The regular season has been going on for three weeks. The San Francisco 49ers' victory in the first week could be called a surprise win. The 49ers' victory in the second week could be attributed to Lady Luck. The 49ers' victory in the third week, however, was a hard-fought battle between two strong teams.
Excuses and doubts will surely still exist, but the three-game winning streak has already proven my ability. As a rookie quarterback who came out of nowhere, my market value is naturally on the rise.
After my calls with my family and Candice, I've been getting calls and texts off and on. There have been more than twenty calls and over fifty text messages. As the only quarterback without an agent among the thirty-two starting quarterbacks in the league, I'm now truly experiencing what it means to be "in high demand."
"I'm very lucky that we're in Cincinnati right now," Leigh said meaningfully.
Although Cincinnati is a major transportation hub, it's not the ideal city for sports agents to be based in. More than 80% of the top sports agencies in the league have chosen Los Angeles and New York as their headquarters.
Today's away game was in Cincinnati, so even if the agents were anxious and eager, phone calls and emails were their best options. In contrast, Leigh, who had already started making moves after the second week's game, once again took the lead.
I immediately understood the deeper meaning of his words and chuckled. "How are you so sure that a face-to-face conversation will give you an advantage?"
"Give me a reason why I'm not the most suitable agent." Leigh wasn't flustered at all. His casual rebuttal left me speechless.
But I wasn't an easy opponent to defeat. "Then let me rephrase that. How can you be so sure that I'm the right choice?"
"You're not sure about yourself?"
"No, I'm very sure about myself. The problem right now is that everyone else in the league is unsure."
The back-and-forth was very fast. There was almost no time to think. It was just a gut reaction. Suddenly, Leigh stopped and didn't continue. A smile appeared in his eyes. He shifted his gaze, reined in his sharp wit, and then continued, "I heard that you were crazy when you were a practice player in your junior year."
Leigh didn't answer my question and changed the subject. The topic he chose was also very interesting: my time as a practice player.
For the league and for coaches, a practice player's career has no value as a reference. A practice player doesn't have systematic tactical training or systematic physical training. Their role is more like a moving punching bag. That part of their life can be summed up in just one sentence.
But Leigh brought up my time as a practice player.
In fact, Leigh didn't just conduct an investigation, but he also personally asked my college teammates, Kevin Price, John Ward, and others, about me. Leigh personally visited all those names that were far away from the sports world.
For Leigh, when he chooses a player, talent is important, and ability is important. But in addition to that, willpower, game demeanor, and personal conduct are also very important. Leigh doesn't mind cleaning up messes for athletes who keep getting into trouble off the field, like Big Ben, but it's not good for the longevity of their careers.
In the car accident in 2006, Big Ben was driving without a license and almost never woke up from the hospital.
As he got older, Leigh's eye for choosing players and his requirements for them also changed.
"It depends on how you define 'crazy.' If you mean putting all your heart and soul into training and doing your best to fulfill your duties, then I admit it." My face was calm, and I didn't feel awkward or uneasy about my past being exposed. "But honestly, when it comes to training, the real crazy one is JJ Watt. Have you seen him train? My God, compared to him, I'm just a little lamb."
"Are you and JJ friends?" Leigh was a little surprised.
Although JJ Watt was a rookie this year, there was a lot of discussion about him. All first-round picks were like that. Watt was a player who was completely dedicated to football. He could even be called a "football fanatic." Outside of training, Watt didn't have many friends, and his private life was very boring. It was all about training.
Leigh had never heard that I was friends with Watt.
"Just occasional texts, discussing training plans and stuff. I guess we're not friends. We're more like training partners," I said jokingly. "Like I said, he's the crazy one."
Leigh chuckled softly. "In a way, you're just as crazy. I'm talking about today's game."
"Today's game?" A question mark popped up in my mind, and I didn't understand.
My first reaction was that my passing choices were too risky. But compared to the previous two weeks, I was actually a lot more conservative with my passing choices in today's game. This was mainly because the pressure from Geno Atkins was too great, and I had to be careful with my choices. Otherwise, I might have thrown an interception.
In the end, there were no interceptions today.
Leigh didn't answer or say anything. Instead, he walked to a bench in the hotel's back garden and said with a smile, "I'm getting old. I'm a little out of breath after walking for a while. How about we sit here for a bit and then go to the restaurant for dinner?"
"No problem." I sat down next to Leigh. I was still a little unsure about his conversation rhythm. He would often switch to a new topic without finishing the previous one. If this were an interview and I were the reporter, I would take the lead. But it wasn't, so I just went with the flow.
"You should have stayed calm," Leigh said out of nowhere, as if he had noticed my confused look. "I mean, on the field, after you fell to the ground from the second hit, you should have stayed calm and honestly told the team doctor about your physical condition. Only then could they give you the best treatment. It's not worth risking your future for one game."
Leigh had noticed.
As an observer and an observer who was focused on me, his real purpose wasn't to watch the game but to observe me. So, he noticed the two times the team doctor came on the field, he noticed the problem with my arm, and he noticed the abnormality between the team doctor and Kip Christ after I came off the field.
I opened my mouth, ready to defend and refute, but Leigh continued, "Just take it as advice from an old man who is being condescending. Even if you don't like it, just listen." His calm words carried an undeniable authority, which made me fall silent.
"In the NFL, I've seen countless players and represented countless players. Everyone has their own reasons and their own persistence. It could be a dream, or it could be a game bonus. You know what? Someone once threatened the team doctor to hide their injury report in exchange for a fifty-thousand-dollar bonus. Then, they signed an agreement to waive the right to sue the team, stating that they knew the consequences of playing but still agreed to play. But in reality, they didn't know."
Leigh turned his head and looked at me deeply. "You don't know." His words were firm and unquestionable. "You don't know the consequences of a game or the consequences of an injury. To be precise, no one knows. Even team doctors and experts can only provide relatively professional opinions, but they still can't control the disease. Because they are not God."
I didn't say anything. My calm gaze shifted a little. In the game, in the battle between angels and demons, I listened to the devil's urging. Because I couldn't afford to lose, and I couldn't afford to give up.
"There's nothing you can't afford to lose," Leigh seemed to have read my thoughts. "In 2009, the concussion news that shocked the entire league is still affecting all aspects of the league today. As a journalism student, have you heard about it? No, let me rephrase that. Do you know what this news means?"
In 2009, "GQ" magazine published a news article called "Game of Shadows" that was co-written by two experts in brain neurology. They revealed the truth behind the suicides of several retired football players. In fact, they were all suffering from the aftereffects of brain damage.
After entering the 1990s, the league started to pay close attention to concussions. In football, body collisions are unavoidable. The head will take a huge impact and shock, and concussions are one of the inevitable side effects. To protect the players, the league introduced many regulations to ensure their safety.
According to medical tests, those football players showed no signs of concussions, so the league refused to take responsibility, believing that they were just struggling with their own problems, such as alcoholism or bankruptcy, and so on.
But these two experts, after in-depth research and investigation, were the first to bring the issue of CTE in professional football players to the public. The truth shocked everyone.
CTE is actually a traumatic brain injury. In football, every player has to endure thousands of direct head impacts, which can cause dizziness, tremors, and even more serious physical discomfort. However, these symptoms don't fit the symptoms of a concussion, and a simple medical examination can't detect them. It requires a more expensive, in-depth examination.
In other words, in addition to concussions, all professional players may face the effects of a brain injury. In fact, the league had already discovered this truth a long time ago, but they were worried that if this fact were announced, the impact would be uncontrollable: parents would refuse to let their children play football, young people would give up football out of fear, and loyal fans would also make more demands on the team...
This would be a fatal blow to the league and could even shake the foundation of the entire sport. So, the league suppressed the report and denied its scientific validity. Even after "GQ" published it, the league still denied it, which even led to a lawsuit.
This news story became the most sensational news of 2009, and the number one sport in the United States was facing a severe challenge. That's what Leigh was talking about.
PS: The above event was later adapted into a movie, "Concussion," starring Will Smith.
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