Our bus approached Calhoun high school on a bumpy pathway. My nerves were far from calm. The team was unloading from the suffocating buses. These yellow buses were notorious for being called cheese buses because of their color and their smell. The smell was like a sweaty football locker room. This stench made the ride to the game unbearable. The buses lacked space for equipment, and most of the times we were pinched in our seats with our equipment or other teammates’ equipment.
I was a sophomore and it was my first varsity football game for the Rome wolves. I had never played a snap in a varsity game. I have worked hard all summer, busting my tail off in the weight room. I started to bench, squat, and power clean more weight than any of my teammates or coaches
anticipated.
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Coach Bell, our offensive coordinator, chose me to start over our tall, and lean junior Jaden Cook. Jaden had a terrible attitude and that was the only thing that kept him off the field. He was more talented athlete in my opinion, but his attitude kept him from reaching his full potential.
Jaden wasn’t particularly happy with me starting. As we unloaded the buses, he smirked and murmured, “Don’t get you butt kicked out there.” I simply nodded, smiled, and kept unloading my equipment.
The bus pulled in on the home side of the stadium, so we would have to walk by a war ready student section. As we walked by, the army bombarded us with their artillery.
“Where the hell is this team from?”
“Rome is gay.”
“We are going to kill you.”
“Number five sucks!”
Coach Perkins, our head coach, simply remarked, “Don’t entertain their stupidity.”
As we walked around the stadium towards the away team’s locker room, the smell of the concession stand was overwhelming. I could smell the fresh fried funnel cakes waiting to be devoured. The concession workers were striding back and forth, anticipating the long lines once the game