CHAPTER 16
“A friend is someone who understands why you like your strawberry sodas without any strawberries in them.” Charlie Brown
Elizabeth was working on her English Composition paper due Monday. After only a few hours of sleep she was having trouble concentrating. Her cell phone rang. Bob was calling, again. She hadn’t returned any of his text messages after the party and she ignored two of his earlier calls. She took a deep breath. “Hello?” she answered.
“Elizabeth!” he sounded excited. She closed her eyes. How could he possibly be this excited? They barely knew each other. “What’s good?”
“What’s good?” she asked confused. She looked around the room. “Umm…nothing I’m writing a paper for comp class.”
“You’re a smart girl, huh?”
“What?”
“You’re doing homework on a Saturday. I don’t pull out my books until Sunday night.”
“Oh,” she said only half listening to what Bob was saying. “I don’t like a time table. I’d rather get it done and enjoy the rest of my weekend.”
“Dinner?”
“Dinner, what?” she asked confused again. Was there a secret code she was supposed to memorize before going out with him?
“Dinner, tonight, my favorite restaurant. I want to take you there and show off my new girl.”
Elizabeth hesitated for a minute. Normally, on a first date, two people would measure each other up and decide whether or not they wanted to continue seeing each other. Bob was already calling her his girl. What did that mean exactly? Was she his girlfriend? Or a girl he was seeing? Why did he want to show her off? More importantly, who was he showing her off to? Elizabeth looked down at her navy Duke University shorts. There was an old scar along her short line. She pulled it down until the scar wasn’t visible any longer. Maybe this was a chance to discover some personal happiness.
“That sounds good,” she said.
“I’ll be by at seven-thirty. You live next door to Jack right? If I’m looking at his house are you on the right or the left?
“The right,” she answered.
“Sweet. See ya.” Bob hung up the phone before she could say anything else. Maybe she should have suggested a double date with Nick and Kate.
Elizabeth saved her paper and closed her MacBook. She couldn’t wait to take a nap and the last thing she wanted to do was get nervous about her first date with Bob. She wondered if he was someone she would like? It had been about fourteen hours since they started talking and already in her mind things were declining fast. She laughed to herself about how differently things could look when a person was drinking.
“Elizabeth,” she heard her name through the open window. She got excited and ran to the window.
“Hey,” she said smiling. “What are you doing?”
“Come over,” Jack said.
Elizabeth smiled. “You’re not sick of me yet?”
“It’s football Saturday,” he said. “You have to learn if you’re going to come watch me play next year.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Is this my only opportunity?”
“We have to start. It’s November already. Do you know how many weeks we’ve missed already this season?”
“Jack, we missed out on thirteen years. I don’t think another week is going to hurt. If I don’t get a nap in, I’m going to be the one hurting.”
“Elizabeth Bailey Bennett, get your boney ass over here.”
“You suck!” she shouted walking away from the window. She slipped on flip-flops and stopped in front of her mirror. Her hair was still wet from her shower and she had no make-up on. She turned in front of the mirror to check out her frail body.
“What took you so long?” Jack asked after she knocked on the door.
“My ass is not that boney,” defended Elizabeth.
“Come on,” said Jack leading her into the family room. “UNC is playing Miami.”
“Okay, so I know I’m dumb but why is this game important?”
“It’s a conference game!”
“Jack,” Elizabeth sighed sitting on the other side of the couch, “I’m not even sure what that means.”
“The UNC Tar Heels are in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Duke is in the ACC for football, too, in case you’re wondering. If a team in one of the major six conferences have a 10-2 record or better they go to one of the traditional Bowl games, like the Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl. After the two top teams in the BCS rankings are matched up in the BCS National Championship Game, the other four bowls select other top teams. Each of the bowls has a historic link with one or more of the six BCS conferences, with the one exception, the Big East Conference. They select a team from each of these conferences if it is eligible for a BCS bowl and not playing in the national title game.”
“Is that in English?”
Jack laughed. “UNC has a chance to go to the Orange Bowl. They have to beat Miami, though. So, yes, this is a huge game for them.”
“So, what’s the best Conference?”
“That’s an age old discussion mostly about the SEC vs. The Big Ten but most people outside of The Big Ten schools would argue that the SEC is the best conference.”
“Okay, I get it,” said Elizabeth nodding her head.
“Really?” asked Jack surprised.
“Yeah. Football is a sport that is tough, hard-hitting, and hands on. Boys are mostly raised with the whole ‘No Blood, No Tears’ idea. Football is an ‘I don’t care if your foot is facing backwards’, you don’t cry sport. Hero worship is a large part of the devotion of football fans. You feel something approaching adoration for the men who perform well in the sport they follow. As they age, the heroes of your youth attain almost Greek God status. You start talking about Butch Davis, Fast Willie Parker, the Tar Heels and the Steelers with stars in your eyes.”
Jack smiled. “Butch Davis never won a championship at Miami, but he was the driving force behind two of the school's most successful teams in 2001 and 2002. Davis took over a Miami team that was far removed from its past glories and led the Hurricanes to three Big East championships in six years, including an 11-1 season in 2000 and a victory in the Sugar Bowl. Had he stuck around for another year rather than head to the NFL, Davis would have been at the helm for Miami's 2001 national championship team, one of the greatest college football teams of all-time.”
“If you could marry Butch Davis, you would,” said Elizabeth laughing.
“Okay, what about Dan Devine? Dan Devine is best remembered for his time with Notre Dame, and with Arizona State and Missouri he won three conference titles, finished 10 seasons ranked and won the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl. It was at Notre Dame that Devine won his only national championship though, when in 1977 the Irish finished off an 11-1 season with a 38-10 win over Earl Campbell's Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. Notre Dame finished the year outside of the top 25 only once under Devine's leadership.”
“You’re hurting my head.”
“This is important! Bo Schembechler died in 2006, having never lived down the fact that, despite all his success on the field, he never led Michigan to a national championship. For one of the top coaches in school history, it's a discouraging tale. Schembechler led Michigan to a 194-48-5 record over his 21 years as head coach, winning 13 conference titles, appearing in the postseason top 25 in all but one season and finishing 16 seasons ranked in the top 10.”
“That’s a sad story, actually. Ok, so who is the greatest college football coach? “
“Joe Paterno is simply a living legend that has roamed the sidelines at Penn State since 1966 and he is the winningest Division I-A coach of all-time, with 400 career wins. Paterno turned Penn State into what it is today. With five undefeated seasons under his belt, two national championships, 14 w
ins in major bowl games, and only five losing seasons in 45 years, Paterno is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats.”
“Is there going to be a quiz now?”
“No, but your ass is kind of boney.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Why are there so many commercials?”
“Bathroom breaks,” Jack answered. “Are you going out with Bob tonight?”
Elizabeth looked at Jack surprised. “How do you know?”
“I didn’t. I was just asking. It’s Saturday. That’s a normal date night.”
“I’m not really excited about it,” said Elizabeth pursing her lips. “He seems nice and all but he’s kind of pushy and it’s like he’s made up his mind about me but I don’t know what I think about him yet and I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
“Nick likes your friend.”
“Kate?”
“Yeah, Kate.”
“Last night she thought he was nice and today was making comments about him being an A-lister and all that stuff.”
“Maybe the four of us should get together one night then, if Bob doesn’t care.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Who cares what Bob thinks,” she said rolling her eyes. Elizabeth looked over at Jack. He was sitting with his elbows on his knees concentrating on the game. It was at that moment that Elizabeth came up with a creative Christmas present for Jack. She needed to purchase two large fleece pieces from the fabric store, one in UNC print and the other in Carolina Blue, the official color of the University of North Carolina and tie the two blankets together. She was sure Jack would love it.