Advantage Disadvantage (12 page)

After a polite round of applause, the coach
continued.

“There’s one more piece of business to handle before
we play our first game tonight. Each of you voted yesterday via
email to pick our team captain. We are lucky because we have three
outstanding seniors who all have leadership qualities. However, the
vote was nearly unanimous – you all picked Jamal Imari to be your
team captain. Congratulations, Jamal.”

Marcus could not have been more proud. It has been a
long road for Jamal: from trying out for Coach Battle’s NAU team to
becoming the captain of a statewide competitive high school
team.

“Boys, remember to tell your parents that this
summer is about improving skills, not winning games. They may not
understand why I might be more intense in a winning, blowout game
than during a loss. You will have to explain to them if I am riding
you, it is only because you are not executing something we have
learned regardless of the score. Finally, boys, man-up this summer.
Accept criticism in order to improve, it is not personal. And tell
your parents not to call me so much this year!”

Chapter Sixteen. Star Gazing

Frank Worrell was dreading the start of summer ball.
He was back in town from his annual early summer vacation and would
not be free to get away until next spring. Summer basketball and
football absorbed his entire hot season, leading into fall
football, then basketball and a little break before baseball
started. His “bread and butter” was basketball reporting. At the
end of summer, he normally published his preseason football poll
and a basketball camp review. As soon as football ended, his
much-heralded pre-season basketball series started culminating with
his initial rankings. The Windy City Daily conducted telephone
surveys and online polls, and determined that the increase in
circulation and internet visits occurred because of the paper’s
basketball coverage. Frank Worrell was the reason.

Nancy Kapist committed to the Windy City Daily Board
of Directors that Frank was poised to contribute another
outstanding year creating his high school sports columns. Some
board members heard rumors that Frank was trying to jump over to
the Chicago Tribune, assuming that he did not move to the crime
beat or the political desk. Without exception, they appreciated his
contribution to the paper’s prep coverage and to the bottom line
profits. Personally, they were not opposed to accommodating Frank
as long as they hired a replacement who could continue their
near-monopoly of high school coverage. However, organization chart
protocol dictated that they defer the discussion back to the chief
editor. Nancy was concerned that Frank was about to explode. She
wanted to have a conversation with Frank to put out his career fire
for now, and keep him motivated. She invited him to dinner at her
downtown penthouse a few blocks away from the Daily’s
headquarters.

Over the years, Frank had been to a handful of
parties at Nancy’s condominium. The beautiful layout included a
panoramic view of Oak Street Beach to the north and the old Meigs
Field to the south. Across the street to the east was the infamous
Lake Shore Drive, and beyond, Lake Michigan. The entire scenery
from the balcony was breathtaking, and to Nancy, well worth the
three million dollar price tag.

“Ronnie Edelman, come on in. Thanks for coming over.
We have a lot to talk about”

“Nancy, you are the only person who doesn’t call me
Frank Worrell. Why is that?”

“Well, I’ve known your Dad for so long. If I am to
call him Dr. Edelman, I have a hard time calling his son by any
other last name. Sit down. What would you like to drink?”

Frank became uncomfortable. “I don’t usually drink
at business meetings. We are here to talk about business aren’t
we?”

“Relax Ronnie. I know you have many concerns and
questions. I have some answers and suggestions - so we have lots of
business to discuss. However, we do not have to be rushed. How long
have we known each other? Over ten years, I think. Anyway, we don’t
have to be so formal.”

“Yes, it’s been over ten years. Ok. I’ll have a
beer.”

“Sure”, Nancy said as she poured two glasses of wine
and handed him one.

Franks laughed and thanked her for the wine. “I
guess they don’t serve beer in these lofty penthouses,” he thought
to himself.

In preparation for this meeting, Frank wrote the
following issues on a piece of paper so that he would not forget to
bring them up for discussion:

Salary

Prestige and Professional Respect

Promotion

Crime Desk

Over the next hour, Frank outlined his frustrations,
concerns and job hopping threats. Nancy was happy to elicit his
lists because she wanted to reassure her bosses on the Daily’s
board that Frank was under control and ready to deliver top-rate
prep coverage in the fall and winter. The business side of the
newspaper wanted to embark on a sales campaign highlighting the
demographics of the increased viewership because of their focus on
prep sports, but they needed Frank to calm down and work in the
right frame of mind.

“Ronnie, I want you to know that when you started
with us, the high school sports reporter’s job was the bottom of
the pecking order. It had the highest turnover. Sports journalists
would cut their teeth on that job and usually move on to the
glamour sports, but sometimes to other parts of the paper. As such,
the job was slotted with a low-grade rating along with a low-pay
grid.”

“Nancy, you never told me this when I
interviewed.”

She was a shrewd businessperson. She replied to
deflate his upcoming pitch, “Ronnie, you would never have been
hired if I didn’t know your dad. If the decision depended on
college credentials alone, someone else would not have been hired.
You never seem grateful that I gave you this opportunity.”

He turned red in his face. Just as he was ready to
explode, she cut him off.

“Despite all of that,” she said, “hiring you was the
best accidental thing that happened to The Windy City Daily. You
have worked hard, you have gone outside the requirements, and you
have developed a unique niche. I don’t know any reporter in the
country who has developed the relationships that you have with the
coaches, players, parents, referees, colleges, and what do you call
them, ‘Street Agents’?”

“Yep. I call them the scum of the earth. Well, talk
is cheap Nancy. I want to live better. I’m so far away from a place
like this, and I’m not getting any younger.”

“You’re right. In addition, in the past the board
did not appreciate good high school coverage. Until you came along,
that is. These people are not writers – they are business people.
You could write a Pulitzer Prize quality column and they would give
a shit. However, increase profits and they notice. You have
increased the bottom line of the paper significantly. It took
everyone by surprise. I’ll deny that I said this to you, but
Ronnie, sometimes I think that the only time we make money is
during your sports season, or if a national hurricane or some other
disaster occurs.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Nancy.”

“Everywhere?” she asked as she provoked an awkward
moment. “I was able to get the board to change the classification
of your assignment. As such, I am offering an immediate 14% raise
effective Monday. How does that sound?”

He was shocked at the amount of raise. He was still
in debt from last year’s football betting losses. He had paid off
all of his debts to Bobby G. – the scumbag mostly operated on a
cash basis. However, Frank ran up debt on a couple credit cards.
Other newspaper employees that he talked with got much more modest
raises between three to seven percent. Doubling the top end made
him feel good and although even fourteen percent would not satisfy
his materialistic needs, it was a great concession, and he grasped
the commitment right away.

“Next, you listed Prestige and Professional Respect.
As far as I am concerned, you already have this. Nevertheless, here
is an offer. Because of the success of the entire sports department
and the readership that you have helped achieve, we have decided to
sponsor a local access cable television show called,
The Windy
City Daily Sports Wrap
, running five nights a week during the
school year. It will be hosted by one of the Chicago sports
celebrities, but we will maintain editorial control.”

“That’s interesting, but I’m not following.”

“Well, to further increase your profile around town,
you can be on-air whenever you want with these conditions: 1) your
column coverage and quality cannot suffer in any way, and 2) your
participation on the show is restricted to high school sports
topics. Look, it’s not
Sports Center
but it is a hell of an
opportunity. I think you’ll agree that the money and the TV deal
address your first three items on your list.”

“Wow”, he was overwhelmed. He was not expecting so
much.

“And I know that you continue to be interested in
working on the Crime Desk at the paper. The board will not let me,”
she lied, “and I cannot afford to lose your high school coverage
contribution to the paper right now. But I stand committed to make
it happen in the future.”

“Nancy, I came here ready to quit. And ... in the
first five minutes I thought that the paper still undervalued what
I do. However, your offer blows me away. I’m happily
surprised.”

“Good, Ronnie. I could not tell you until the board
approved these plans. They signed-off yesterday. If we have a deal,
let’s shake on it and have some dinner.”

With that, they shook hands and walked through the
balcony doors to a table set with her finest linen and
entertainment china, overlooking the pounding summer’s waves on Oak
Street Beach. She signaled to her chef/maid that she was ready for
dinner. They had a wonderful meal and drank a bottle of wine that
Frank could never afford, even with his new raise.

When they finished dinner, Frank thanked her again.
He said he was delighted with the paper’s increased commitment to
him. He also remarked how cool it was to dine with such a great
view, in such a beautiful house. He was gushing like one of the
adolescents that he covered in his column.

“Frank, did you ever see the skylight in the condo
when you were here before?”

“I don’t think so.”

She grabbed Frank’s hand and walked him through a
threshold normally blocked by an in-wall sliding door. Behind the
doorway was a massive bedroom. She pulled him into the room. While
he stood looking around, she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Look up Ronnie. There is the skylight. Look at all
the stars out tonight. Come over here and look up.”

She patted the bed next to her, and motioned Frank
to come over.

“Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Kapist,” asked
Frank putting a twist on a line from the old movie,
The
Graduate
.

When he sat down, she smiled and quietly said,
“Yes.”

Frank found her quite attractive, and with the
attention she showered on him tonight, he was powerless to resist.
They began kissing on the side of the bed, timidly at first. Mad,
adoring embraces followed the initial awkward pecks. Clothing piled
on the floor as Nancy’s pent-up passions matched Franks’ desires.
They made love for hours under the stars.

In the morning, Frank woke up to Nancy sitting
alongside the bed in a chair reading the Daily’s paper. Frank was
hoping this was not a dream because he had received a hefty raise
and a television show deal, and he slept with a beautiful, albeit
older woman.

Nancy was thinking to herself, “When is this kid
going to get dressed and get out of here?” Instead she said, “Good
morning, Ronnie. I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to get up
today!”

A little dazed, he asked, “Should I feel guilty
about last night, Nancy?”

“If you’re like me, you feel great about last
night.”

“Where do we go from here?” he asked Nancy.

Nancy had several motives. She was frustrated with
the lack of intimacy her marriage had achieved. Her husband was a
good guy, but they no longer were sexual. He was gone for long
stretches of time. Yet, she could not afford to begin an affair in
her lofty social circles without professional consequences. Having
a throwaway affair with Frank was ideal: he was attractive, he
could fulfill her sexual needs, and she could use sex as a way to
control him at the paper. She saw him as a means to an end.

“Ronnie, I want to see you more. However, I must
insist on some rules. Number one, we never publicly act out or
discuss with anyone our encounters. It has to be secret. Two,
around the office we interact professionally without regard to our
private relationship. And three, either of us can call this off
anytime unilaterally.”

“Nancy, I completely agree. When can I see you
again?”

***

Occasionally when Nancy’s husband was out of town
and more importantly, when she was bored, Frank got to be with her.
They were discrete. Nancy’s maid knew about these sexual
rendezvous, but pledged her secrecy. With her penthouse setup, they
did not need to go out in public. The affair was off and
running.

Chapter Seventeen. Marriage on the Rocks

Jamal Imari had grown to six foot five inches by the
summer before his senior year. During the prior years, he had
received several recruiting letters of interest but there were no
firm offers or commitments to scholarships. Jamal himself was
evaluating his commitment to play basketball beyond high school. He
liked Coach Venturi, but was scared of his newly formed intensity
at the start of the summer.

Coach Battle contacted Jamal on behalf of his NAU
team sponsor and asked him to honor his old team by wearing Kerbe
shoes during the high school season. This phone call put the young
teenager in the middle of an adult financial squabble. Jamal
realized for the first time that other people were making money on
his back. He was stressing major about the gym shoe dilemma – his
prior coach wanted him to wear the NAU’s team sponsor (Kerbe)
shoes, the current coach wanted Vole. Jamal wanted to act loyal to
both Venturi and Battle. He brought home the coach’s rules for the
summer to show his mom.