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    More Than a Game
    More Than a Game
    More Than a Game
    Ebook194 pages2 hours

    More Than a Game

    By Marilyn Joseph

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    More Than a Game begs the question: can the NFL withstand another scandal?

    With Super Bowl XLIX to be played February 1, 2015, two NFL teams appear predestined to make the journey to Glendale, Arizona. The Atlantic City Rollers (AFC) and the Omaha Stampeders (NFC) are fictitious teams yet, in actuality, current teams in the authors mind.

    With his job in jeopardy, Rollers Defensive Coordinator, Jamie Longoria, believes he can survive the post-season termination by learning the plays of Mike Jacobs, Head Coach of the Omaha Stampeders.

    Mike, perhaps the best NFL head coach in the league, is nobodys fool, at least until Longorias corruptive plans trickle down to Sam Sheldon and Andrew Baxter, Rollers enthusiasts.

    While Spygate and Bountygate will always be recalled as NFL scandals, Jenna Huddy, a product of foster homes until emancipated at eighteen, is sent to Omaha where she unknowingly perpetrates the next disgrace known as GotPlaysgate.


    More Than a Game takes place from November, 2014 through Super Bowl Sunday 2015. Omaha, Atlantic City and Two Harbors, Minnesota form the background settings for this novel.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateJul 1, 2013
    ISBN9781481767750
    More Than a Game
    Author

    Marilyn Joseph

    As a Catholic school educator for thirty-four years, her final twenty-two as an administrator, MARILYN JOSEPH retired in 2000 and has realized her dream to become a writer. She resides in Peoria, Illinois, and sustains life-long interests in politics and social justice issues. Those who know her will tell you she unabashedly incorporates her love of Wisconsin and the Green Bay Packers through the written word. When All is Said and Done is the final book in a trilogy. It continues the story of national and international events. In a climate of fear, Ms. Joseph believes in and adheres to St. Paul's words: "Hope does not disappoint."

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      Book preview

      More Than a Game - Marilyn Joseph

      © 2013 by Marilyn Joseph. All rights reserved.

      This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely fictional.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse 06/27/2013

      ISBN: 978-1-4817-6777-4 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4817-6776-7 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4817-6775-0 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2013911399

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Contents

      Dedication

      Preface

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Epilogue

      Acknowledgments

      Dedication

      I dedicate this book to my sister,

      Marie Ketcham, who, by her example,

      teaches me to live the Corporal Works of Mercy.

      I am in awe of you, Nee Nee.

      After the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and all the pomp and fanfare has faded, the enduring things left are: the dedication to excellence, the dedication to victory, and the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.

      Vince Lombardi

      Preface

      Most avid National Football League fans have their favorite team and the team they love to hate.

      More Than a Game is a work of fiction but in reality is focused on two specific NFL teams.

      If the reader so chooses, names can be substituted for the Omaha Stampeders (NFC) and the Atlantic City Rollers (AFC).

      You choose.

      M.J.

      OMAHA STAMPEDERS

      Michael Jacobs, Head Coach

      Clarence Brown, Assistant Head Coach

      Todd Myers, Offensive Coordinator

      Clint Steel, Defensive Coordinator

      Nate Lynn, Special Teams

      2014 Roster

      ATLANTIC CITY ROLLERS

      Ryan Roy, Head Coach

      Chester McLaughlin, Assistant Head Coach

      Thomas Hoehne, Offensive Coordinator

      Jamie Longoria, Defensive Coordinator

      Fred Thomas, Special Teams

      2014 Roster

      The core window of More Than a Game essentially centers on three months, November, 2014—January, 2015. Thus, the remaining 2014 Omaha Stampeders’ schedule is included for the reader’s reference:

      Chapter One

      Mike Jacobs was nobody’s fool.

      At 6'4" and 334 pounds, he had the lumbering albeit overweight appearance of an outside linebacker, the position he once held at the University of Illinois. As a sophomore he was a starter. During his senior year his stats included 55 tackles, 6 assists, 14.5 sacks and one touchdown, toppling collegiate records for a season.

      The former linebacker had only one professional ambition. Since he was a child growing up in rural southern Illinois, he aspired to be a NFL head coach. He had no intention whatsoever of playing for any of the thirty-two NFL teams. Rather, he would be a head coach for one of them.

      Mike had added fifty pounds since leaving Illinois in 2003 at the age of 23. The additional weight plus his non-descript appearance were perhaps the main reasons he did not have the groupies so many other football standouts had. That was okay with him, though. He wanted no distractions as he began his ascent, first as an assistant to the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans and then as the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator three years later. He was, in essence, on the fast track toward his professional goal.

      He had been burned by a casual relationship when he was at Illinois. There, he was a draw. Women flocked around him as they walked to classes. The more forward ones sat next to him without invitation at Black Dog Smoke & Ale House in Urbana as he ate his usual, pulled pork sandwiches and smoked sweet potatoes.

      Celeste Loman, a pretty junior majoring in Kinesiology, attended to his every word, laughed at his awkward attempts at joking and occasionally just stared lovingly at him as he met his Illini fandom who knew he was very special at his craft.

      He found the time to take her to a couple of movies, but mostly they met in Campus Town for snacks after his grueling football practices. It had been too long since he felt so happy, realizing Celeste was the genuine article. She was easy to talk to, making him feel there was potential for his happiness and content beyond the stadium.

      Like everything else except for football, Celeste was lost to him when she met Safety, Bill Collins. When she graduated she and Bill married and moved to Buffalo where he was contracted to play for the Bills.

      So, the game remained his focus. The only distractions were the times he saw his parents, when he took his boat out to ride the waters of Lake Superior in July and the time he spent each night throwing balls to his German Shepherd, Shep, to retrieve. The latter two were his therapy.

      Though he was the second youngest NFL head coach, his salary reflected that of those who had been at that position for a dozen years, four point eight million a year plus bonuses.

      However, judging from the Spartan way he lived, people not knowing him (impossible in Omaha) would have presumed he was a middle class, blue collar worker just scraping by. His ranch style, two bedroom home, located two miles from Mutual of Omaha Arena, was in a neighborhood dotted with front yard Foreclosure signs.

      He never had time to furnish the interior. A La-Z-Boy and a 47" LG HDTV were the only pieces of furniture in the living room. As for the kitchen, as long as he had bologna, peanut butter, chips, Beer Nuts, mayo, Pepsi and bread, he was content with where and how he lived.

      Like clockwork, Mike had dinner five nights a week at the Olive Garden. Even there his playbook was like another appendage; he was rarely seen without it. Play-calling was his forte. There were often guffaws about his playbook being his girlfriend, possibly the only thing he could relate to except for Shep. Jon Gruden, an ESPN commentator, once remarked, Jacobs probably takes it to bed, at least until he can replace it there with the Lombardi Trophy.

      Over the years he developed his way of eating Fettuccine Alfredo at the Olive Garden. He would slice lengthwise the six breadsticks in the basket and then stuff them with the noodles, eating them mindlessly as if they were subs.

      As he ate he mulled over stats and plays planned for the following game. He used three Sharpie colors, each signifying to him and him alone their meanings.

      As for friends, former Illini teammates held him in the highest esteem, but no one would count himself as Mike’s friend. The person who came closest to being his confidant was Mike Golic, a co-host on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning. He was an admirer, someone who was candid and honest. Golic, fifteen years older, was like a big brother to Mike.

      His dawn-to-dusk schedule kept him planted in his office and the field after starting each day at Dunkin’ Donuts. Raj readied his order as he saw him coming into the drive-thru in his Jeep: large coffee, five sugars and extra cream. His donut of choice was the Double Chocolate of which he always ordered three.

      When he arrived at the stadium, he went to the stands where he contemplated his day. Because he always reviewed the coaches’ film mere hours after the game, he planned the direction of his team’s five day practices as he stared out at the field. He set the day’s course from his stadium seat, going to his

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