Greater Page #7

Nothing, coach. What's up?

I just got a call from Marty. Um...

Your father collapsed.

He's in the hospital right now.

Apparently, he's got lung cancer.

It's going to the brain, and...

He's lost his sight.

I'm not missing the practice, coach.

I'll go afterwards.

Son, football is just

a few years of your life.

A soul lasts forever.

So come on now, let's get you home.

He's in room five, just down the hall.

- Hey, Daddy.

- Brandon?

Aah. I thought you that tall, bright angel

coming to take me home.

Glad you're here, boy.

- Daddy, I wanted to...

- I'm glad you call me Daddy.

Makes me feel good, but you know

I... I never earned it.

So, you don't have to call me...

I wish I could've lived

a life like you, Brandon.

We all know what's right.

Well, we wanna do things right. But...

difference is you just do it.

You just do it.

I think you're lucky not knowing me.

And your brother's

a good man in spite of me.

Seeing how I was,

it taught him not to trust.

And that's the one thing you gotta have.

You gotta have trust.

What... what's this?

It's the title to your car.

He paid it off.

I sold my guitar last month,

trying to help your mom out.

You know, she's struggling,

trying to keep the house.

Working three jobs.

You might be a big help to her,

Brandon.

I hear you got a job at the NFL.

That's a long shot, Daddy.

Not something you base

a financial plan on.

Well, them long shots,

they pay off the biggest, you know?

I'd like to see Barb finally get her a man

that gives instead of takes.

Now, I didn't do my part.

It's up to you boys to take care of her.

You understand?

We understand.

You'll have plenty of time to do

your part, Dad. You're gonna be just fine.

God can heal you

if he wants to and he does.

'Cause you're a good man,

you deserve a second chance.

I'd give it to you.

And I can't be more merciful

than God, now can I?

So, you're gonna be fine,

everything's gonna be just fine.

Let's just Pray-

Lord...

make Dad better.

We ask you, Lord Jesus Christ

to make him better.

So, please give us some kind of sign

that we can see.

Marty, it's those who haven't seen...

and have believed that are blessed.

Why? Why is that?

If we ask in His name, we should get

exactly what we want, right?

It says in the book, the prayer

of a righteous man is power and effective.

And if you're not a righteous man,

Brandon, I don't know who is, so pray.

Right now. Pray.

Marty.

Let's pray.

- Marty...

- No. Lord...

Nobody's promised tomorrow, son.

Lord, he's a good man.

He deserves a second chance here.

We're just praying for... for you,

Lord, to help us out a little bit.

Just to let him have a little bit more

time with us. That's all I'm asking.

You have eternity.

What's a couple more years to you.

It's everything to us.

I want him to get to know my children,

and I want him to get to know Brandon.

Lord, please, let him be better.

Please, Lord.

- We ask in the name of the Lord...

- Oh, God.

- Jesus Christ.

- Marty.

We're praying to you Lord,

please watch over Daddy.

"He maketh me to lie down

in green pastures.

He leadeth me besides the still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths

of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Yea though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil.

For thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff,

they comfort me."

- Go home, Razor-hacks!

- You guys are terrible!

You suck!

Not how the Hogs

wanted to end their season.

It was a safe bet heads are gonna roll.

- Boo!

- Go back to South Carolina, fool.

What a great honor and privilege it is

to present our new head football coach,

who is a native Arkansan,

Houston Nutt.

Thank you, coach. Glad to be here.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Are you gonna keep

any of your coaches?

Well, we don't know,

we'll just have to wait and see.

I know how you feel

about change, Burls.

But this is nature of college football.

Heck, this is nature of life.

Coach.

Is there any way you think

I could make it to the NFL?

Sure. Easy. Just make All-American next

year and you're a lock.

Well, how do I do that?

Dad's kidding, Brandon.

- Oh.

- Jeez...

Sorry, coach.

Listen, Brandon.

We got a new coach coming in.

His job is to rebuild the losing team.

And you're a senior next year.

All-American?

There's a chance you might

not even get to play this year.

But you have been

one heck of a player for us.

And Lord knows that you've worked

harder than anybody else,

on and off the field. You're getting

a master's degree while playing football.

You're the only person in this school's

history that's ever done that.

Did you know that?

But the fact is in division one,

less than 2% of scholarship players

ever go pro.

And those are the guys that came in with

a whole lot more natural goods than you.

You know?

Guess I'll just keep trying my best.

See if someone notices.

It's still a team sport, Burls.

And if you're hoping

to catch somebody's eye,

well, those people tend to pay a lot more

attention to teams that win.

Hello?

Who is that?

Hey. This is university property.

Brandon? What are you doing here

at this hour?

Working on my steps, coach.

Hold on one second.

Spring practice is over, son.

You don't have anything to prove.

I'm not trying to prove anything.

I've been doing this since I got here.

And your coaches were okay with it?

I never told them.

Well, you know what they say, character

is what you do when nobody's looking.

There's always someone looking, coach.

Just don't stay too late.

Coach.

We can win now. This year.

You don't have to rebuild.

Is that so?

I know how this works.

You bench the seniors, play the freshmen.

And four years from now,

everybody says you rebuilt the program.

Our careers are ruined in the process.

You saw what happened

to your last coach. Didn't ya?

We deserve a chance.

You guys were last in your division

for two years running.

We're picked to be last

again next season.

But you think we can win now.

Yes, sir.

We want it bad.

Real bad.

Show me...

and you won't hear the word, "rebuild."

'Sup, Burls?

Wait, hey, hey, hey...

Don't clean my closet again.

What are you doing?

- Brandon, I'm not going home till Friday.

- You're not going home at all.

- None of us are.

- What?

Chokeslam, baby.

I know you like that.

- Yo, Brandon, what are you doing?

- Burls?

- Whoa, I'm trying to get a high score.

- Hey, hey, hey.

Get packed.

I found a townhouse for us this summer.

It's our senior season

and we're gonna win this year.

Okay, 3-CPO just blew a circuit.

B, we're going Wi...

Woo-hoo, look who we have here.

A couple of Razor-hacks.

You boys gonna make

this neighborhood suck too?

- You guys are terrible.

- I'll be right back.

Hey! Never mind them.

We start working tomorrow.

'Hell, get up, 'Hmm?

- I made up some steps, I wanna show you.

- What? What time is it? Steps?

Don't worry about it, come on, let's go.

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