Waiting For The Turk

I don't know what it is that wakes me at this time every morning, but I have been doing it since I was a rookie. That's nine years of Southern California summers, waking just before the trainer makes his rounds.

The first thing I see is the white plaster ceiling. I always sleep on my back with my legs elevated. It gives me low-back pain but keeps my knee from swelling. Down the dormitory hall I hear the squeak of Dobie's crepe-soled Riddell trainer's shoes. I always wake before the squeaks. I don't know why.

I wake up completely, instantly, my mind alert and functioning at full speed. I begin to concentrate on the day's challenge. It's a good feeling, a slight rush. It's concentration that keeps me intact, and in this business staying intact is what it's all about. I believe in the psychology of the victim. Alert is not only a good feeling, it's necessary. You have to make your breaks and never let down.

Dobie Rank, the trainer, rattled the door open.

"L.D., Mabry, get up. Breakfast at seven, the taping schedule is posted." He moved down the hall.

I stretched and listened to him continue his wake-up circuit. He would finish waking all the veterans on the first floor and then climb to the second floor and start rousing the rookies.

Today is the last of two-a-day practices. Two-a-days are tough, with the humiliation and the heat of 85� Southern California days. We train in California because Texas summers are brutal. Today is also a cut day. Some guys can't stand the anxiety of waiting out the cuts, waiting for the Turk. But anxiety is the price of living in the future, and I'll pay it.

"Aaahh." L.D. Groover, my roommate, stirred on the other bed. He's a defensive tackle; I'm a cornerback. An ice pack slid from L.D.'s knee to the floor with a muted splash. "Damn. My bones have gone soft."

Doors started slamming up and down the hall. L.D. switched on his radio. "... and the pollution index is a big 105...that's unacceptable...and now the CB song of the day, God's Got His Ears On."

A phone rang down the hall. L.D. leaned over and took our phone off the hook. On cut days Coach Buck Binder phones players and has them bring their playbooks to the coaches' wing. We disconnect the phone on cut days. It won't keep us from getting cut, but it will make it more difficult for Buck.