novelStarting the Season for Sports 9
| ← Ch.266 | Ch.268 → |
The truth wasn't that Jake didn't expect to become a starter, it was that in his past life he remembered how well Ed Cota played, so it was normal for him to think that with his current skill level he was the team's reserve.
Also, Jake was very confident that he could get a place in the team after a few games, he could see that Coach Smith seemed pleased with his performance and that his teammates accepted him over time.
So Jake thought that if they played multiple games scoring high points and playing very well, it was impossible for him to be left in the team reserve for long, it was because he was confident he didn't care.
In the team who had the most contact with him among the players, he was a fan of before was Vince Carter, what happened was that Vince had a very good personality and so he was liked by almost every player so Jake couldn't get close to Jake for now.
So the player on the team he was talking to most was still Charlie who was the first player to have a proper conversation with him, they both had a lot in common and after a while, they talked a lot about business too.
Charlie never intended to become a professional basketball player, he had a talent in basketball, but he also had a lot of responsibility for his family business, in that respect Charlie was very similar to Joseph.
So at the end of a training day, Charlie decided to call Jake to a diner so they could talk, Jake naturally accepted and warned his friends not to eat with them that day.
"You're really an interesting person, Jake, I think it's our teammates who are missing out on making friends with someone like you."
"Hahaha you're very kind, I've been through a lot of trouble, that's why you find me interesting."
Jake told some of his stories like when he got his first sponsorship and that he used that money to get his mother off the bad job where Eva was.
Jake also told how he raised money and earned money from other means to build a restaurant for his mother and that this restaurant was a success, also told some stories about his playing high school basketball.
Jake just didn't comment on some of his personal life and his investments, yet they talked about which companies might be better off investing at this time.
Knowing the Future Jake spoke quietly about companies that he knew investors could earn a lot from by investing if he knew the right time to sell his stock, Charlie thought all these tech companies were too risky to invest.
Jake also knew a little about Charlie's life who had gotten a college scholarship as well, Charlie always worked in his family business that was related to agriculture.
What Jake didn't know was that Charlie was a very successful investor in the future and that he would be CEO of a large agricultural investment company, if he knew that he could give Charlie some more investment tips.
"I didn't know you had entered this university with such high grades, you're also very smart, it looked like you really didn't need a sports scholarship and could get a scholarship like me."
"I didn't know you were that smart and had good grades either, I confess I thought everyone on the basketball team could be smart, but they wouldn't have good grades."
"It's good that you learn to put bias aside so you won't be so surprised at what happens, you said you haven't joined any fraternity yet?"
"Yes, it's not my way to join a fraternity, I don't like parties very much and I don't like meetings with a lot of people, my roommates think the same."
"I don't agree with that, you have to go to a university to make the most of your university time, you said yourself that you wanted to enjoy your university time."
"Yes, but I don't think it suits me to be in a fraternity."
"You have to learn sometimes how to do what Jake doesn't want, maybe you can get closer to your teammates if you have a fraternity and you will belong to a group, this is very important for your social and professional life afterward. to finish college."
Jake started to think and saw that what Charlie was saying was true, he himself knew that sometimes people knew each other or started to relate just because they attended the same fraternity, even though they knew each other after college was over.
It was like cheering for a football team and other well-known sports teams, sometimes people became friends just because they cheered for the same team after all the world as a society.
"Come to my fraternity then, Jake, so you will already have an acquaintance in that fraternity and because I am a Senior I will have no trouble facilitating your incoming baptism and even allowing you not to attend any meetings you do not want."
"Won't that cause you problems?"
Fraternity entrance ceremonies were a very important ritual for many fraternities, Jake had never heard about anyone having any kind of exception, so he was worried that Charlie would have trouble because of him.
"Don't worry, the fraternity I belong to is the Phi Beta Kappa you know for sure, it's one of the most respected in the whole country, but this fraternity has a very tight grade restriction that someone has to have to be invited to."
"But for you, the grade requirement was easily fulfilled, besides, you have a lot of important achievements like winning multiple marathons and even a gold medal in the Olympics so I think they would want someone like you to increase credibility for my fraternity."
Charlie really thought so, he was very proud to be in this fraternity and one of the points that interested him most when he decided to enter was that many US presidents and many Nobel laureates had attended this fraternity.
So he thought the achievements were very important to the image of a fraternity, and Jake had and could have many more achievements in the future, he did not say that only a few could join the fraternity in the first year.
Jake was tempted by Charlie's offer, he really thought he had to live his university time to the fullest, so a fraternity was important, not to mention one of the best-known fraternities, and Charlie was promising him so many facilities that it was hard to refuse.
"Alright then, Charlie, I accept your invitation to the fraternity, let's see if I will actually be accepted and if you will get some of those things you said to me."
"You can count on me, I'll do my best."
So Jake went back to the dorm and told his friends that he was considering joining a fraternity at the request of a basketball senior, his friends understood that and even got jealous of Jake.
They had agreed not to join any fraternity because they had no interest in joining any fraternity since the most interesting ones had very difficult entry requirements, so Jake was lucky to be recommended by a Senior.
Charlie was quick to do what he said and after a few days, Jake had received a letter saying he had been accepted and was invited to a fraternity integration ceremony, as Jake requested it was just a few formal procedures and Jake joined the Fraternity Phi Beta Kappa and learned the secret handshake among other things.
Jake was pleased after joining the fraternity, even though he was never interested he had to confess that he was jealous of some of his friends in his past life who always had fraternity friends and went out to eat together.
When Jake told his mother about this, Eva was very happy to see that Jake was really enjoying his time at university, she missed him so much when he was home, thankfully she spent a lot of time in the restaurant and had Anna and other friends to keep company with.
One person Jake couldn't talk to after he went to college was Lola, the times he called the restaurant he talked to several people in the restaurant, but Lola never showed up to talk to him.
He also didn't think about calling Lola personally because he didn't want to give her false hopes while they had no relationship, Jake would be happy to know if Lola met someone and could move on, he knew he hadn't been fair to her in his time in Miami.
When he left college Jake thought he might relate to Lola if she still wanted to be with him, but by that time he would probably be in the NBA and wouldn't have much time to be with her either.
Eva and Anna never talked about Lola either, so Jake didn't mention her in conversations either and so they got farther and farther away from Jake's time at college, Jake could only know about it on vacation when he went home.
Over the next few days, the basketball team's training got more and more intense and they always did play training and even several game simulations during the week, when Jake played on the reserve team the game got exciting and he always did on average 30 points in the training games.
That's because these games had less time than the official university games, he also made several passes and steals, as well as catching rebounds, yet he always lost the games when his team was fully in reserve.
Even if it was only for a few points and the reserve team players were also skilled, they could not match the starting team with Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Antawn Jamison, Serge Zwikker and Ed Cota.
Even though Coach Smith was impressed with Jake's performance in the simulation games, in fact, he just didn't merge teams to increase competition because Jake was on the reserve team and so the game was played.
When Jake joined the starting lineup instead of Ed Cota, the game became even more uneven, the starting lineup won by dozens of points, not only the coach but the other players also noticed the difference.
| ← Ch. 266 | Ch. 268 → |