The N – Files, Volume III: Cash & Carry

The N – Files, Volume III: Cash & Carry
By Michael – Louis Ingram Associate Editor/Scouting Director- Football Reporters Online/Contributing Writer-BlackAthlete.com
FRO/BASN
 
PHILADELPHIA (BASN): (later - same evening)
N-Files Glossary: UPS (Ultrasonic Pulse Scanner); BIG UPS (Bilateral Integrated Ghost Ultrasonic Pulse Scanner);
RATs (Residual Audio Templates); MAUS (Mobile Analog Uplink Source)
RBG (Red Black Green, aka Reparations by Graduations); MAMA (Modified Analog Masking Apparatus)  
 
The crowd at Bob & Barbara’s was bustling, but a bit subdued, given the end of the workday.
 
A popular watering hole with the locals in Center City, many a question was asked and problem solved over liberal applications of “the Special” – a shot of Jim Beam and a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
 
Butch, the resident psychologist and potent potables pusher, failed to notice the four Black men wading through the crowd to the back tables…
 
But his ears did pick up shortly after hearing the first few chords of Fishbone’s “When Problems Arise.” Turning toward to the digital juke box, a voice hollered over the din. “Gimme a beer and tomato juice, please.” As Piper walked back toward the tall brother with the horn-rimmed glasses, Butch broke into a smile.
 
“Piper – what’s goin’ on’ baby”?” as the two shook hands. “Where’s your crazy ass cousin Mike? I thought he and the other Sports MCs was gonna come down and do another podcast.”
 
“Well, Wendell’s down South right now, and Chris is teaching as far as I know. Are you still listening to “The Batchelor Pad?”
 
“Oh, yeah – those two brothers and your cousin are really gettin’ in that ass,” laughed Butch. “So – I’m running low on tomato juice; only you and Mike order that shit when you come in here. Ask for something else.”
 
“Okay,” smiled Piper. Nodding slightly toward the back tables, his tone lowered. “How about a pizza, four beers and some privacy for starters - it would be greatly appreciated.”  
 
Butch paused, then turned toward the bar - “Jackie, pass me the wheel, please.” An attractive, middle-aged dark brown woman reached down beneath a section of bottles and tossed a huge metal ring in Butch’s direction. He caught the ring – a huge key chain – with his free hand, the other still puffing on a cigarette. “Not bad, huh – Eagles should sign me up right now. Come on.”
 
Following Butch, the two men walked the length of the bar and slid left as Piper gave the ‘hi’ sign to his colleagues. “Oh, brother man, please,” laughed Piper, “unless you’re gonna run the rock, don’t give Andy Reid another excuse to throw the damn ball.”
 
The men stepped up to a metal door, which opened up to a private dining area and six small tables. “The pizza’ll be here in 10 minutes, and the first round of beers is on me.”
 
“You are the best, Butch. I put in $20 of tunes in Jukezilla, so that should keep things hummin’ for a while,” said Piper as the others began to sit down. Butch then pointed toward the corner table. “There’s a volume control knob next to that speaker, if you need to quiet things down – and don’t worry about privacy – the only person coming back here will be me,” as he turned and closed the door. 
 
The four sat down, and Executive Director Mack McClain spoke. “Gentlemen, I know it is starting to get cold outside, but based on the information you have turned in, MAMA’s hot - and cookin’ up some intriguing stuff.
 
“From Agent Wheelwright’s diligence, the data from Vegas was very telling. The ghost images on the printouts showed major action on Denver, and I mean huge plays.  So many whales were placing so many high five figure and low six – figure bets, if Captain Ahab had seen it, he would’ve said, ‘Fuck Moby Dick.’”
 
The laughter was momentarily intermingled with Butch’s reemergence into the room, with beers and pizza placed on the table as McClain continued. “I heard the MAUS playback on the ride down, and I agree with Agent Piper’s hypothesis – Washington’s overall talent was far superior to Denver’s that year – but their inner redneck got the better of them in setting the line for Super Bowl XXII. Williams and Washington were three point underdogs, so a lot of Denver Bronco cash got sucked up like an industrial strength Hoover in Vegas.
 
“The RATs were doing some pretty good squeaking themselves; we picked up some good latent audio. A lot of resentment afterward – a lot – but clear indications that the sore losers believed Vegas had missed the boat on ascertaining the odds,” finishing the thought with a hearty swig of his beer.
 
Several bites and another round of brews later, each man gave an account of where they were that day and what happened after the victory. “Okay, Agent Piper,” mused McClain, “we got some smoke and some fire – where do we go with this?”
 
Piper’s ears picked up as the first strains of Grover Washington Jr.’s “The Sea Lion” creaked out over the speakers. “Well, Chief – I’m guessing going further back may not be the best move right now. Williams’ Super Bowl win is like a demarcation point. The common thread everyone in mainstream media wanted to push is how successful trends are copied; having said that, we didn’t see teams in the league busting down the doors to bring Black quarterbacks on their rosters, even if for merely cosmetic reasons.
 
“My thinking on this is with our knowledge of the power grid and the range capability of the BIG UPS and RATs, we couldn’t get enough information to put together a solid composite on Warren Moon.”
 
“Warren Moon?” Queried Agent Buchanan, “how do you connect the dots with Moon & Williams?
 
“Moon wasn’t a quarterback that lucked up into a championship game. He came down from Canada with a fistful of rings that he earned under center, not holding a clipboard - five consecutive championships. Of course, they didn’t validate it here, but he wasn’t the first to come down from Canada – he was simply the first one they couldn’t ignore.”
 
“Yeah,” piped Buchanan, “but what about Joe Kapp? He was Mexican.”
 
“Yeah, he was – but the League wasn’t concerned with that. He was Anglo enough in appearance to suit them. And Chuck Ealey and Condredge Holloway had already won Grey Cups up there – but the League wasn’t going to allow them to get a shot at QB down here. My Eagles brought Pete Liske down from Canada after he played half-ass for the Calgary Stampeders, but he stunk up the joint once he got here.
 
“Besides, in Moon’s case, his man Hugh Campbell came down from Canada to take a position with the Houston Oilers, almost as if to smooth the way for Moon to start without any, shall we say, ‘front office politics;’ but because of the uncertainty in getting ghosts from Canada, I’m thinking the closest connect to Williams and any conspiracy is right here in Philly.”
 
“Ah ha – you’re talkin’ Donovan McNabb, huh?” said Agent Wheelwright.
 
“No, Wheels – we’re talkin’ Randall Cunningham,” said Piper. “The ‘Ultimate Weapon’ used to rock this city; but they never gave him the tools to finish the job and follow Williams to the Super Bowl.
 
“Gentlemen, I hate to be an old fart here, but duty calls, and I need a further de-briefing on  all this before I head back to RBG Central,” said McClain. The four men got up to leave, with Agents Piper & Wheelwright heading out the door.
 
As Piper was introducing Wheels to Butch, McClain pulled back on Agent Buchanan. “A moment of your time if you please, sir,” as the door closed; Buchanan stood, a tad perplexed.
 
“Craig, we go way back, brother; we came out of Academy together. The thing I have always admired about you is when you hit on something, it’s never a ripple – it’s a tidal wave.”
 
“What’re you talking about, Mack?
 
“When you asked Digital Donna to place that BIG UPS in Pittsburgh, the images were sparse at first, and it looked like we weren’t going to get much of anything. But Donna then re-set the scanner for 1988; and we ended up with reams of information regarding SB XXII.”
 
“Out of Pittsburgh?” said Buchanan. “That’s buck wild! They weren’t even in the mix with the…betting?” Buchanan paused as he caught up to the thought initially running in his head. ”Ohhh shit, Mack.”
 
“Oh, shit, indeed. You’re feelin’ me, Craig. It wasn’t just Pittsburgh. Every major urban center, every part of the country threw down action on that game. Piper’s just scratched the surface of this; the betting in Vegas was one thing – but the illegal action was probably increased tenfold on a dollar to dollar basis.
 
“We then followed up with a couple of well placed RATs, and we picked up fascinating audio streams – people putting deposits on houses, auto purchases, college funds started; one stream even included a dozen people who won over $30,000 after the game after pooling their cash into one large bet; and the vocal patterns would seem to indicate most, if not all of the voices – were Black.
 
“It wasn’t just the money bet, Craig – this was a Joe Louis moment! John Elway was the ‘Bum of the Month’ – and he didn’t even have a clue.
 
“When Williams had that kick – ass second quarter, it brought the ‘trickle – down theory’ – from the suburbs to the ‘hood.”  
 
Agent Buchanan nodded affirmatively, his mind racing as he took the weight of McClain’s words. “Just about everything I’ve already said to you I will likely repeat in some form to the other agents after full de-briefing,” McClain sighed. “But, Craig – you are gonna have to be very careful when you return back to your home base. There was a significantly strong overture of backlash encompassing the area where you live.”
 
A knock on the door prompted Buchanan to back away and grab the knob.
 
“Craig, “as McClain grabbed his arm. “Watch your back, brother.”
 
To be continued…
Copyright Michael – Louis Ingram 2009
   
michaelingram@blackathlete.com
mike@footballreporrtersonline.com

The N – Files, Volume II: Collateral Damage

The N – Files, Volume II: Collateral Damage
By Michael – Louis Ingram, Associate Editor /Director of ScoutingFootball Reporters Online
FRO/BASN
 
PHILADELPHIA (FRO/BASN): (two weeks later)
N-Files Glossary: UPS (Ultrasonic Pulse Scanner); BIG UPS (Bilateral Integrated Ghost Ultrasonic Pulse Scanner);
RATs (Residual Audio Templates); MAUS (Mobile Analog Uplink Source)
RBG (Red Black Green, aka Reparations by Graduations); MAMA (Modified Analog Masking Apparatus)   
 
 
“We don’t keep track of single quarter records; but geez, 356 yards – who could’ve gained more than that?”
(Seymore Siwoff, head of Elias Sports Bureau, commenting on Washington quarterback and Super Bowl XXII Most Valuable Player Doug Williams’ second quarter performance against John Elway’s Denver Broncos; Williams would lead his team to a 35 point, 356 yard explosion – which resulted in a 42 – 10 destruction of favored Denver.)
 
Over the din of cheers and elation over Washington and Doug Williams at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium, some asshole is bleating on-air about how he hopes this (paraphrasing) “Finally dispels the myth as to whether or not Black men are capable of playing the position…”
 
Las Vegas…1988:
(A bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label goes flying across the room, the incensed silver-haired man who had every intention of toasting a Denver victory with the signature scotch whiskey, grabs the Presidential Suite’s house phone. “There is something very wrong here,” the gravelly gruff baritone bellowed. “We need to talk – like now!”)
 
Cue whistling…
 
Ask anyone who works for a living in Philadelphia, and they will tell you the lunch carts are the life force of the workforce. Good food and a good price for folks trying to make it, no matter what collar one wears.
Chanticleer Piper observed the noon day bustle along 16th Street in Center City, waiting to put in his order at his favorite cart, parked near the corner of 16th and Spruce streets.
The idea of a chicken cheese steak sounded even better as it was sizzling on the grill next to the other orders. A clear day and a little sunshine vitamin always stimulated the appetite, and as the sandwiches and drinks were being piled onto to the small cardboard box Piper was carrying, he spotted Agent George Wheelwright a few yards away sitting on one of the bench areas, bantering with Agent Craig Buchanan.
It didn’t take any eavesdropping device to know the subject being discussed, Piper walking into the discourse as Buchanan was pontificating. “Yeah, Wheels your Silver and Black looked good beating up on San Diego, but they didn’t get the job done!  Not like my Pittsburgh Steelers, the six time Super Bowl Champions, and the only – “
“Aww, here we go; now you know can’t get away with sayin’ that in “Iggles” country!” laughed Piper. Clearly, your temporary insanity requires nourishment, so here’s lunch. Cheese steak, chips and apple juice for CB - and a tuna hoagie with cheese, chips and an orange soda for you, Wheels.”
 Wheelwright digs into his bag, then stopped. “Hey Piper, where’s my –“
“Oops, my bad – here you go, Wheels.” Piper took the package out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Wheelwright, whose eyes lit up. “Yeah, my Krimpets,” smiled Wheelwright. These bad boys are hard to get out in Cali.” Wheelwright opened up the Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets, and chomped down on one of the iced sponge cakes.
“You don’t have to tell me, bro,” said Piper. My Aunt Dessa used to always bring those and the Chocolate Juniors and cup cakes from Philly whenever she and my cousins came to New York; when I was a kid, you couldn’t get them there, either.”
Piper took a bite out of his chicken cheese steak and a swig of his IBC Root Beer before continuing. “I think now’s as good a time as any; MAMA’s five-by-five on the signal, so plug in and enable your MAUS if you haven’t already.”
The two agents nodded affirmatively and Piper tapped in his clearance code.
“Alright, guys – time to compare notes. MAMA’s listening and Director McClain is receiving. Wheels, let’s start with you – what did you do in San Diego?
“I planted an Ultrasonic Pulse Scanner on one of the city transit’s light rail cars whose route ran by where Jack Murphy stadium used to be; confirmed unit was working and properly scanning every six hours until I left town four days later.
“I then contacted RBG Central and through one of our contacts in Las Vegas had a BIG UPS connected underneath the antenna atop the Stratosphere Hotel; it started sending signals ten minutes after confirmation of connection.
“After the composite scan, readout produced 16 pages of ghosts. After locking in on the area of greatest concentration, RBG dispatched two agents who placed RATs in the race/sport book areas of six different casinos, with timers set for January 30, 1988 - the day before Super Bowl XXII. Out of the six RATs, four picked up recoverable information before self-destructing.”       
“Sounds good, Wheels - Mr. Buchanan, what did you find out on your end?”
Pausing to digest the chomp’s worth of steak sandwich, Buchanan coughed and cleared his throat.  “You know, when you first brought this up, I started thinking about Super Bowl XXII and how Doug Williams lit up the Broncos.
“Well, it got me thinking about how hyped I was about my Steelers when they not only signed Joe Gilliam, but when he won the starting spot at quarterback in 1974. Hey, I wasn’t even old enough to really grasp the idea of it; I just knew how everyone else reacted to it so I knew it had to be something special.
“Now everybody knows Gilliam didn’t lose his job because the team was bad; by all accounts, they should’ve been a favorite that year – and he was 4-1-1 after six games.
Wheelwright jumped in. “So, Pittsburgh realizes they have a Black man leading a team with serious Super Bowl potential – and they freak out! Hey, Gilliam didn’t have a losing record – he won almost 70 percent of the games he started in.”
“Exactly,” said Buchanan. “Ain’t no other way to say it - they bitched up big time in not following through on an opportunity a Black man had earned. My Uncle Nate talked about that a lot as Williams and Washington were getting closer to the Super Bowl.
“So before we all hooked up, I did some digging on my own. According to all accounts, Gilliam had the job taken from him; he didn’t lose it.
“Well, when you put this together with the fact Jay Schroeder was supposed to be Washington’s quarterback when the 1987 season started, it further proves Williams’ elevation to first string and everything else that followed wasn’t supposed to happen.
“So I had Digital Donna plant a BIG UPS in the area that was Three Rivers Stadium (now Heinz Field) and pre-set it for September of 1974 in the hopes we could scare up a ghost or two. As of right now, we’ve got barely a page of data; the time difference is making this a bit more difficult to sort through; but it is giving up something.”  
Piper smiled. “Good lookin’ out on that, Craig – you tying in what Pittsburgh did and didn’t do gives this more weight. Especially when it came to Vegas setting the odds:
“You got to figure even with Schroeder starting that game, Washington would have gotten more play; maybe even gets a slight favorite. Because anyone who really understood football knew that in every unit – offense, defense and special teams – Washington was superior.”
Wheelwright chimed in. “You got that right, brother man. Washington’s ‘Hogs’ on the offensive line were arguably the best line in football at that time.”
“Exactly,” said Piper. And let’s not forgot how Washington benefitted from the USFL getting co-opted by the NFL in court. They used Kelvin Bryant and George Rogers to get there on the ground; and had Ricky Sanders, Gary Clark and Art Monk to catch the ball along with Clint Didier and Don Warren when they ran out of that twin tight end formation.
“Bryant, Sanders and Clark were USFL All-Stars, and Monk – well, he was only a Hall of Fame receiver.
“Denver had no answer for that.”
“They didn’t have any answer for them on defense, either,” said Buchanan. Aside from Mecklenburg at linebacker and Dennis Smith at safety being a big hitter, they really didn’t have anyone who scared you.
“Washington had a good pass rush, and three of the guys in their secondary had made All-Pro. Hell, Darrell Green was at his peak, and he’s a Hall of Famer now.”
“Okay, so you put all this together,” paused Piper, ”and in spite of all this Washington stays a three point underdog – and we know why – no way this Nigger’s supposed to beat their pigskin god John Elway.”
    
Las Vegas -1988…
 
(The silver haired man was showing streaks of red through his somewhat tanned face as he continued his telephone rant. “The goddamn game is over and how the fuck am I gonna recoup my losses?
“You said them sumbitch Redskins was a busted flush; where the fuck was all that damn offense when they were playing during the goddamn season? I lost everything – even the under – and some asshole’s running up and down the damn hall squealing like a bitch about how he made $250K on Ricky Sanders catching that damn TD pass!”
“Listen you don’t-know-shit-from-Shinola peckerwood – when you all get together in Palm Springs over the next couple months, there has to be insurance that this situation can never – and I mean never - happen again!”)
 
 
To be continued…
 
copyright  c 2009 michael-louis ingram