American Football: King of the Bay Area

”Welcome to the 49ers!”

Logan jumped up and down, celebrating wildly. He backed up, sprinted forward, and leaped into an excited chest bump with Marcus. Afterward, Marcus spread his arms wide like a glider and soared through the empty parking lot. He even made bomber noises with his mouth, ”BOOM, BOOM-BOOM,” the racket echoing through the space.

But after celebrating wildly for a moment, Logan noticed something wasn’t right. ’Where’s Lu Ke? Why isn’t he reacting at all?’

Logan’s excitement gave way to anxiety. He hurried over. Lu Ke was completely buried; only a few strands of black hair were visible. His exposed hand and calf weren’t moving at all, which made Logan panic. ”Bambi? Are you okay?” But Lu Ke didn’t respond. ”Marcus, why isn’t Bambi reacting at all?”

Marcus stopped in his tracks, stunned for a moment, then ran over. ”What’s going on?” He dropped to his knees and started digging for Lu Ke’s head, quickly pushing all the condoms aside. Not yet understanding the situation, he grew as anxious as Logan. ”Bambi? Bambi?”

WHOOSH! All at once, a huge pile of condoms went flying like confetti. Lu Ke sat bolt upright, like a zombie coming back to life. Mimicking the motions of a water fight, he started flinging handfuls of them outward. SPLASH! SPLASH! The packets rained down madly on Logan and Marcus.

It was all a false alarm. Logan and Marcus had wanted to pull a prank, but they were caught completely off guard by Lu Ke’s successful counterattack. It was so shocking their hearts almost stopped. Caught completely unprepared, both of them were a mess. Their legs went weak from the shock, and they almost collapsed onto the ground. But they quickly recovered and started to fight back.

The three young men, all college graduates, started a water fight like children—or should we say, a ”condom” fight?

After they were exhausted, the three of them just sprawled out on the parking lot pavement, gazing up at the vast, distant sky above. It seemed as if the whole world was laid out before them, and all they had to do was open their arms to reach out and touch it—the sky was their only limit.

”Today’s prank wasn’t just from me and Marcus. The guys on the Offense Line pitched in too. It’s a little gift from the 49ers to the new quarterback,” Logan called out. ”Fifty boxes. A full fifty boxes, Bambi. That should last you for a good long while.”

”That’s just a one-month supply for me,” Lu Ke said with a perfectly straight face. Marcus immediately started hooting, and Logan joined in with a wolf-howl. Involuntarily, the corners of Lu Ke’s mouth curled into a smile.

Rookies were always at the bottom of the team’s hierarchy. Every year, almost every team maintained a tradition of pranking the newcomers to welcome them. This was true for college teams, and it was true for the Professional Alliance as well. To be precise, it wasn’t just the first day; the entire rookie season was an ordeal for the newbies.

The pranks ranged from mild, like washing socks and polishing helmets, to moderate, like cleaning the team’s trophy case. The severe ones could involve getting a bizarre haircut or even physical and mental torment. The variety was endless, limited only by the imagination. More importantly, the pranks were impossible to guard against, and rookies weren’t allowed to ”guard” themselves. A troublemaker who refused to cooperate would often become the entire team’s public enemy—

a rookie who couldn’t take a joke, who acted like a big shot, or who was too arrogant... The seasoned veterans had countless ways to make their lives a living hell. And of the roughly 250 rookies who joined the league each year, not even one in ten would make it.

Today, all Lu Ke had received was a welcome gift.

After the laughter died down, the three of them gradually fell silent, quietly watching the clouds drift across the sky. Rich colors spread out majestically, a breathtaking sight. The sunsets in San Francisco were always this stunning.

”A few months ago, could you have imagined this? Us, all together again, lying in the 49ers’ parking lot, surrounded by countless scattered condoms, and officially professional players?” Logan couldn’t help but marvel, his calm voice unable to conceal the elation and excitement bubbling within him.

Marcus let out a sharp laugh. ”This is truly amazing. After taking such a roundabout path, we’re all back together again.” Marcus turned his head to look at Lu Ke and Logan to his right. ”As professional players. You really can’t predict how the story will unfold.”

During the draft, the San Francisco 49ers first selected Logan in the third round and then Marcus in the sixth. Now, after all the twists and turns, they had also signed Lu Ke, an undrafted rookie. The memory of their parting after the Rose Bowl was still vivid; they hadn’t even fully digested the sadness of going their separate ways, and now they were reunited.

Fate was full of miracles.

A smile spread across Lu Ke’s lips, wide and unrestrained. ”This means the Brown Bear Team’s iron triangle is back in action. Looks like we’ll be fighting side-by-side again someday in the future.”

A quarterback, a running back, and a Tight End—the offensive iron triangle. They had once upset the USC Trojans Team, and then they had upset the Wisconsin Badgers. And now, they were reunited with the San Francisco 49ers!

”The Three Musketeers!” Logan shouted. ”The three of us Musketeers are reunited! Let’s start making a name for ourselves in the Bay Area!”

”Yeah! Yeah!” Marcus pumped his fist. ”A triangle is the most stable, most solid shape, right, Bambi? Let’s team up again! Someday, the three of us will join forces to dominate the Alliance, sweep everything before us, and charge all the way to the Super Bowl!”

”Marcus, you’d better speed up and keep pace. Logan and I are about to hit the accelerator,” Lu Ke said with a smile, ruthlessly poking fun at him.

”Get lost!” Marcus nudged Lu Ke with his elbow in annoyance. ”You should worry about yourself first.” Marcus started rambling, ”Let me tell you, we’ve already been training for three months, but you only joined the team today. You’re way behind schedule. You would not believe how thick our playbook is. It’s even more intimidating than the Oxford Dictionary.”

”Are you sure you’ve ever actually opened an Oxford Dictionary?” Lu Ke quipped lightly. Logan burst out laughing. Marcus sat up, annoyed, and put Lu Ke in a headlock. ”Damn it, Bambi!” But after giving it a serious thought, Marcus started laughing too. He said with resignation, ”Okay, fine, I admit I haven’t.” He released his hold and lay back down.

At such a self-deprecating admission, the parking lot once again echoed with cheerful laughter.

Three rookies. This was only their first year in the Alliance. Just as Marcus had said, at the quarterback position, there was Colin Kaepernick first, then Alex Smith, and only then came Lu Ke. In this cutthroat competition, Lu Ke had no advantage whatsoever.

It wasn’t just Lu Ke; the same was true for Logan and Marcus. They had achieved impressive results in the NCAA, but upon entering the Alliance, everything started from scratch. Even the most talented of them, Logan, was just a third-round pick in the draft.

Joining the Alliance was the first step of their professional careers. Believe it or not, it was actually the easiest step.

”Bambi, do you think... someday in the future, we could be standing on the stage of the Super Bowl? I mean, the three of us,” Marcus said, lost in his own thoughts. Gazing at the magnificent sunset, he couldn’t help but start dreaming about the future.

”The Super Bowl?” Logan repeated the words, then chuckled. ”Why do I feel like, more than the Super Bowl itself, I’m looking forward to the halftime show? You guys think Beyoncé might perform at the halftime show?”

The Super Bowl halftime show is the biggest annual event in the United States, which is where it gets its nickname, the ”American Spring Festival Gala.” Only top-tier superstars get to appear on that stage and perform in front of one hundred fifty million viewers.

”Beyoncé? Logan, I had no idea she was your type. I’m completely surprised,” Marcus exclaimed. ”I would’ve thought you’d be into someone like Anne Hathaway.”

”I wouldn’t say ’no’ to Anne either,” Logan replied, the corners of his mouth lifting in a slight smile.

The conversation trailed off, the topic slowly fading into the air. All three of them chuckled softly. For now, they were just nobodies, yet here they were, sketching out a blueprint for their hopeful future.

”We will,” Lu Ke said suddenly, without warning. The other two shot him confused glances. ”The Super Bowl. Someday, the three of us will be standing on the field at the Super Bowl, showing off all our talent and skill, and then we’ll win it. I’ll get the Super Bowl MVP, and you guys will get to be on the halftime show stage, dancing your hearts out with Beyoncé. We will. That day will come.”

No one spoke, letting the silence spread as the fiery sunset slowly faded, its magnificent and bright glow a reflection of their future.

”Where did you two park your cars? How come I didn’t see them earlier?” Lu Ke sat up and nudged the two guys beside him with his foot. ”Get up. What are we supposed to do with all this stuff? I can’t exactly drag it all home. If my parents saw this, they’d probably get indigestion at dinner.”

A Chinese person, even after living in the United States for over a decade, was still Chinese at heart.

Logan imagined the scene and started snickering. ”For now, just put them in the bed of a truck, cover them with a tarp, and then some other day, take them to a party and just shower them everywhere. I think they’ll treat you like you’re Jesus.”

”Our cars are in the lot on the other side of the stadium, the management’s lot,” Marcus explained. Then he looked at the condoms strewn all over the parking lot and snickered. ”If you can’t use them, we could put them in a candy bowl and leave it in the first-floor lobby. People in need can help themselves every day.”

The Three Musketeers. Their first official reunion after college graduation wasn’t spent dreaming about the Super Bowl or training together, but cleaning up condoms in a parking lot.