I dreamed about Jake.
I was in an alley and this guy who works for me went and got him. Came up in a broken down Toyota or something with Jake driving and my guy in the passenger seat.
Jake rolls down the window and my guy is blasting him about how he sucks, shouldn't be on the field, backs out of plays etc.
So I'm sitting there at a little table in this alley and Jake is essentially a hostage. So he looks at me and asks what we want him to do. Starts crying. Says he has feelings, he's a human and he's doing the best he can. Asks why everybody hates him when he's trying so hard. And he just keeps crying, says people say such hurtful things and he doesn't know what else he can do. He says he played better against LSU.
My guy says it's not good enough. He gets out of the car and tells Jake to start driving and don't look back. He starts crying again.
I lean into the car and tell him I know he loves Auburn, but sometimes love means putting yourself aside. It's time for him to go.
That's all I remember.
Then this morning I'm watching SportsCenter and they're showing why Denver carved up the Raiders and the focus is on linebackers who are basically jogging in place. That Hasselbeck guy essentially screams at Hannah "They're BACKING UP when the running back has the ball." He draws on the board and explains how their indecision and failure to step up opens lanes and compromises the entire rest of the defense. He shows how them backpedaling makes it easy for blockers to negate them. He shows how the backs only have to look at which way they turn to have lanes that create bad angles for everybody else. And I see them doing exactly what Jake does. Hot footing it, not moving toward the line when the back has the ball, letting people drift past them in zone coverage, getting turned by blockers while the back hurtles past.
It was sickening. And I wished my guy would find him and drag him to an alley somewhere.
So YES, Phillip you catfish-eyed waddle pudge we CAN see what's on the field and know what's up. Unless Hasselbeck can't either.