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We had great seats for the game. We were about ten rows up so we could see over the teams, and on the 30 yard line. While we got comfortable, four different reporters wanted an interview. They were from Scouts and Bleacher Report, two national recruiting websites; and Maizenbrew.com, a Michigan-centric site. The last one was from the Detroit Free Press, who represented the print media.
Once the media was gone, I wanted something to eat, so we all went to the concession stands. That was when Alan sprang.
“So, what happened with you and Wes? We heard you yelling at each other, and then you left.”
I wasn’t going to get any peace, or food, until I told him. Of course, everyone else wanted to know too.
“Wes and I needed to settle who the best is. I honestly don’t think what we did settled it, but now we can move on and enjoy the weekend,” I said.
“What did you do, have some kind of throw-down?” Ty asked.
“Kind of the quarterback version,” I said. “It was stupid.”
“He lost,” Jim said.
“Yep. I think David might have to go home with his tail between his legs and let his mommy comfort him,” Wolf teased.
I glared at them and tried to figure out what I wanted to eat.
“Just tell them already,” Alan nagged.
“I kicked his butt,” I said. “It’s lucky for him that his mommy’s here.”
You would think that as a reward for winning, they would buy. Instead, I found a barbecue called Red Rock, and we had pulled pork sandwiches. Alan was a big baby and made me buy everyone ice cream cones afterward. When we were done, we came back to our seats and saw the marching band doing their pregame show.
I have to hand it to Michigan, their stadium is imposing. It holds 109,000 fans, and when they get excited, it’s almost as loud as our fans. Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but our fans rocked at the last game.
The game didn’t end up living up to the hype. Michigan crushed BYU by a score of 31–0. Tanner Mangum looked like a freshman. He ended up with a quarterback rating of 12.2 and passed for 55 yards, and the team rushed for a total of 50 yards. I didn’t even know it was possible to only gain 105 yards for a game.
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When I got out of the stadium, there was a message for me from Uncle John concerning the farm.
“How’s it going?” Uncle John asked.
“If I said ‘it sucked balls,’ would that give you an idea?”
“Regular balls, or huge bull balls?”
I laughed because our sense of humor was sometimes in the gutter.
“I need you to get me some information,” Uncle John said to get to the purpose of the call. “I want to change our line of credit amount with the bank, and they need to see your latest financials.”
“Do you need me to contribute more money?” I asked.
“No, but we may need to buy some equipment sooner than we thought. It would be better to leverage it instead of draining you of your cash reserve. God only knows if we’d ever need that. The farm can more than support what’s required,” Uncle John explained.
“Okay, I’ll talk to Kendal and get it arranged. Do you need it right away?”
“If you could, that would be best,” he said.
After I talked to my uncle some more about my troubles, he made some reference about it all being part of becoming a man. If this was what it was like to be an adult, I would gladly remain a kid for now.
I called Kendal and asked her if she had what I needed handy.
“I certainly wouldn’t carry your financial information around with me!” she said, laughing at me.
We agreed I would come to her office and pick it up tomorrow. Kendal said she wouldn’t be around because she had to work with Sarah Spence and Mr. Hill; Kendal had gotten Sarah some newspaper insert work. She told me to ask for Megan, and Megan would get me what I needed for the bank. I was impressed that someone would be there over the weekend.
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We were introduced to our chaperone, Rick Thomas. I was glad to see he and Wolf hit it off because Rick was a sophomore tight end. If Wolf ended up coming to Michigan, Rick would be a senior his freshman year, and would likely be mentoring Wolf. I thought it was smart of the coaching staff to put them together.
Rick took us on a tour of all the football facilities. We then were guided to the football dorm to show us what the rooms looked like, and all the facilities there. We ended up eating at the dorm cafeteria. The food was surprisingly good. Rick introduced us to several of the other football players. Everyone was making plans to celebrate their victory today. Wolf was in an in-depth discussion with Rick.
“I’m not supposed to take you to a party like that,” Rick said, catching everyone’s attention.
Both Wolf and Rick became aware that we were all staring at them. Leave it to Alan to ask the question on everyone’s mind.
“Like what?”
“I told Wolf about a party I was at last weekend that was … wild. The coaches told us to make sure you had fun, but not too much, if you catch my meaning. I need to return you free of hangovers and any other damage for breakfast tomorrow,” Rick said.
“When you say wild …” Alan prodded.
It was nice to not be the target of his interrogations for a change. Rick looked frustrated.
“Okay, but you can’t say anything to anyone; I have a girlfriend I’d like to keep. It’s sort of a swingers group. The catch is, you have to bring a girl with you to get in. There’s no way we’ll find seven girls who’ll be willing to have random sex at a party,” Rick said.
For some reason, my guys all turned and looked at me and smiled. Oh, Hell No!
“Make that eleven,” Wes said as he and Dan, Oliver, and their chaperone joined us.
“No problem. The pied piper of college girls can find eleven without a problem,” Jim said with a big grin.
I’d pulled off a similar stunt at Northwestern last year. Of course, I was drunk at the time after doing beer bongs. I’d made a deal with the Northwestern football players that I would get women to come to their party if they would back off our dates. All I needed was a concentration of college girls with the right moral attitude. Surely it couldn’t be that hard.
“If I do this, I get first pick,” I told them.
They all agreed to my terms. The other chaperone was Derick Larson, a junior receiver. I quizzed both Derick and Rick to find out where we might meet single college girls. They both had heard that one of their teammates was having a bash, so we all decided to walk across campus and check it out. On the way, I got Wes aside to make sure his guys had protection.
“Why would we need that?” he asked.
His mom’s comment about me helping him find a girl made me wonder if Wes simply didn’t have any experience or what his deal was. That was crazy, though. He had to be the big man on campus at his high school. There must be girls lining up to show him a good time. If not, then he had to have had Health Class. They covered STIs when I took it. I turned to Dan, who had listened in.
“I’ll take care of it,” Dan assured me.
Wes confused me, but I was on a mission. I told the guys they had to at least try to find a date to the swingers party. I wasn’t sure how well they would do, but if they at least came up with a few, it would make it easier.
We heard the party before we saw it. If this happened at home, we’d be shut down before we got started. The music could be heard at least a block away. When we got close, I saw several football players in the front yard with beers. What I didn’t see were many girls. The football players recognized our chaperones and started talking to them. I saw a guy holding hands with a pretty dark-skinned girl who had the biggest eyes I’d ever seen. I walked up to introduce myself.