Gaining His Knowledge (Patreon)

I'm so out of my league right now. This is the first game of football I've ever played in my life and it's in front of a crowd of several thousand people with the majority of them rooting for me to help my team to victory. There's a lot of pressure on my shoulders and I know for a fact that I wasn't ready for any of this. Of course, it wasn't like I had much preparation time. 

Just this morning I was a complete nobody and had absolutely no aspirations of playing football on a professional level. Even in high school my interest in the sport went as far as watching the championship matches - if our team even made it that far. I was only at the game in the first place because one of my friends had recently broken up with their girlfriend and nobody else could be a last minute replacement. It would be a shame for the ticket to go to waste so I volunteered. Now neither of us are even sat in the stands because we're both out here on the field.

The team's coach picked us out of the line by complete random chance and asked to talk with us in private. While I had no idea who the hell this well-groomed forty-something man was, my friend was ecstatic at the thought of his favorite team's coach wanting to talk to him. I followed along because I wanted to be a good friend but I almost lost my cool when the coach dropped the bombshell that he needed to fill some gaps on his team and was desperate enough to get a couple of fans to do the job.

It turned out that a couple of his best players had been caught up in a drug scandal and weren't going to be able to compete in the match that evening. There were no reserves on hand so rather than forfeit the match, the coach turned to extreme measures. He had transformed all four of the offending players into their own football helmets and assured us that once we donned those helmets, we would gain all of their knowledge of the sport including the plays that would surely lead our team to victory.

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the insane story I had just been told. I certainly couldn't believe there was any reality to it because it was simply too bizarre to consider. My friend, unfortunately, was immediately wrapped up in the tale and agreed on both of our behalves. I still had my reservations but once the helmet was placed into my hands I felt compelled to place it over my head.

Immediately my brain surged with knowledge that couldn't possibly be my own and I was forced to accept that the coach had been telling the truth all along, as crazy as he sounded. It wasn't just my mind that was changing either - our bodies began to swell with muscle until we'd look right at home out there with the rest of the team. Staring at my face in the mirror was a surreal experience because while I could still identify myself, I had never once paused to consider what I would look like if I had been a jock throughout my life.

The issue is that none of us - including the two other fans that were roped into the coach's scheme - have really had enough time to absorb all the knowledge from our helmets and as a result the team's doing a pretty rough job right now. The coach is confident that things will pick up with the next quarter as long as we keep our focus and dig in deep. 

It sounds strange but the longer I have the helmet on though, the more I begin to feel like a different man altogether. My own memories are blending with the memories I'm gaining from the helmet and its getting increasingly difficult to tell what the truth is. By the end of the game there's a chance I may lose myself to the life of a football player altogether and I'm just not sure that it's what I want.

Then again, I can't exactly let down my coach or my team... Yeah, I should really do what coach tells me and keep this helmet on. We have a game to win and I'm going to do my job no matter what!