Game Changer

Late in the afternoon on Tuesday, Ethan comes to the school for another visit with the therapist. This time, Ethan asks whether it is possible he is crazy: He cannot sleep, he cannot focus, he cannot stop thinking about Teddy in the hospital. Sensing the depth of Ethan’s anxiety, the therapist advises talking with someone. “You cannot deal with whatever happened by not dealing with it” (209). He tells Ethan that his friends, family, and Teddy’s family deserve to know the truth.

That same afternoon, the coach and Camille stop at the hospital to give Teddy a football signed by every member of the team. Camille asks Teddy whether someone on the team did this to him on purpose. Her father quickly denies that, but he says because of how much he loves the boys who play in his program, he will find out the truth. Sarah immediately challenges him for not knowing what happens in his own football camp. The coach responds defensively, saying, “I came here to support my player […] There is no need to raise your voice” (218). Teddy, in the fog of his comatose state, recalls someone named Eden and wonders who that is.

Even as the nurse clears the room for the doctor, the nurse notices a spike in Teddy’s vitals, as if something has upset him. Although the doctor calms the parents by telling them such spikes are inevitable during recovery from a brain injury, Sarah demands moving Teddy to another hospital. Jim chides her, “This is not how you make up for lost time” (224). The coach and his daughter quickly move to give the family some space when Ethan unexpectedly shows up at the door with his mother. She says, “[Ethan] wanted to come here to be with you / To help everyone understand / To help everyone heal” (232).

Ethan begins explaining what happened. “You can’t relive the past / But you can’t run from it either” (234). Approaching the bed, Ethan says he wants to tell him everything. He tells Teddy how football camp was eye-opening for him, how the upperclassmen expected the freshmen to toughen up fast, not to complain about the heat or the tedium of the drills or the soreness in their muscles. “You can’t be soft in football” (239). The upperclassmen taunted the younger kids, enjoying their discomfort. The second day of camp, Ethan took a hit in his shoulder. As he nursed his sore arm with ice on the sidelines, he noticed the upperclassmen laughing at him. They called him a baby—so, his arm still smarting, he headed back into the practice.

But the next day, the upperclassmen still taunted him, dubbing him “Eden” to suggest that he was acting like a girl. He tried all day to show them he was tough—he ran harder, hit harder, never complained. But it did little good. The next day, Friday, the last day, Ethan set his goal: to show them all he was a “good football player” (242). The Rookie Rumble, a full-dressed scrimmage that pitted the freshmen against other freshman with the seniors acting as coaches, was more than a team-building exercise. As Will explained, the freshmen needed to show their grit: In a competition known as the Hit Parade, freshmen would be evaluated for how hard they hit. The goal was to hit a player so hard they could not get up. There were prizes: a steak dinner, a case of beer, and the top prize a helmet with HIT PARADE CHAMPION written on it. Ethan admits he wanted the helmet. Will taunted him, “You don’t want to hit like a girl the rest of your life, right Eden?” (243).

As the game progressed, Ethan fumed. Teddy was on the other team and was having a stellar game. Ethan was frustrated. He needed to hit somebody so hard they could not get up. When in a play, Ethan was hit hard by Alec and struggled to get up, the taunts started again. Teddy joined in. Two plays later, his eyes and ears buzzing, Ethan saw Teddy, carrying the ball, stopped by two defensive players who wrapped around his legs. But Teddy is so strong he refuses to go down. Even though the play is clearly over, Ethan saw his chance—he launched a hard flying very late tackle on Teddy, helmet to helmet. “I was like the missile and you were the target” (249). Ethan recalls hearing a sickening crack. Teddy, listening, thinks, “Darkness inside the light” (248).

Castigated for the cheap shot, Ethan helped a wobbly Teddy off the field when the scrimmage ended a few minutes later. Teddy started weaving back and forth and then collapsed. Thinking initially the heat had gotten to his friend, Ethan, and the other players, called for help. The coaches came out from their offices and immediately called 911. Even as the players heard the sirens in the distance, Will sternly cautioned them all, “Not a word about the Hit Parade. Not a word” (252). Ethan begins to cry. Teddy in his comatose awareness says, “Almost there / Almost here” (253).