Read Online Game Changers by Mike Lupica - Free Book Online Page B

behind his back, the way you would in basketball.
    Make it up, if you had to.
    Just make the play.
    Shawn was different. Oh man. No matter what the situation against Midvale, no matter what happened after the ball was snapped, Shawn had only changed the play his dad had sent in as some kind of last resort. Coach O’Brien could talk all he wanted in practice about secondary receivers. Shawn would still get locked in on the guy who was supposed to be getting the ball. The way he’d locked in on Ben right before the interception the day before.
    It was almost as if Shawn was the robot like the one in his backyard, maybe thinking his dad was controlling him with a remote from the sideline.
    It was almost time for the McBain family’s Sunday lunch when he got back, the big bowl of fruit salad already on the dining room table. Sam and Coop and Lily were coming over to hang out later, after the Packers played the one o’clock game on TV, which meant Ben had some time before he had to explain to them why the Core Four might be about to become five for a while.
    He’d gotten Shawn to agree to this: Ben could tell Sam and Coop that they were going to do some extra workouts on their own. So that they could all become more comfortable with one another. It was a legit idea, especially for Shawn and Coop, because they had messed up that handoff against Midvale, and it didn’t matter whose fault it was, the ball still ended up bouncing around on the ground.
    And it was totally legit that Shawn getting extra practice throwing to Sam could only help, since Sam was clearly the best receiver on the team.
    Ben and Shawn agreed that the workouts would take place at McBain Field, even though Shawn’s field was a whole lot better, both Ben and Shawn agreeing that Shawn would be a lot more relaxed without his dad being some kind of eye in the sky at the top of the hill.
    Wanting to come down and help out.
    â€œI mean this in a good way,” Shawn O’Brien had said, “but my dad is already helping enough.”
    Ben was on his bed now, stretched out on top of the covers, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Thinking: It wasn’t just the game you were playing or the one you were watching that could turn around in a blink, sometimes it was your life.
    He had come into the season wanting one thing: To be a quarterback. When he saw that wasn’t going to happen, he just wanted things to be a little less complicated between him and Shawn, and now look where he was.
    He heard a small knock on the door, said “Enter,” saw his dad’s smiling face appear from behind the door. Never a bad thing.
    â€œâ€˜Bout five minutes until lunch,” he said.
    â€œYou need help setting the table?” Ben said.
    His dad tilted his head to the side, frowning, trying to look confused. “Well, the boy definitely looks like Ben McBain,” his dad said. “And he sounds like Ben McBain. But if he’s talking about laying out forks and knives, he can’t possibly be Ben McBain.”
    â€œNo kidding,” Ben said, “sometimes you and mom really are funnier than TV parents.”
    â€œWell,” his dad said, “you’re nice to notice.” Then: “How’d it go at Shawn’s? Your mom told me you were heading over.”
    â€œIt went okay, I guess.”
    â€œJust okay?”
    He wanted to tell his dad all of it, tell him how maybe the only way to save the season was to help Shawn get better — and get more confidence — playing a position he didn’t even want to play. Ben wanted to ask his dad for advice, totally . But knew he couldn’t.
    All he said was “He’s one of those guys who just wants it so bad it makes him play bad.”
    No lie there.
    Then Ben added, “Dad, does that make any sense?”
    â€œActually,” Jeff McBain said, “it makes perfect sense.” His dad smiled at him again, the kind that could