THE ROMAN LEE SERIES
"BENEATH DEVIL'S LAKE"
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
STEELEGRAM
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One
3:15
AM
Anyone person on this earth can have their lives
altered in a few simple moments. A small
ripple in the lake of time. Even if they are the highlight of your chosen
profession.
The volume of the speaker inside my helmet had been
turned up by our equipment manager intentionally. A crowd of 150,000 screaming fans made it
even difficult to hear your own breathing let alone anyone up in the
booth. London was hot that early Monday September
night. We sounded like an army marching
in formation thru the tunnel hand in hand with our cleats clicking and clacking
in unison on the concrete. Running onto
the turf through a clever set of pyrotechnic displays we turned our attention
to the sky where fireworks jettisoned up into the atmosphere above the stadium
forming the team’s emblem. The playing of the National Anthem followed with a flyover
of four prototype stealth bombers on loan from the United States Airforce that
turned invisible as they approached the stadium magically reappearing flashing
red white and blue as they soared overhead.
Our defensive coordinator was barking instructions through my
helmet. I covered my earholes to block
out the noise from the stands to listen.
“Lee! Lee! Eagle Slant Cover 2, watch that slot receiver
they like to go to him early.”
We broke our huddle and waited for New York to get to
the line of scrimmage. My helmet inside
crackled once more.
“Lee!!! Welcome
to the show Roman!”
Our defensive coordinator Gary Foust had taken the job
with the expansion London Knights after winning a Superbowl the previous year
in Seattle. He had brought a lot of intensity to training camp. New York came to the line of scrimmage. Instantly New York’s QB was going through a
preread snap.
“Three eighty! Three eighty! Ready, Check, Check”, and
New York’s QB stood up and took a step back from underneath his Center. “Check
number 51 is the Mike! 51 is the Mike!”
I watched New York’s quarterback mouth repeat my #51
again pointing me out in slow motion. I
tapped my nose guard to slide over just a bit which in turn caused the whole
defensive line to shift. I yelled out to
our outside linebacker Darius Talon to watch the slot receiver and jam him up
at the line if he thought about coming across the middle underneath. I then turned my attention to New York’s
QB.
“Hey Smith you’re going to be the first victim on my
highlight reel I shouted. This play is
going to end badly for you. It’s either
an interception or a sack.”
Veteran New York QB Blake Smith looked at me mouthing the
words Fuck You Rookie and then continued with his cadence.
“Three eighty, three eighty, Ready, Ready Set!”
The clashing of
the composite plastic pads was exhilarating.
Thundering steps as the play went lateral left from my position. Their running back took the hand off and
bounced to the outside. Darius had also
read the run and set the edge beautifully turning the play back to the inside. I
scraped the line of scrimmage, shed the block from the pulling guard. Full tilt
bearing down on the ball carrier. I can see the ….. My alarm chimed. Always at that moment…why?
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