looked at each other and then back to Campbell with confused looks on their faces. “Come on I know you guys are going to do something to welcome Jason to the team like you do every new team member. I just want to know what you have planned.”

None of the guys responded until they were prompted again by Coach Campbell and then and only then Witten spoke up. “Well Coach we haven’t really given it much thought since it’s only been a couple of days since he was officially given the quarterback position. A few things have been flown like shaving his head, having a male stripper dress up and pretend to be a cop and arrest him or something in that area.” The other guys shook their heads as Witten spoke.

“Okay I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you can’t do anything above board that you have done to other new players on the team. Hell I did a crap load of shit when I was a player to other new players, so I know how it is. But I would like to ask you guys to scratch off the list the male stripper or anything else dealing with sex and sexual issues.”

The confused looks returned on the guys faces. “I know I asked you guys to treat Jason like you would any other player, but I’m sure you saw the circus out there when you arrived.” The guys nodded their heads. “They are here to speak with Jason because some of the guys in the locker room couldn’t keep their mouths shut. If they pick up even a rumor that you guys plan to do anything like the male stripper gag, they will blow it way out of proportion and make it headline news. I hope you understand why I’m asking this of you.”

“We do coach and we promise to follow you request and stay away from anything like the male stripper gag.” Ware spoke for the guys. “But we are able to do anything else that we have done to others newbies right?”

“Yes as long as it’s above board. Nothing breaking the law, degrading over reaching or anything in between. I know you guys know what I mean, right?” All at once they shook their heads. “Good get on out of here and get ready for practice!” Coach Campbell said as he got up from his seat and walked over to the door. “Oh one more thing since a couple of you are captains and the others are veterans make it clear to your lines talking to the press about airing out what is said and done in our locker room is forbidden. If they are caught they’ll be running laps until their legs fall off.”

The four of them promised their coach to relay the message as they passed him at the door. Once they were out, he closed the door and turned his attention back to Jerry. “That’s how you get your point across without becoming the bad guy. Those guys are going to go out there and not only find which of the guys spoke with the press, but will make sure it won’t happen again.”

Both of them knew that wasn’t going to happen with such a huge group of people. Several of them will talk again to the press because they know they will get away with it. And when that happens, Campbell and Jerry know they will have another battle to fight with the press. For now they have to fight the one at hand and the only way they see on doing that is by putting their plan into effect once they talk with Jason and get him on board.

TO BE CONTINUED…………………..

WRITER’S CORNER:

{Welcome one and all to a new chapter in the sage of ‘Praying for a Hail Mary’. Before I go into the summation of this chapter, let me get rid of all the legal mumble jumble I have to do by using real names of people in my story. This story is purely fictional and does not imply anything about the sexuality of the featured people. I also like to note that The Dallas Cowboys and any other team I write about in this story is a copyright and trademark of NFL and its affiliates.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed the eighth installment of this exciting story, but before I get into the summation of the chapter I need to talk about a concern that has been raised in the last week or so by some of the readers. Please don’t take this concern wrong, I just need to clear it up so there is no misunderstanding about this story I’m writing.

Several comments either via the site or email has been written questioning this story. Some are asking if this story is based off the college player that is gay and now trying to go pro. This story started several weeks prior before there was even a hint a player in any sport was coming out gay or is gay. As I stated when I first started this story it has been on my mind for several years, but I hadn’t written it because my plate was full and still is full with the other four stories I’m writing right now. So to those questions the answer is no this story isn’t based on any real life person in sport today. I’m just lucky that it is happening as I’m writing the story because it is bringing in new readers.

Now enough of that, let’s get to the summation of this chapter that was full of excitement and drama. After writing the last chapter I was going back and forth on rather or not I should let Jason come out to the team. When I started writing this chapter I was set on him chickening out, but I quickly changed my mind and sent the story in the other direction.

Jason did come out to his teammates and the majority of them took it very well. One of my readers posted a comment that I was setting Miles up to being one of the one’s against Jason. Sorry that didn’t happen I really like Miles and I wasn’t about to write him in a bad light. He and much of the team didn’t care that Jason is gay. They welcomed him as he is, but I wonder if that is going to last. I mean what’s going to happen if they start losing? What’s going to happen when all the press is talking about is Jason and only Jason? And so many other things will come out from this that can change some of the minds of the players that are currently for Jason.

Like Thelma said when Jason and her sat and talked about what he had done. The ones that he has to worry about the most is those that are acting as his friend. Those are the worse because the majority of the time you don’t see them coming when they are stabbing you in the back. I truly hope Jason is going to do as he promised Thelma and that is keep an eye out on all of them.

However there are those few that did show their disgust with Jason after he delivered the news. It was so obvious that not only Campbell had to pull them off to the side but had to send one of them home. Those guys worry me. It’s not going to be all peachy in the days to come. Jason is going to run into problems. The only question out there is how bad the problems are going to be.

We got a little more information about Jason and his love life. Even though it wasn’t a lot, it was more than we already knew. Jason is in a relationship and the guy is in sports like him. We also found out that the guy doesn’t want to be open. But what we didn’t find out is who the guy is? I know you are wondering that, so come on back and hopefully in the next couple of chapters that person will be unveiled for all of us to know and yes gawk at, LOL!

Thelma took it hard when she found out what Jason had done. I certainly understand why and I’m right there with her. Jason went through hell in college and we haven’t heard even a quarter of the horrifying stories that she lived through. I hope none of them come back to revisit Jason now in his professional career. What do you guys think?

Okay it shouldn’t have been a surprise on how Jerry Jones reacted to the news that his golden boy Jason is gay. I’m glad that not only Campbell stood his ground, but put together a plan with Spencer on how to handle the press. What is the plan though? Jason already made it clear to his teammates that he isn’t going to become the poster person for gay rights in the US. So if the plans include that, will he bend? If he doesn’t bend, what will they do then? You need to tune into the next chapter for the answer to that plot and all the rest of them hanging out there needing answers.

Well this summation wasn’t as short and sweet as my last ones, but a lot happened in this chapter and I just couldn’t stop talking about it. I have big plans for this story, so come on back and keep reading this saga. You will not regret it, I promise. And if I forgot anything in my summation that needed to be mentioned I know my Editor Trevor will pick up on it and write it in his editor’s corner below. Thanks again for giving this new story a chance.

There is going to be a lot developing in the chapters to come. Stick around and keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR’S CORNER:

As Jacob said another action packed chapter. Before I get into my ranting’s and ravings I would like to continue the mention Jacob made about the young college guy now trying to make it in the NFL. His career path is very similar to Jason’s and he excelled himself through high school and college plus in an interview I saw on CBS he spoke as if he was reading Jacob’s latest chapters. It was uncanny because a lot of what he said had already been written but not published by Jacob. It was and still is uncanny.

Now to the chapter itself. I was all ready for Jason to chicken out at the last minute because that is what Jacob had told me was going to happen. Which just goes to show you can never tell what direction he’s heading until it’s down in writing.

The way the team reacted was in my mind predictable after all as professional football players all they are interested in is winning. Plus of course there will always be the odd few who are anti-gay and they will never change.

One thought that went through my head, and I’m getting right off the subject now, was how would Tim Tebow have reacted?

Getting back on track in his writers corner Jacob made no mention of the mysterious visitor Jerry Jones had straight after his chat with Skyler. Jones was worried about this guy so who is he and what will be his part in the Cowboys story?

Also what about poor Thelma? Will her parent’s prediction come true and will she be left out like a shag on a rock when Jason’s true love interest comes out? Although the thought was put into our heads regarding Thelma becoming a surrogate mother.

Also what will happen to Skyler? Will Coach Campbell bring him back onto the team with a strict warning and if he does will he heed that warning? There are still a lot of unanswered questions out there as this story becomes more and more interesting.

Don’t forget if you have time to let Jacob know what your thoughts are on this and all his stories.

Hugs
Trevor