What Winners Won't Tell You by Malcolm Jenkins

Author:Malcolm Jenkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2023-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It was the opening week against the Jacksonville Jaguars on a hot September day at Lincoln Financial Field. At halftime, as we made our way to the locker room, down 17–0, the Philly faithful were doing what they do best.

“Boooooooooo! Y’all suck!”

“Get your shit together!”

I thought it was the funniest thing in the world. I walked into the locker room with a full chuckle. I’d decided to take a different approach that season. I’d spent too much time being so caught up in the angst of the games that I’d missed the small details of the environment. In pregame, I didn’t warm up with headphones, not wanting to go through this entire experience without ever once really paying attention to the environment. So I looked up at the banners on either side of the stadium, one representing all of the championship teams that have worn the Eagles uniform, and on the other, the legendary players that have had their jerseys retired and enshrined forever in Eagles history. You saw the Philly faithful filing in with jerseys of their favorite players, past and present.

I’d started a new routine. As the national anthem played, I’d find three open seats across the stadium. I’d close my eyes and begin to talk to my elders. I imagined my grandmother, Barbra, and both of my grandfathers, Henry and Willie Sr., all watching with the best seats in the house. I asked them for toughness, courage, and love, all of the things that I saw them pour into their own families. Today as the anthem played I wondered if they were proud of me. I felt my eyes water up and my chest fill with pride when I contemplated where I was standing. I was going into my sixth season in the NFL on a new team, and I was ready and prepared to make my name mean something.

As a scene from the movie Rocky played on the big screen and it was time for kickoff. They played the fight song, the fans erupted in “E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!” and it was time to go.

We kicked off the ball and the defense took the field. We started the game with a three and out, much to the delight of the fans, but that would be the last time that they would cheer in the first half. On our first eight offensive possessions, two of the drives ended in fumbles. One ended on an interception, four ended in punts. The last possession ended as time expired for halftime. Defense wasn’t doing that great, either. With all of the turnovers, we gave up seventeen points. And it could have been worse than that. We actually blocked a field goal and they missed another one.

Coming off the field, down seventeen, to the boos of the home crowd, many of my teammates were not as amused as I was. Some of them mumbled things like “That’s why I hate playing here.”

I was confused by their sensitivity. I even said to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.