The Guy Named Harrison: Book One

51

Just as the Panthers game was about to start, Harrison came in the living room carrying a large box. "I thought you weren't supposed to be carrying anything heavy yet?" She asked.

He sat down next to her. "It's not heavy. You'll see."

Carrie waited for him to open the box. And when he did, she was surprised to see a brand new helmet inside. "You got a new helmet?"

"Yeah. But it's not like my current helmet. It's actually designed to reduce the risk of concussions."

She took the helmet as he went to find his current helmet. It had a much different design to it.

Harrison came back with his other helmet and let her see the differences on the outside. "The big difference is on the inside. This one is made by a company called Vicis. While my other one is made by Riddell. I actually tried this one at the very start of training camp. I didn't like the fit of it at first. But Vicis went back and made some changes to the design."

He continued. "Ryan suggested I try it again. And now that they made some adjustments it fits a lot better. This thing is designed to crumple like a car bumper does on impact."

"Isn't that a little scary."

"No because this helmet has four layers. That's why it's a little bigger than my other one."

After listening to him explain what the four layers did, Carrie was quite glad he decided to try this new helmet again because it seemed a lot safer than the one he'd been wearing.

Nothing was totally going to eliminate concussions from football, but this helmet could help reduce them.

"I do wish they developed this technology sooner," he admitted.

"Me too."

"And if I knew about all this concussion stuff and CTE when I was young, I probably would've never played football."

❺❾

The Panthers were beating the Buccaneers 17-3 by the end of the first quarter. Every play, wether the Panthers were on offense of defense, Harrison knew what it was, and explained it to her.

Carrie learned a lot about football. And sitting next to him while he was watching his team play, she could sense his desire to get back on the field. It was evident. He was confined to a couch, miles away from Tampa Bay, Florida, where he had to watch his teammates play on tv.

At least he would be able to be on the sidelines the next two games he had to sit out. They would probably let him call plays with the defensive coordinator.

Carrie almost fell asleep with her head on his shoulder when he asked, "are you paying attention?"

"Uh huh."

"Then what play did Luke just call?"

"4-3 man coverage."

He smiled. "Lucky guess."

❺❾

Carrie had just fallen asleep when her phone rang. She didn't even want to answer it when she saw who it was. It was the CEO of ESPN, John Skipper.

She rolled her eyes and answered the phone. Surprisingly, the call wasn't anything like she'd expected it to be. He apologized for what happened between her and Tony and explained that Tony had been fired. It turns out he tried to fire other employees just like her. John offered Carrie her job back with a raise. And she told him she'd think about it.

"Who was that?" Harrison asked.

"The CEO of ESPN who just offered me my job back."

"Did you take it?"

"Not yet. I don't know if I want it back."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because it's all about being the best at writing the latest news. And meeting deadlines every day. I don't know if I want to do this anymore."

"Well, I don't want to be interviewed by anyone else but you. I'm sure plenty of my teammates would agree."

"You'll be fine."

"No I won't. Because you're different than everyone else. Players like to talk to you because you don't rush right in to interview us. You give us our personal space and don't ramble off a bunch of questions like everyone else."

"I'll think about it."

"Good."