Dinged

Greenwald Tommy Greenwald

Description

A star football player watches his father deteriorate from injuries he suffered playing the very same sport Caleb Springer is the up-and-coming star freshman quarterback on the high school football team, which isn't a surprise considering his dad, Sammy Springer, was an NFL superstar and is now the town celebrity. College scouts are already snooping around Caleb, and his future seems set. But just as Caleb's glory days begin, his dad starts to change. He's forgetting things and getting angry at random times. Caleb is forced to confront a bleak possibility: The sport that gives him so much status and self-worth might be the cause of his dad's strange behavior. Will Caleb keep playing the sport of his dreams, even if he knows how dangerous it can be?

Informations

• Publié par: ABRAMS BOOKS
• Date de parution: 06 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781647003395
• Langue: English

Extrait

Also by Tommy Greenwald
Game Changer
Rivals

PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4197-5515-6
Text 2022 Tommy Greenwald Title page art by Neil Swaab Book design by Chelsea Hunter
Published in 2022 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact [e-mail] or the address below.
Amulet Books is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
ABRAMS The Art of Books 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 abramsbooks.com
To the memory of Mike Webster
In American football getting dinged equates to moments of dizziness, confusion, or grogginess that can follow a blow to the head. There are approximately 100,000 to 300,000 concussive episodes occurring in the game of American football each year.
It is now known that those instances of mild concussion or dings that we may have previously not noticed could very well be causing progressive neurodegenerative damage to a player s brain. Symptoms [. . .] may begin years or decades later and include a progressive decline of memory, as well as depression, poor impulse control, suicidal behavior, and, eventually, dementia similar to Alzheimer s disease.
Given the millions of athletes participating in contact sports that involve repetitive brain trauma, [this] represents an important public health issue. In the future, focused and intensive study of the risk factors could potentially uncover methods to prevent and treat this disease.
-United States National Library of Medicine
PROLOGUE
I live for the game.
How could I not?
My dad lived for the game before me. It made him rich and famous. And when he discovered I had talent-really rare talent, according to pretty much everyone I ve ever met-he made it his life s mission to help me become as good as I could be.
My mom had no choice but to go along for the ride, but she loves it, too. The game scares her, sure, but I know the pride she feels. The pride of knowing her husband made it to the top, and of knowing that her only son is probably going to make it there, too.
So yeah, I was destined to play football pretty much before I was born.
But don t get me wrong.
It s not like anybody is forcing me to do anything I don t want to do.
Because I love it.
I love every bit of it.
I love the competition, the teamwork, the beauty, the brutality, how it s so simple and so complicated at the same time, how it s the one thing that makes me feel truly alive.
And sure-I love being better than everyone else.
So like I said . . . I live for the game.
I guess the question is:
Am I willing to die for it?
PART I Clouds
WALTHORNENEWS . COM
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
A HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS BLOG ABOUT THE WALTHORNE WILDCATS BY ALFIE JENKS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
High School Football Hopes Rest on Freshman Phenom s Shoulders
William Toffler has been coaching football a long time-more than 25 years, by his count. So he knows what it s like to come across a once-in-a-generation talent.
Enter Caleb Springer.
This is a special kid, Coach Toffler says. We re super lucky to have him. Caleb, only 14 years old and a rising freshman at Walthorne High School, has been wowing people with his quarterbacking skills since his days playing for the Peewee Panthers as a six-year-old. And it s no wonder: Caleb s father, Sammy Springer, played in the NFL for seven years and was an all-pro wide receiver.
Coach Toffler, who has done a great job since replacing the legendary Hall of Famer Louis Bizetti as Head Football Coach at Walthorne High two years ago, has already made clear he plans on starting Caleb right away. This isn t a kid who needs to wait his turn, says Coach Toffler. His poise and ability are way beyond his years. I don t want to put too much pressure on the kid, but we expect to compete for the state title with Caleb at the helm. He s ready to go.
Meanwhile, Caleb s dad is excited to see his son s high school debut. Oh, you bet, we ve been waiting for this for a long time, said Sammy Springer. Seeing my boy out there playing high school football is a dream come true. When asked if he was upset that his son didn t play wide receiver like him, the former NFL star laughed. Are you kidding? No one gets hit harder than the little guys on the outside. He ll be a lot safer back there in the pocket, being protected by the big boys on the line.
You can see Caleb Springer s high school debut for yourself this Friday night at home against Meadow Ridge.
WWHS WALTHORNE HIGH SCHOOL RADIO
ALFIE:
Testing, testing, 123 . . . Testing . . . Is this thing on?
CALEB:
Well, you re blasting through my headphones, so I guess yes.
ALFIE:
Sweet! And oh, uh, sorry about the levels. Still getting used to this new equipment.
CALEB:
Cool. This is all new for me, too.
ALFIE:
Okay, so, yeah! Welcome to my first-ever high school edition of Talking Sports on WWHS. This is Alfie Jenks, associate sports editor.
CALEB:
Wait, are you a freshman, too? Or should I say freshwoman?
ALFIE:
Ha. Neither. I m a sophomore-they don t let you host your own show till you re a sophomore.
CALEB:
Oh cool, well, congrats on your first show.
ALFIE:
Yeah, thanks! So, anyway, yeah, I m here with Caleb Springer, who is an actual freshman, and who has just been named the first-string quarterback of the Walthorne High Wildcats. We ve got a really exciting season coming up, starting with the first game this Friday night against Meadow Ridge. So, Caleb, are you ready to go?
CALEB:
I sure hope so.
ALFIE:
Do you feel, like, a lot of pressure because you re so good?
CALEB:
Well, uh, thanks, I guess, but I don t know about that-
ALFIE:
You are, though. You re, like, the best quarterback Walthorne has ever had. Everyone says so. And you re only a freshman. How does that feel? Does it feel awesome?
CALEB:
Oh man.
ALFIE:
Does it, like, stress you out? Or how about the fact that your dad was a famous player in the NFL? Is that a lot of pressure, too?
CALEB:
He s not that fam-
ALFIE:
Oh shoot, wait, hold on a sec. I forgot something. Mr. Rashad says reporters always need to make sure our readers or listeners understand the background.
CALEB:
Who?
ALFIE:
My advisor, Mr. Rashad. So, uh, for all you listeners out there, Caleb s dad is Sammy Springer, who played for the New York Jets and was, like, this amazing wide receiver and had this incredible career and made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
CALEB:
Actually, that s not quite true. I mean, the Jets part is true, and the wide receiver part is true. He played in the pros for seven years, but he isn t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He s in the College Football Hall of Fame, though.
ALFIE:
Oh, my bad! Why only seven years?
CALEB:
Uh, well, that s actually longer than most NFL players play. They get banged up, you know-injuries and stuff.
ALFIE:
Oh man. Injuries suck.
CALEB:
They sure do. Can you say suck on the radio?
ALFIE:
Uh . . . I m not sure, to be honest. I better . . . This has been Talking Sports, with associate sports editor Alfie Jenks, signing off.
1
Walthorne High vs. Meadow Ridge High Season Record: 0-0
Buck helps block out the noise.
When I first started playing football, my dad told me that my helmet was going to be my best friend, so I should give it a name. I named it Buck. I can t remember why. I ve had a lot of helmets since then, and they ve all been Buck.
My friends think it s dumb, but I don t care.
Buck s main job is to protect my head, of course. High school football crowds can be loud, though-really loud-and thanks to Buck, it s more like a low buzzing. It s always there, but it s far away.
I like it that way. It helps me think.
One of the things I love most about football is how much you have to think. Who does what, who goes where, split-second decisions, when to run, when to pitch, when to hand off, when to throw, who to throw to, how to throw it, should I throw it high and soft, low and hard, which hole to hit, which blocker to run behind-that s all stuff you have to think about on pretty much every play.
Everyone thinks football is just people smashing into other people, but it s actually a lot more than that.
Although there is plenty of smashing.
At the end of the first quarter, we re up 14-0. I throw a nineteen-yard pass to Ethan Metzger in the corner of the end zone for the first touchdown. On the second score, I get a great block from Kenny Coleman-an offensive lineman and the only other freshman on varsity-and I basically walk in from twelve yards out.
We huddle up on the sideline. I hear Coach Toffler talking, but I m only half-listening. I know what to do. I have an instinct for the game that s pretty foolproof. My dad calls it a sixth sense. The coaches know it and leave me alone. So yeah, I m not really paying attention. Instead, I m staring across the field, at the Meadow Ridge players.
I know what I m looking for.
The sag.
That s what my dad calls it. The sag. It s when the players on the other team lose their confidence. Their shoulders drop, they run back to the huddle with less energy, their yells of encouragement to their teammates are a little less loud. My dad says there s a moment in every ga