I’m on my way to buy the latest designer football from Charles O. Finley, baseball legend.
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Finley has invested $100,000 of his closely guarded cash into redesigning footballs. One features neon stripes along the seams, the better for fans and players to see the ball during night games on poorly lighted high school gridirons. The other is the Double Grip, which is supposed to be easier to catch and hold than a conventional football.
“You the guy called wanting to buy a football?” Charlie asks.
“The Double Grip football. How does it work?”
I was in Dyche Stadium for that game, and sure enough, Northwestern was completing long bombs in a downpour while the Illini’s vaunted aerial attack was grounded.
“But Mr. Finley. I thought journalists weren’t supposed to accept payola.”
Charlie’s assistant brings in a large sack filled with the day’s mail. Charlie grabs a foot-long butcher knife from his desk, I presume to open the mail.
