A Day in the Life of Jim Sorgi
7 AM. Wednesday morning. Time to go to work.
Jim awakens and lazily rambles into the shower.
You know, it gets easier and easier to awaken to an empty bed every morning. I can block it out. Well… until I see him.
So here we are, in the playoffs once again. I guess I’m pretty excited. One more win and we’re back in the Super Bowl. It’s kinda nice to be able to do this over and over, year after year.
All because of him.
Jim turns off the shower and walks out. As he gets dressed, he steps on something that makes a loud noise against his wood floor. He looks at the object with disdain, finished getting dressed, and walks out of his room. The object is his Super Bowl ring.
You know, it isn’t that bad being me. I have a pretty nice house, I make almost a million a year, and I really don’t have to do that much. Some might say I have it made. They have no idea what they’re talking about.
Jim finishes his breakfast, walks out the door, turns on his 2002 Toyota Avalon, and pulls out of the driveway.
The drive to work is about 45 minutes one way. It gives a man a lot of time to himself to think.
You know, I used to like him.
Back around 2004, I looked up to him. He was a mentor to me. I can’t say he’s not a good guy… because he is a good guy.
Jim pulls into parking spot 48. He glances towards the practice field. He sees Peyton, playing a rousing game of catch with Reggie and Dallas. Jim lets out a longing, desperate sigh and begins his trek to the film room.
The film room. Oh, how I hate the film room. It used to all make sense. We would go over our offensive game-plan, set a whole new set of cadences and audibles for the upcoming week, I used to find it pretty exciting. Now it’s mundane. The only think coach talks about is “Peyton, this is what you should do. Peyton, the coverage here dictates blah blah ****ing blah.”
The rest of the team quietly files into the film room. Peyton and Jim are seated several rows apart from each other. Peyton sits in the middle of the first row. After some brief introduction and congratulations on the previous game’s effort, Coach Caldwell begins explaining the game plan for the Jets game. Jim can be seen rolling his eyes and nodding off. All of a sudden, the scene changes.
~
“Jim, Jim! Help me, Jim!”
Karen?
“Jim… he’s got me trapped! I never wanted this! I only want you Jim, I love you!”
Don’t worry Karen, I’m coming!
From Jim’s perspective, we see that Jim is running through what appears to be Peyton’s backyard. Jim kicks the back door down, and runs into the kitchen, where his ex-wife, Karen, is handcuffed to the stove.
“Oh Jim, I knew one day you’d come to rescue me. Thank you Jim, I never wanted to leave you. He forced me… he has his ways.”
Karen, it’s okay baby, I miss you so much. Let me get you out of these han…
Suddenly, the room grows dark. Karen is no longer handcuffed to the stove. In fact, Karen is no longer a woman at all. Jim looks up to the towering figure above him, wearing a blue number 18 jersey.
“I’ve been waiting on you, Jim. I told you to stop thinking about me. I don’t want you thinking about me Jim!”
Peyton, I’m so sorry! It’s just a dream, it’s not like I…
Before Jim can finish, Peyton tackles him to the ground. He grabs a pair of scissors from the kitchen counter.
“It’s time to do what I should have done a long time ago, Jim. And just in case you were wondering, in Hell...you’re 3rd string!”
Peyton plunges the scissors towards Jim’s throat…
~
Jim awakes with a start to thunderous applause. The voice at the front of the room has a familiar southern drawl.
“That’s today’s film study, boys,” he says. As everyone files out of the room towards the practice field, Peyton looks Jim directly in the eye, and winks.
