The Inner Circle

My roommate Jeff works for the Daily Trojan, the on-campus newspaper. Over the past few weeks, he has shared with me glimpses of his access to the coveted inner circle of college football. As I mentioned earlier this year, I got to go to a football practice with him and hold the recorder in front of Matt Barkley while he talked about how relaxed and carefree he was about taking over the starting QB position. Yesterday, as I was climbing into bed around six pm, Jeff had a media conference call for an interview. I sat up as he punched in a secret password and was allowed access to the call, and listened in awe as he became quick friends with his interviewee Jahvid Best, the starting runningback for Cal. (The article from this interview ended up on the back cover of the Daily Trojan, with a picture. In color!) And today, he brought me the greatest gift of all: chicken wings from the football team's private catered dinner, served every Thursday before an away game.
Technically Jeff wasn't responsible for getting the leftovers. My other friend (yes, I have two) works as a manager for the football team, so he brought the food home and gave it to Jeff. Apparently each week a different senior gets to pick a pre-game meal for the team, and Taylor Mays chose chicken wings from Wing Stop. And now they're in my kitchen.
Hmmmm. When I say it like that, I feel a little bit creepy. I'm not trying to stalk the football team (though today I did see Pete Carroll parking his car. And I accidentally memorized his license plate number). But it just so happens I've had some cool connections with people and events which have made national news this year, and it's neat to be so close to the action and see things unfold. Especially when it's seen through that tiny grate above the racks for the shoulder pads in the football locker room. That's prime viewing area.