assistant coach • sam hubbard

007

september 18th, 2022

the bengals take on the cowboys today in dallas. the team flew in yesterday. they weren't running any of marley's plays today, they haven't practiced them enough.

"let's go out there," zach said. "get this win so we can have that feeling in this locker room we all want."

"win on three." zach said. "one, two, three."

"win." they all said in unison.

marley and the other coaches watched they player introductions. "there's your guy." lou said bumping her arm.

the guy in question was sam hubbard. "what are you talking about?" marley said.

"everybody on this team knows you two like each other except for you two." lou said.

"we work together, that's insane." marley said.

"but you never said you didn't like him." lou said.

"turn into zac effron and get your head in the game." marley said.

"you still aren't denying it." lou said.

"dallas had won the toss and elected to defer to the second half." the umpire said.

evan kicked it, which was a touchback. defense was up. "let's ride." marley said as they made their way on to the field.

drives later, and two quarters later, they were sitting at 17-3. the cowboys were winning at halftime.

they needed to score two touchdowns in order to at least tie the game, which was very much possible.

they got back out there, 3:45 seconds left in regulation. they needed a touchdown and a two point conversion to win the game.

zach took a timeout. "marley, we need one of your plays." zach said. "i know we weren't running them today, but we need something they haven't seen before."

"okay, i got one." marley said. she told zach the play, and offense as well.

the play worked, tee got the touchdown and tyler got the two point conversion.

dallas has one more drive left, defense just needs to keep them out of field goal range.

0:03 seconds left, the cowboys are at the 50 yard line, the ball was up and the kick was made. 20-17 cowboys.

the players shook hands with the others and walked back to the locker room.

"you all played your best today. but put this loss behind us and move on. we play the jets next week, and then the dolphins that thursday. so don't even use the 24 hour rule. put it behind you now. like i said, we play the jets on sunday." zach said. he motioned for marley to add.

"we don't play the jets on sunday." marley said gaining confused looks from them. "they have to play us."

"change your mentality to being the hunters instead of the hunted. super bowl hangover doesn't apply to us. might be a rocky start, but nothing you haven't handled before. aren't you tired of the underdog narrative?" marley said.

"i think mar is coming for your speech title zach, that was pretty good." jamar said.

"who wants to run laps at practice?" zach asked, everyone went silent.

"that's my line." marley said.

• • •

on the plane home, marley was drawing up plays in her head. any free time she had, she spent coming up with plays.

after she took a break from that, she pulled out her book. the fault in our stars by john green.

she was about halfway through it. she loved the movie so she bought the book.

"as he read, i fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly then all at once." she read. she paused for a moment because that is a very amazing quote that needed pondering on.

when you fall in love, it starts slowly. you notice things you like about them like their smile or the way the laugh.

then you fall faster, like you notice all the things about them at once. like the way their eyes light up when they smile, like the way they play football and get excited when they get a sack.

marley kept reading. "i'm in love with you," he said quietly. "augustus," i said. "i am," he said. he was staring at me, and i could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "i'm in love with you, and i'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. i'm in love with you, and i know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and i know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and i am in love with you."

marley once again had to pause for a moment. this book was filled with heart warming and heart shattering moments at the same time.

she was getting towards the end now and her eyes were getting very watery. "there are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. there's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. some infinities are bigger than other infinities. a writer we used to like taught us that. there are days, many of them, when i resent the size of my unbounded set. i want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and god, i want more numbers for augustus waters than he got. but, gus, my love, i cannot tell you how thankful i am for our little infinity. i wouldn't trade it for the world. you gave me a forever within the numbered days, and i'm grateful."

she was definitely crying now, but she wiped her tears before anyone else could see. "mr. van houten, i'm a good person, but a bad writer. you're a bad person, but a good writer. i think we'd make a good team. i don't wanna ask you for any favors, but if you have the time - and from what i saw you had plenty - please fix this for me: it's a eulogy for hazel. she asked me to write one, and i'm trying, but i just... i could use a little flair. see, the thing is... we all wanna be remembered. But hazel's different. hazel knows the truth. she didn't want a million admirers, she just wanted one. and she got it. maybe she wasn't loved widely, but she was loved deeply. and isn't that more than most of us get? when hazel was sick, i knew i was dying, but i didn't wanna say so. she was in the icu when i snuck in for ten minutes and i just sat with her before i got caught. her eyes were closed, her skin pale, but her hands were still her hands, still warm, and her nails were painted this dark blue black color, and... i just held them. and i willed myself to imagine a world without us and what a worthless world that would be. she's so beautiful. you don't get tired of looking at her. you never worry if she's smarter than you, 'cause you know she is. she's funny without ever being mean. i love her. god, i love her, i'm so lucky to love her, van houten. you don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have a say in who hurts you. and i like my choices. i hope she likes hers. okay, hazel grace? okay."

and that was it. marley finished the book. and it ended like that? wow.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

i kind of combined stuff from the movie and the book