Red Zone

“Robyn, He’s here too see you.” My assistant looked at me over her glasses. I nodded my head at her and told her to let him in.

I worked for Speed Agency, a Sports Agency located in New York. We were home to a number of famous athletes in the NFL, NBA and even in the MLB. I had been working here five of the last eight years I lived in New York. I moved from Barbados with my sister eight years ago after we both decided that there was absolutely nothing left for us in Barbados. We had absolutely no family there, it was just me and her. We decided that it would be best for the both of us if we just packed up and found a small apartment in New York to settle in, so that’s what we did.

He walked into my office and stood before me as I typed in some information on my computer. I looked up at him and noticed him dressed in a pair of baggy cargo’s, bright red shoes, and a hoodies style shirt that was cut around the sleeves. His head was cut into a Mohawk style with bright blonde tips. His style was quirky but he walked into my office like he was just hot shit. I knew he was going to be something to work with.

“What’s up, I’m Odell.” He said reaching for my hand.

“Robyn Fenty,” I said placing mine in his and looking up at him. He nodded his head as he gazed at me intently. “You can have a seat right there.” I said pointing to the chair in front of my desk. He looked behind him and then sat down. I looked at him as he did so and I folded my arms.

“They told me you was one of the best. I feel like since I’m on my way to being the best, and you there.. You can get me the best deal.” He said leaning back in the chair.

“If you want to work with me, you need to let me talk,” I said eyeing him. He hadn’t said much but he said too much to be sitting in my office where I was in charge. He threw his hands up.

“Odell Beckham Jr..22..New York Giants Wide Receiver with one of the greatest catches in NFL history last year,” I said standing up and walking around to the front of my desk. I leaned up against it and placed my hands on the desk behind me. “Why on earth would any agency let you get away from them?”

He picked up a football that I had on my desk and began to toss it up and down.

“You want me to be honest with you?” He said looking up at me. He was a bad boy I could tell. He was young so he hadn’t done anything yet, and God forbid anything did happen.. But I could tell. There was something about him that just screamed I’m not going to play by your rules.

“I’d prefer it,” I said looking back at him.

“She said I was too much for her to deal with and let me go. She quit on me.” He said shrugging his shoulders as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

I caught the football out of the air as he threw it up. I put it down on my desk firmly.

“You got let go by an agency. Wow. You must be a lot to handle.” I said looking down at him.

“I get that often. You just gotta know how to handle somebody like me.”

I rolled my eyes and looked at him.

“Well seeing as though I can handle a lot, I think I might be able to handle you. That is if your willing to become a little bit more manageable, and leave the I’m the shit attitude elsewhere.”

“I caught one of the greatest catches in NFL history and Im on track to being one of the greatest wide receivers in the league… I am the shit.” he chuckled.

“For starters you’re on the fucking Giants at this rate your chances of winning a ring with them are slim to none unless somehow Eli becomes the player he was 5 years ago, secondly being a good athlete isn’t enough. You need me, you need an agency to carry your brand. You want to become an icon in this league right? You know what that means? You need me to make you who you are. How the people see you is what makes you. Those blogs, the media, pictures, your endorsement deals…that makes you. You could be the best damn wide receiver on this planet but none of that shit matters. If you’re not selling Nike shirts or Gatorade or deodorant then no one is going to know who you are. No one is going to give a damn about that catch if you don’t make another one. It’ll be talked about for a few years but people are always going to want to know what’s next. If they don’t see you out there, people don’t care. I will make you. Remember that.”

“You couldn’t do all of that if I wasn’t me though, now could you?” He said looking at me with a dumb smile on his face.

“I couldn’t do it with you but I could certainly do it with someone else. There’s always someone out there better than you Odell, remember that. There are 32, 53 man rosters in the NFL. There are 32 wide receiving cores in this league. You’re forgetting there are Kelvin Benjamin’s, The Antonio Browns, The Amari Coopers and Julio Jones’  in this league that could all take your spot. Hell your best friends could take your spot. All of you are clamoring for the same deals, the same endorsements that will make you famous. That’s why you pay me. I want to do my job for you.”

He looked at me and nodded his head. I could tell something I had said had gotten through to him. He wanted to work with me so he wasn’t leaving without a deal and I wanted to work with him so I wasn’t letting him leave without one. Everything he has said about himself was true. He was certainly on track to being one of the greatest WR’s in the league, I just needed him to be more humble about the situation.

“So what’s the deal?”

I stood up and walked over to a drawer below my actual desk. I pulled out a stack of stapled papers and handed them to him as I sat back down behind my desk.

“This is the contract. You can talk it over with your lawyer if you want and  sign it whenever you see fit. There’s just some things in there about how I operate and how this agency as a whole operates. You’ll need to read over that so you won’t be surprised if anything happens. The money part is on page 12 if you want to know how much money I’ll be taking from you for my paycheck.. And the rest is all the usual stuff that’s in a contract. Take your time, as soon as you sign it, I’ll start working.”

“Hand me that pen.” He said looking at me. The pen cup I kept on my desk was literally in front of him. I looked at him and then scoffed.

“It’s in front of you, get one your damn self.”

“You rude as fuck, you know that?” He said as he leaned up and reached for a pen.

“It’s how I get my point across,”

“It’s how you get your ass beat,” he said signing the papers.

“Hasn’t happened yet.. Not even Floyd has the guts.”