The Quarterback Ch. 01

I was stunned by the total arrogance, rudeness, and lack of respect. As Charlotte stood to leave, I jumped to my feet. I was now beyond angry and wanted nothing to do with this bitch.

"I don't know where you got the idea that you have a golden pussy," I snapped, "because you don't. And you want to know something else. You can take that stick out of your ass and shove this job up there instead."

I then stormed past her, but not before I had the opportunity to see the total shock on her face. As I left the building, I calmed down and started to chuckle. Once in my car, I was rather pleased with myself; the interview had gone quite well, in my opinion. I had extricated myself from working for a real bitch of a woman. There was no fucking way I was going to be her whipping boy. I then resigned myself to sending out a bunch more resumes. However, while I thought I was through with Century First, Century First was not through with me.

Two things happened that stopped any further job hunting. One of those things was that Ray Sullivan had been hired as the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When I read the story in the paper, I was very happy for him. He was a quality coach, and I knew he would do great things for Tampa. The second thing that happened was Carl Domino came to my parent's house to talk to me. You could have knocked me over with a feather when he showed up at our front door.

My parents were super impressed that the head of a large bank would come all the way to talk to their son. And they were further impressed when Carl insisted that they sit in on the discussion.

After a little bit of small talk, Carl launched into the reason for his visit. "I want to apologize for my daughter's behavior. And Jason, I must compliment you on how you handled her. Telling her to take the stick out of her ass so that she could replace it with the job offer was brilliant."

"Jason, you didn't really say that, did you?" my mother was horrified. On the other hand, my father was terribly amused but tried to hide it.

"Oh, he said that and more," Carl confirmed with a chuckle. "But my daughter deserved it. No one has ever put her in her place, which was long overdue.

"Mr. Domino, I appreciate you coming in person," I said, wanting to end this awkward situation. "However, I'm not interested in being a resident celebrity."

"I wouldn't want you to be either," Carl laughed. "But that is not the job that I envisioned. I do not want to hire you because you played in a Super Bowl. I will admit that's a plus, but I did some digging on you before I scheduled your interview. I learned that you were a business major and wrote a paper on franchising. The plan you put forward in one of your papers caught my eye. I think it could be used as a blueprint for expanding my bank. I also know that you took a course on banking regulations. You are not going to be a flunky celebrity. Once you complete six months to a year of training, I want you involved in the day-to-day planning of the Bank's expansion."

I was stunned by Carl's explanation of my future with the bank. But I still did not think it would work.

"Mr. Domino," I said tentatively, "I appreciate your vote of confidence, but I still do not think it will work. There is no way I could put up with your daughter."

This brought a hearty laugh from Carl. "I must admit, having you report directly to Charlotte was not one of my better ideas. My daughter is a workaholic and has almost no social life. I will also admit that I thought that forcing her to work with a good-looking guy like you might prompt her to reconsider her lack of dating. But if you do not want to work with her, you will report directly to me."

I mulled over Mr. Domino's description of my potential job for only a second before deciding. "As long as I don't have to work for your daughter, Mr. Domino, I accept your offer."

However, going to work for Century First was also not to be. At least, it was not going to happen as I thought it would. And at one point, I thought the only honorable thing to do was to resign from the bank.

I was to start working at Century on the first of February. The plan was for me to spend a month training at their headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. Then I was to spend the next five months moving through various departments as I tried to learn as much as possible. After that, I would be touring a select number of branches. Finally, I would return to Jacksonville to work on the expansion plans. But as I said, that didn't happen as it was planned.

I started working for Century First on the first and was soon working my ass off to get up to speed. But about a week into March, I got a call from Ray Sullivan. I could not for the life of me understand why the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be calling me.

"Coach Sullivan, congratulations on your new job," I offered as I settled onto my couch.

He laughed. "Some say that moving up to head coach is one step closer to being pushed out the door. If I don't do well here, I'll be gone and have to get a coaching job elsewhere. And I really do not want to leave this area. But I don't have to tell you how things work in the NFL."

It was my turn to laugh. "Well, the solution is simple; do a good job."

"That's what I plan to do, and speaking of that, I was wondering if you'd be interested in giving the NFL another try? I would like to sign you to a contract with the Buccaneers."

The offer was like a lightning bolt out of the blue. "I don't understand, coach. You already have Donny Taylor as your starter and Tyler Simmons as your backup. Donny's a good quarterback, and Tyler is a quality backup."

Donny had been a first-round draft pick four years ago and had played well enough for Tampa to pick up the fifth-year option on his contract. And Tyler was a journeyman quarterback. He was safe and steady, but he was not a starter. Then again, neither was I.

"I'm hedging my bets," Coach Sullivan said. "I have always thought you were a quality quarterback who did not get a real shot. And you proved it in the Super Bowl. You brought Buffalo back from disaster to being one pass away from Super Bowl Champs. I am prepared to offer you a contract for eight hundred thousand dollars with $100,000 guaranteed. The rest will be fully guaranteed if you make the team. Also, there will be incentives in the contract based on playing time and performance that could boost it to two million dollars. What do you say? Are you interested?"

"I don't know, coach," I said hesitantly. "I just started a new job with Century First. It's a job that offers a real future, and I can't just walk away."

There was a moment's pause, and Coach Sullivan said, "I know Carl Domino from when we worked on a couple of charities. Let me talk to him before you decide."

After I agreed, I immediately called my parents. I explained to my dad what was happening and asked for his advice. He put the phone on speaker, so my mother could hear also.

"Jason, tell your mother what you told me about the offer from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers."

I explained the offer that had been made to me by Coach Sullivan. I told my mother that I had told the coach about my new job and his offer to talk to Mr. Domino.

"Jason, I don't think you should even consider taking the offer from Tampa Bay," my mother said emphatically. "It's just pie in the sky. You have an excellent job with the bank. Don't risk losing it."

I must admit that I was torn. I did want another shot at the NFL, but I was realistic to know that it would probably amount to nothing. My mother was right that my job with Century First was a fantastic opportunity. Still, I wanted my father's input.

"What do you think, dad?"

"Well," he began tentatively, "with all due respect to your mother, I think she is totally wrong."

"Harold," I heard my mother begin to chide my father.

"Susan, I listened to what you had to say, so I'd appreciate it if you'd be quiet while I talk," my father pushed back. "As I said, I think your mother is totally wrong. And this has nothing to do with me wanting to brag that my son is a pro football player. Jason, I want you to consider that you only get a few opportunities in life to shoot for the moon. This is one of those opportunities. If you don't do it, you will always wonder whether you could have made it. The things we regret the most in life are not the things we tried and failed at. We regret most the things we never tried at all."

I was still unsure what to do, but I knew I had to talk to Mr. Domino before making any decision. But as it was, I did not have to call him. First thing in the morning, Carl was on the phone with me.

"Jason, I understand you have a bit of a dilemma," he said with a chuckle.

"Yes, sir," I responded. "I assume that you've talked to Coach Sullivan."

"Yes, I have, and I think we have come up with a workable solution."

That was not what I expected to hear from my boss. I expected Carl to tell me to decide whether I wanted a career with his bank or one in Pro Football. That was not what he offered.

"I'm not sure I understand, sir," I admitted my confusion. "To be honest, I still haven't decided what to do. However, I will give you proper notice if I decide to play football. As you can imagine, I am torn and struggling with my decision."

"Coach Sullivan and I think you should do both," I did not expect this suggestion.

"Both?" I questioned.

"Yes, we should be able to work around your schedule," Carl explained. "Training camp does not start until August. You will have to attend some mini-camps before then, but that shouldn't be a problem. We will work around the mini-camps and give you a leave of absence for the season. During the offseason, you'll come back to work for the bank. And when your football career is over, you will have a steady job. And I will have a quality employee. How does that work for you?"

"It, it, it works very well for me," I stuttered.

And so, I was signed to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The announcement of my signing merited only a single line in the sports pages. No one else around the league or the country took notice except Charlotte. She was royally pissed that I was being given special treatment. I expected nothing less. However, I was going to get another shot at playing in the NFL.

What I did not know at the time was that my love life would take a couple of twists and turns, and Jimmy would fuck with me again. But finally, I would find a way to pay him back big time.