Chapter 21

the next day we learned that the athletic¹ department, meaning Creed², had hired a sports information director. Immediately I fashioned a theory based on the relationship between defeat and the need for publicity³, or antipublicity, the elevation⁴ of evasive news to the level of literature. The man's name was Wally Pippich, formerly⁵ of Wally Pippich Creative Promotion⁶ Associates—Reno, Nevada. Later that week he sent word that he wanted to see me. His office was located in the basement of Staley Hall, near the boiler⁷ room, in a small corridor where mops and buckets were kept.

Wally was a stubby man with a crew cut and long sideburns. He shook my hand and told me to have a seat. There were cartons and stacks of photographs everywhere. On the floor near my chair were color photos of a roller derby team, a chimpanzee riding a motorcycle through a flaming hoop⁸, and a girl in a bikini surrounded by a bunch of paraplegics holding bowling⁹ balls in their laps. In another picture Wally stood with his arm around a young man who wore a gold lame¹⁰ jumpsuit and held an accordion¹¹. Wally wore a straw hat in the picture. The word whamo was lettered across the hatband.

"Gary Harkness. Good name. Promotable. I like it. I even love it."

"Thank you."

"Relax and call me Wally."

"Right," I said.

"Tough loss you're coming off. Emmett gave me the whole scoop¹². Scoopation. I've known Emmett for seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven years. When my boy gets to be your age, I'm sending him right to Emmett. I don't care if Emmett's coaching in the Arctic Circle—up he goes. Emmett Creed is one hell of a human being. Nothing short of sensational¹³. Am I exaggerating, Gary?"

"Not one iota¹⁴."

"Let's get down to basics. I've been spending the last few days finding my way around. I've talked to the coaches. I've talked to Emmett. I've even talked to Mrs. Tom. Here's the approach as I conceive it. Taft Robinson and Gary Harkness. The T and G backfield. Taft and Gary. Touch and Go. Thunder and Gore¹⁵."

"A little wordplay. A thing with letters."

"We get the vital stats. We get action photos. We get background stuff. The T and G backfield. We release to newspapers, to sports pubs, to local radio and TV, to the networks. The whole enchilada. Taft Robinson and Gary Harkness. I like the sound of those names. Some names produce a negative gut¹⁶ reaction in my mind. Cyd Charisse. Mohandas K. Gandhi. Xerxes. But TaftandGary has a cute little ring to it. I know I like it and I may even love it."

"So what you're doing then, if I understand you correctly, is a public relations thing, based on football, using Taft and me as spearheads, for the good of the school, more or less."

"Gary, that's as good a capsule summary as I could give myself. See that big carton over there? That carton arrived this morning. Know what's in there? The files of two hundred high school football players. These boys have definite market value. These are Cminus boys or better who are top football players. Now we'll get maybe thirtyfive of these boys and give them each a grant. With Emmett's nationwide charisma¹⁷ we'll get a few outofstate boys as well. Maybe another Taft Robinson or Gary Harkness. And then this tiny little grasshopper¹⁸ institute has a chance to make it big. Bigation. Gary, I'll tell you the honest truth. What I know about football you can inscribe¹⁹ with a blunt crayon around the rim²⁰ of a shot glass."

"You're not a fan, Wally?"

"I don't know squat²¹ about football. I'm an indoors man. But I know the whys and wherefores of the entertainment doEar. People want spectacle plus personality. I've handled country rock freaks. I've handled midget wrestlers. Once I handled a song stylist named Mary Boots Weldon who had her goddamn throat removed because of cancer and kept right on singing out of the little voice box they put in there, croaking²² out these tearful ballads²³ and drawing bigger crowds than ever. Mary Boots Weldon. Jesus, what an act. I lost my drift. What was I getting at?"

"Wally, I don't understand why you need me as part of this thing. I'm a pretty fair runner and blocker and receiver. Better than average. But Taft is on another level."

"Gary, let me shake your hand. Handation. You're a modest lad and I like that kind of attitude in a business like mine. But you're talking football and I don't know squat about football. I'm talking human interest. I'm talking dramatic balance. I'm talking bang bang—the onetwo punch. Look, you've had your problems at schools in the past. I know all about that. I also know you've settled down to become one of the real reliables. Speaking just from the football angle and from all I could gather from the various sources I've been in touch with around here, it's frankly²⁴ pretty obvious that you know how to comport²⁵ yourself in every aspect of the game."

"Well," I said.

"No, I'm serious, Gary. You can do it all."

"Thank you."

"No, I mean it. You can really do it all."

"Thanks, Wally."

"No, I really mean it. You're one of the team leaders."

"Right."

"No, I wouldn't lie to you, Gary. The word on you is the same everywhere I turn.' Gary Harkness? Gary Harkness can do it all."

"I think you'd be better off concentrating on Taft."

"I like your attitude, Gary. I like the way you comport yourself. This thing's going to work out real fine. Emmett's behind me one hundred and ten percent. That's the kind of man he is. I'd stand up and speak out for Emmett Creed in any public place in the country. And I'm sure you'd do the same. Gary, you're everything they told me you were. Let me shake your goddamn hand."

1 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

2 creed   

n.信条；信念，纲领

参考例句：

• They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
• Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。

3 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

4 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

5 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

7 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

8 hoop   

n.（篮球）篮圈，篮

参考例句：

• The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
• The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。

9 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

10 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。

11 accordion   

n.手风琴；adj.可折叠的

参考例句：

• The accordion music in the film isn't very beautiful.这部影片中的手风琴音乐不是很好。
• The accordion music reminds me of my boyhood.这手风琴的乐声让我回忆起了我的少年时代。

12 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

13 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

14 iota   

n.些微，一点儿

参考例句：

• There is not an iota of truth in his story.他的故事没有一点是真的。
• He's never shown an iota of interest in any kind of work.他从来没有对任何工作表现出一点儿兴趣。

15 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

16 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

17 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

18 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。

19 inscribe   

v.刻；雕；题写；牢记

参考例句：

• Will you inscribe your name in the book?能否请你在这本书上签名？
• I told the jeweler to inscribe the ring with my name.我叫珠宝商把我的名字刻在那只戒指上。

20 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

21 squat   

v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的

参考例句：

• For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
• He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。

22 croaking   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• the croaking of frogs 蛙鸣
• I could hear croaking of the frogs. 我能听到青蛙呱呱的叫声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 ballads   

民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴

参考例句：

• She belted out ballads and hillbilly songs one after another all evening. 她整晚一个接一个地大唱民谣和乡村小调。
• She taught him to read and even to sing two or three little ballads,accompanying him on her old piano. 她教他读书，还教他唱两三首民谣，弹着她的旧钢琴为他伴奏。

24 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

25 comport   

vi.相称，适合

参考例句：

• His behavior did not comport with his office.他的行为与他的职务很不相称。
• A judge should comport himself authoritatively.法官举止必须要庄严。