“To you?” Josh’s dad had a silly grin. “No, I guess I can’t. Josh? You okay walking home with Jaden?”
Josh wanted to protest, but Jaden spoke up first and said, “We’re fine, Mr. LeBlanc. It’s such a nice night.”
Josh watched his father go before he turned to Jaden with a scowl.
“What?” she said. “You didn’t want him to go with her? She seemed nice. What’s wrong?”
Josh unclenched his teeth and said, “Everything.”
Excerpt from Deep Zone
Chapter One
THE COLD BIT INTO Ty’s face. The crowd roared their boos. From the highest point in the stadium, triangular purple and gold pennants snapped like the flags on a castle’s ramparts.
“Hey, kid!” someone screamed.
Ty glanced over his shoulder instinctively. A man with a purple construction hat and a stuffed black raven perched on its crown stood at the edge of the railing and shouted until his face went red. “Yeah, you, ball boy! You stink! So do the Jets! Go home!”
The four other men with him wore no shirts, despite the cold. Their bare chests and flabby bellies jiggled beneath purple and black body paint. They hollered their lungs out too, filling the air with puffs of angry smoke. Ty was reminded of the movie Braveheart, where half-dressed savage warriors hacked at one another with broadswords. Ty felt like a prisoner, one of the very few people of the seventy thousand packed into the stadium who wore green and white. All else was a roaring sea of purple, black, and gold.
Ty stepped between the benches and the hulking Jets players who sat soaking up the warm air pumped out of the vents beneath their seats. He melted into the safety of still more players, who stood crowding the sideline, their eyes intent on their teammates jogging out to accept the kickoff. Ty searched through the forest of padded legs until he found his brother, tall and lean, built like a greyhound and nearly as fast.
The game would be won or lost in the next few plays, and Ty’s brother, the star rookie wide receiver, would likely have a hand in it either way. Thane—or Tiger, as everyone else called him—already had eleven catches and two touchdowns in this nail-biting playoff game. The Baltimore Ravens defense wasn’t stupid. They’d be ready for Thane on this final drive, knowing that taking him out of the game would do more than anything else to keep their 27–21 lead.
Ty’s older brother looked down, put a hand on Ty’s shoulder, and gave him a wink.
“You worried?” Ty asked.
His brother looked across the field at the Ravens bench and the defensive players strapping on their helmets and slapping each others’ shoulder pads.
“Just their deep zone,” Thane said. “That’s all.”
“Deep zone?” Ty asked.
“No matter how hard you run, if they’re in a deep zone, they’re already back there waiting for you.” Thane put his own helmet on and snapped up the chin strap. “It’s a good way to defend against someone with speed.”
“That’s you,” Ty said.
“You and me both. Fast like Mom.” Thane smiled, but Ty frowned. Yes, Ty played the game, too, the same position as his older brother, and he was fast, and their mom had been a sprinter in college. But their mom had died more than a year ago along with their dad in a car crash, and Ty didn’t like to talk about his parents. It especially bothered him when Thane talked like they weren’t gone.
They were gone. Nothing could change that.
The whistle blew. Players on the kickoff team streaked past. Helmets popped and pads crunched. Players grunted and roared. Another whistle, and the Jets offense—including Thane—ran out onto the field to begin their final drive.
About the Author
TIM GREEN played for eight years in the NFL, as a star defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons. Always an avid reader, he’s written such New York Times bestselling books as BASEBALL GREAT and FOOTBALL GENIUS. He lives with his wife, Illyssa, and their five children in upstate New York. You can visit Tim online at www.timgreenbooks.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Credits
Background image © 2007 Steve Bonini/Veer
Photo of Troy Green © 2007 Ali Smith
Cover art and design by Joel Tippie
Copyright
FOOTBALL GENIUS. Copyright © 2007 by Tim Green. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition JULY 2011 ISBN: 9780062109224
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Welcome to the NFL
Excerpt from Football Hero
Chapter One
Excerpt from Baseball Great
Chapter One
Excerpt from Football Champ
Chapter One
Excerpt from The Big Time
Chapter One
Excerpt from Rivals
Chapter One
Excerpt from Best of the Best
Chapter One
Excerpt from Deep Zone
Chapter One
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher