Week 5 Player Spotlight

“Rise Up Dirty Birds”

The cry sounded so weak, so unconvincing- about as believable as that IRS agent with a thick accent claiming you should pay your backed taxes via gift cards. Derrick glanced around the bar, a place that was packed just two weeks ago was nearly deserted. How had it come to this? After such a hot start, his beloved Falcons had dropped two in a row to come crashing back to earth. Still, perhaps with the return of Ridder things could turn around?

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”

Derrick turned around and saw, much to his dismay, a man absolutely decked out in Houston Texans gear. The entire bar and this guy wants to sit here? Still, true to the nature of his southern hospitality, he nodded as the guy settled in.

“Good luck to your team today- by the way have you heard of this new app Call It?”

Great. A sales pitch.

“No”

“Well, if you are down to play a game with me, it’s pretty cool”

Taking a deep breath, Derrick put on a smile.

“Sure”

The guy proceeded to show him the ropes, and a few minutes later Derrick accepted his private contest invitation. It was go time.

“Winner buys the beers?”

“Why not?”

Derrick decided to play it conservatively at first, making small wagers on low risk predictions. Most of his attention was directed at his Falcon’s performance. They were playing quite well, but the game was extremely tight entering the fourth quarter. He glanced at the app-

*both these games are close actually*

At this point, Derrick was feeling the beer, and feeling the confidence. He was down 20 points, but his team was up. It was time for Ridder to put the game away, both for the Falcons and for his contest.

60 points. Touchdown. Wait.

As Derrick picked up his beer, his “friend” let out a holler.

“FUMBLEEEE”

Opening the app quickly, Derrick saw his point deficit tumble 100 points, as the Texans offense took over to drive the field. Several plays later, with under 2 minutes to go, Houston kicked the go ahead touch down. 19-18 Texans.

But Derrick knew something his opponent did not. Ridder had never lost a home game, both in this rookie year and in college. Putting his heart and his beer tab on the line, he made his final prediction for the game.

All In. Field Goal. Wait.

Down the field went Ridder. Down the hatch went Derrick’s beer. And as Woo’s field goal split the uprights for the win, Derrick wore his biggest smile of the young season so far- for what could be better than a team win? Well, as Derrick would tell you, winning twice.