An ambulance crew was on site for the upcoming game. They rushed in and checked the training staff’s work before hauling off Mr. Rios.
Mom waded through the crowd.
“You’re bleeding.”
That caught the attention of the training staff. They put a bandage on my eyebrow and declared I needed stitches. I was taken to the training room, where I got four of them.
When I was done, I had to deal with the police. I silently thanked Fritz and his team for their foresight in having me wear a bodycam because the cops didn’t buy my story at first. It seemed that no knife was found. The police later found it in Mrs. Rios’s handbag. Her husband had given it to her at the hospital.
◊◊◊
Coach Michaels found us after I’d been stitched up and talked to the police.
“That was a first. I’ve never had the father of a recruit attack someone before. I’m not quite sure how I should handle this.”
“It wasn’t Tomas’s fault that his dad did what he did. If you’re interested in him, don’t stop recruiting him because of what happened. That is, unless he knew what was planned,” Dad said.
“What do you think about that?” Coach Michaels asked me.
“Do whatever you think’s best.”
I was still a little shook-up and probably would feel differently after I’d put some time behind this. Right now, I would rather never see the kid or his family ever again. If it were up to me, I would probably ban the father from ever stepping on campus. I could just imagine him roughing up the starting quarterback so his son would get playing time.
I was glad when they let us go back to the hotel to take a break.
◊◊◊
“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Mom said when we were finally alone.
I just looked out the window of their hotel room.
“Are you okay?” Dad asked.
“Not really. I almost killed a man. That has me thinking about quitting the dojo. I didn’t even think about it. I just punched him in the throat to finish the fight like I’ve been trained.”
Mom came over and hugged me.
“Things like this scare me to death. I probably overreact when people attack you, and you resort to violence. Don’t think I’m so naïve as to believe that violence is never the solution. I just get afraid that you might not come out on top someday. If you hadn’t had your training, he might have killed you,” she said as she stroked my hair.
“I understand your concerns and support you if you want to stop going to the dojo,” Dad said. “Today was a reminder that even with security, you’ll be a target. I hate that you have to have security with you, but for now, I think we have to live with it.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that Cassidy taught me to defend myself, and I plan to keep sharp. But I think I can do that without going to the dojo four times a week for training. I’m just learning new ways to hurt people. Watching Tomas’s dad unable to breathe because of what I did scares me. I know this is going to sound dumb, but it was almost too easy. How dangerous do I really have to be?” I asked.
“Dangerous enough to defend yourself,” Mom said.
I gave her my one-eyebrow look. I’d expected her to read me the riot act.
“Don’t give me that look.”
That made Dad chuckle, and the chuckling broke up our stare-down.
“I just read something about the military. They aren’t training their regular soldiers in hand-to-hand combat like they used to. The whole concept now is you can reach out and take care of the enemy from a distance.
“I guess what I’m more worried about is someone with a gun. I talked to Fritz about what happened in Mexico, and you’re lucky you weren’t shot. Today he had a knife. What if he’d had a gun?” Dad asked.
If I could get close enough, I might have a chance, but Dad was right. He could have shot me from the door, and there would have been nothing I could do about it.
I received a text from Wolf asking where I was. It seemed all the recruits were going to grab some food before the game at a pizza place. I showed it to my parents, and we got ready to go.
◊◊◊
“Whoa! What happened to you?” Tim asked.
“Had a disagreement with Tomas’s dad. He tried to convince me that I shouldn’t interfere in his son’s plan to play quarterback here,” I said.
“Tell me you have video,” Wolf said.
“Sorry, no video,” I lied.
After the last fight, I’d decided that if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t show anyone video of me being attacked. I didn’t need people thinking that if they fought me, they could make a name for themselves.
“I call bullshit. You always have a bodycam on,” Tim reasoned.
I pulled them away from everyone else because we were attracting eavesdroppers.
“It’s not something I’m proud of. I almost killed the man. They had to take him to the ER in an ambulance,” I explained.
“So, you do have video?” Tim asked.
“Where’s Tami when I need her?” I asked.
“Why, what would she do?” Tim asked.
“Smack you in the head like she used to do to Alan. No one sees the video. I gave it to the police,” I tried.
Both Wolf and Tim rolled their eyes at that but didn’t press it.
They then shared their experience so far. From what the guys said, they liked the campus, sports facilities, and the dorm. They’d gotten the same impression about the students here as I had. They reminded us a lot of back home.
After we ate, we were taken by one of the Oklahoma staff and given a game-day experience. Oklahoma’s football stadium isn’t like others where the parking is next to it. A lot of the tailgating is done in parking lots and on the streets. It didn’t take our dads long to each have a beer in their hand, courtesy of friendly tailgaters.
I was impressed by how their fans treated people in Ohio State gear. Unlike Wisconsin, where I think I heard the f-bomb dropped a hundred times, they invited their opponents’ supporters to join them for some food and good-spirited banter.
We then were taken to Sooner Fan Fest. It was on the east side of the stadium in Heisman Park. I took notes and planned to bring them back to our booster club. There were food vendors and inflatable interactive games, and it was a great place to sit and enjoy your food. They had activities for both children and adults to enjoy themselves. Of course, we ate again. One of their vendors sold pie, and I spotted a little girl with a pecan slice. I wasn’t passing that up.
I spied an autograph tent set up for past and present Oklahoma Sooner athletes to spend some time with the fans and sign autographs. We just missed seeing Jason White, a Heisman Trophy winner.
When we saw the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band go by, we knew it was time to enter the stadium. We were taken through the Legends Lobby to see all the memorabilia of Oklahoma’s history.
We walked into Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, and it was a sea of red. It was predicted to be a full house with over 82,000 fans. We took our seats and soon heard the crowd yell, ‘Boomer Sooner!’ numerous times. They followed that up with, ‘Oklahoma, Oklahoma, OK U!’ That began the Oklahoma fight song that the team took the field to. If I were Ohio State hearing that chant, I might have been intimidated.
Then the Sooner Schooner came tearing onto the field. It was a little covered wagon that was led onto the field and had been a tradition since the early ’60s.
Then it was game time. At first, it looked like it was going to be an old-fashioned slugfest between two football titans. Ohio State took the lead on an early 36-yard run. Oklahoma was driving, and I thought they would score. But Ohio State returned an interception 68 yards to put the Buckeyes up 14–0, with a little over four minutes left in the first quarter.
Oklahoma took the ensuing kickoff back 97 yards to tighten the game at 14–7. Then Ohio State’s quarterback took over and threw three touchdown passes to take a 35–17 lead into halftime. In the second half, Ohio State looked like the better team that day and ended up winning 45–24. The win put them close to the top of the National Championship hunt and all but eliminated Oklahoma.