End Zone (15 page)

There would be the long Christmas break, and that would be fun. Then there would be a whole term of school. Tiki would go back to writing his advice column in the school paper, and Ronde had promised to help him with it.

Why had he done that, anyway? Ronde frowned, but he knew there was no way out of it. Besides, he was good at giving advice—maybe even better than Tiki. But nothing would be as good as the two of them doing it together.

That was the main thing. To stay together as a family, and as brothers, all through life, no matter where it took them. Ronde stared at Tiki yammering to their mother, and he thought,
I have the best brother and mother on the planet.

•  •  •

After dinner, after they'd gone home and their mom had settled on the couch to watch the late night news, Tiki turned to Ronde and said, “I'm not tired. You?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Want to go for a walk?”

“
Now
? It's past ten o'clock.”

“So what? Tomorrow's Saturday. And we're on vacation, yo.”

“Where are we gonna go?”

“You'll see,” said Tiki with a grin. “Come on. Mom, we'll be back in an hour, okay?”

Ronde followed his twin outside, down Amherst Street, and then up the dirt path that led into the open field behind the houses. Suddenly, he knew where Tiki was leading him.

“Our old fort!” Ronde said, grinning.

“How long has it been since we came here?” Tiki asked as they came to the mound of dirt and rocks that had always been their secret place.

“More than a year,” Ronde guessed.

“At least.”

The stars were out, and it was still warm for December. “Nice out here,” Ronde said.

“Yeah. Today was incredible, huh?”

“Outstanding.”

“Super-excellent!”

“Supremo!”

They both laughed, and exchanged the handshake.

“We've done it, man,” Tiki said. “Everything we dreamed about before the season started.”

“Can you believe we actually went
undefeated
?” Ronde pointed out. “I mean, that might never happen to either of us ever again.”

“Tell you the truth, I thought when we broke that mirror, it was all over.”

“I told you it was just a superstition,” Ronde said.

“
What
?
I
was the one who told
you
that!”

“Aw, now, come on—don't change the story.”

“Facts are facts, son.”

Again they laughed. Who cared which of them was right? It was ancient history, and it just went to show that superstitions were dumb.

“We played our game, didn't we?” Ronde said.

“We did, we did,” Tiki agreed. Then he sighed.

“
What
?”

“Huh?”

“What are you thinking?”

“Oh, about the future,” Tiki said. “The far future, I mean.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, do you think we'll really go all the way to the NFL?”

Ronde looked his brother in the eye. “No doubt.”

“Yeah? It's
tough
, Ronde. Not many people get there, no matter how hard they dream.”

“You know what?” Ronde said. “Even if they don't get where they planned, they get
somewhere.
It's not
wasted
time, you know? You get a lot out of it when you try that hard at anything.”

“You know what? You're right,” Tiki said, patting Ronde on the shoulder. “I sure am glad you're going to be writing my advice column for me next term.”

“
What
?”

Tiki was laughing. “Just kidding, bro.”

“Better be!”

“But you are going to help me, right?”

“Dude, you
need
help. I can't leave you there to fall on your face.”

“What?”

“Just kidding.”

It was like old times, the two of them horsing around together. Ronde felt lighter than he had since the season first began.

Looking up, he saw the neon star on top of Mill Mountain. “Our lucky star,” he said, pointing.

“You know,” Tiki said, “we're not always going to come out champions, Ronde. Nobody wins
all
the time.”

“Doesn't matter,” Ronde said. “I mean, even if we'd lost today, it
still
would have been worth everything we put into it.”

“We gave it one hundred percent,” Tiki said, nodding.

“And that's
never
a mistake.”

Ronde put an arm around his twin's shoulder. “You know what? Whatever the future holds for us, we're gonna be ready. Because you've got
my
back, and I've got
yours
.”

“And Mom's got
both
our backs,” Tiki said. “Man, are we lucky, or what?”

They headed back home, not wanting her to worry about them.

Ronde was totally on top of the world, even if it was only for this one night. Whatever the future held, at least he and Tiki now knew what it took to be winners, on the field and in life:

Whatever you did, you had to give it one hundred percent of your effort, all the time—heart, mind, body, and spirit.

Whatever you did, you had to
play proud.

ARIZONA CARDINALS:

In 1994 this team was renamed the Arizona Cardinals, with a red cardinal on the uniforms, although the name does not relate directly to the city like some other teams. The team became the Cardinals when Chris O'Brien bought jerseys from the University of Chicago and declared the color “Cardinal Red.”

ATLANTA FALCONS:

In 1965 Julia Elliott was picked to give the team name for Atlanta. She said, “The Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. It never drops its prey. It is deadly and has a great sporting tradition.” Now, the Falcons are represented by an aggressive looking Falcon, which is oddly shaped as an F.

BALTIMORE RAVENS:

The Ravens' team name and logo were chosen in fan contests. They were to pay tribute to the raven in the famous poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in Baltimore.

BUFFALO BILLS:

The public was left in charge of picking a name for this team, so they went with a name that was used before by a team in the All-American Football Conference, the Bills.

CAROLINA PANTHERS:

The Carolina Panthers represent both North and South Carolina. So, when the Panther was chosen, the Panther's head was shaped to look like the borders of both states.

CHICAGO BEARS:

Because of the popularity of their baseball team the Chicago Cubs, owner George Halas decided on the Chicago Bears, with a “C” for Chicago on the helmet. But, he liked his own school's uniform colors, orange and blue, so much that he used those colors for the Chicago Bears.

CINCINNATI BENGALS:

Owner Paul Brown wanted a way to connect to the past. He used the name Bengals because of the many past football teams who had the same name. Instead of taking the color of a Bengal, which is white, he used the colors of his former team in the logo.

CLEVELAND BROWNS:

In 1945 there was a fan contest to decide what the name of this Cleveland team would be, and the fans chose Browns after Ohio star and Bengals owner, Paul Brown.

DALLAS COWBOYS:

Representing the “Lone Star State,” Texas, the Dallas Cowboys made sure to include the now-famous blue and white star on their uniforms.

DENVER BRONCOS:

During a contest in 1960, fans chose the name Broncos, which are known as wild and rough horses and pictured as such in the team's uniform.

DETROIT LIONS:

After failing to make money, a radio station bought the Detroit Spartans and made them the Detriot Lions, named after the baseball team Detroit Tigers. More than anything, the owner wanted the team to be the ruler of the NFL, like the lion is the ruler of the jungle.

GREEN BAY PACKERS:

Taking the name Packers from the Indian Packing Company, which helped buy the team's first uniforms, the Green Bay Packers used a football-shaped G to represent Green Bay.

HOUSTON TEXANS:

The Houston NFL searched long for a name and came up with the Bobcats, Stallions, Texans, Toros, and Apollos. So, after putting out an online survey, the public chose the Texans. To represent the state, owner Bob McNair chose a bull's head split open, to look like the Texas flag.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS:

Originally the Baltimore Colts, their name comes from Charles Evans, who won the name-the-team contest. Since Baltimore was known for horse racing, it fit perfectly to have that name and a horseshoe on the uniforms.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS:

The logo of the Jacksonville Jaguars was met with uncertainty. The owners of the Jaguar car, Ford Motor Company, said the logos looked too similar, and did not want the team using it. After talking, however, they worked together and named the Jaguar the official car of the Jaguars.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS:

After moving to Kansas City, owner Lamar Hunt and coach Hank Stram wanted to keep the name Texans, but after a fan contest decided the name Chiefs, he agreed. The new name would honor Mayor Bartle, whose nickname was Chief while working for the Boy Scouts of America.

MIAMI DOLPHINS:

In 1965 the name Miami Dolphins was chosen to be the new Florida team in a contest, by over 600 people. The owner Joe Robbie was proud of this logo since the dolphin was known to be smart and fast; exactly what a football team needs.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS:

Bert Rose wanted a team that was built to be strong and to win. So, he recommended the name Vikings since it represented aggression and the will to win, along with the Nordic traditions of the Northern Midwest.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS:

Patriots, who were rebels during the American Revolution, were chosen to represent New England. This was a popular pick by the voters when a contest was introduced to choose the name.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS:

With a large population who celebrate All Saints Day, the name Saints was perfect for this New Orleans team. The team also followed the state flag by using the fleur-de-lis, lily in French, on their uniform.

NEW YORK GIANTS:

Like other early NFL teams, the New York Giants took the same name as one of their baseball teams, but, gave themselves an All-American look with red, white, and blue decorating their uniforms.

NEW YORK JETS:

In 1963 the New York Titans were changed to the New York Jets. This was thought to be just right since their new stadium would be between LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, and the United States thought it was entering the “jet” age, when man would live on the moon.

OAKLAND RAIDERS:

In 1960, after a contest by the
Oakland Tribune
left the city with the name Oakland Señors, so many people made fun of the name that the owners decided to change it. So, nine days later, they agreed on the Oakland Raiders, which came in third place in the contest.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES:

This NFL team got its name and logo from the Blue Eagle, which was used to show progress and better days during The Great Depression.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS:

Pittsburgh's logo actually came from the “Steelmark” by Pittsburgh U.S. Steel, who asked the team to wear the logo on their helmets for one game. After winning this game, the team wanted to keep it, so they still wear it today.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS:

In a name-the-team contest in 1960, Gerald Courtney submitted the Chargers as the team's name, and won. The Chargers' logo then used a bolt of lightning to show the electricity the team will build during games.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS:

Named after the people who rushed to the west in search of gold, the San Francisco 49ers wore red and gold to bring the gold rush to the football field.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS:

In 1975 a contest proved that many people in Seattle wanted their team to be named after the powerful Seahawk.

ST. LOUIS RAMS:

Can you believe that the name Rams actually has nothing to do with St. Louis? General manager Damon Wetzel's favorite football team was the Fordham Rams, so he took it to St. Louis. As for the horns, a college student drew up the original horns because he thought it would look good on the helmet.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS:

What's better than a logo made from a legend? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who got their name through a name-the-team contest, was chosen because of the Southwest Florida legend of Pirates. They have named their own pirate Captain Fear, and he is there to take down the competition.

TENNESSEE TITANS:

While they used to be the Tennessee Oilers, this team changed their name in 1999 to represent their strength and skills. They also put a flame on their uniform to show off their power in the game of football.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS:

The team originated in Boston and was named the Boston Braves baseball team. It was renamed the Redskins in 1932 and the name was retained when the team moved to Washington in 1937.

TIKI BARBER
grew up in Roanoke, Virginia, where he wore number 2 for the Cave Spring Eagles during junior high school. From 1997 through 2006 he wore number 21 as running back for the New York Giants, where he holds every rushing record in team history. He lives in New York.

RONDE BARBER
wore number 5 for the Cave Spring Eagles. Today he is one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL and wears number 20 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ronde is a Super Bowl champion, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, and the first cornerback in the history of the league to have at least twenty-five sacks and forty interceptions in a career. He lives in Florida with his wife, Claudia, and their daughters.

TIKI AND RONDE BARBER
have collaborated on eight other children's books,
By My Brother's Side,
the Christopher Award–winning
Game Day
,
Teammates
,
Kickoff!
,
Go Long!
,
Wild Card
,
Red Zone
, and most recently
Goal Line
.