Tournament (eBook)

Angelo Kontos (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
750 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-7845-5 (ISBN)

Alex Bucco was a teenager when a criminal syndicate killed his father. Over the years Alex maintained a strong bond with his mother and found his soul mate, Diana Cross. What he never managed to do was come to grips with his father's murder or to forgive him for creating the circumstances that lead up to it. Now his mother has died and he is without Diana. While he struggles to confront his demons, Alex reunites with five former teammates to play in a hockey tournament that becomes bigger than any of them could have imagined and ends up changing their lives. As the team captures the public's imagination, Alex's past finally catches up to him and so does the danger that comes with it. As a result, he has to figure out how to protect the woman he loves and find the peace that has been eluding him for so many years...and win The Tournament.

28.

When Corey Peters said to his wife, “If you’d like to help more, just let me know,” Helen took it to heart. During breakfast the next morning, she announced that she wanted to be actively involved in helping organize The Tournament. This fed Corey’s ego, as she was obviously doing so just to make him happy. It was about time she stopped whining and appreciated that she was married to the next mayor of Toronto.

Following their argument the other night, Helen dressed up and went for a jog in High Park to think. She stopped at the Grenadier Café in the middle of the park and sat on the patio with a small cup of black coffee. It was there that she liked to contemplate life.

After meeting Corey many years ago, she knew he would be successful; that he would make money and achieve titles and to hell with whoever he ran over in the process. She wanted the security that came with that.

The oldest of three girls, Helen was forced to mature at an early age and take care of her two younger sisters. She made their lunches, walked them to and from school and taught herself how to do laundry. As soon as she was old enough, her parents left her money to buy groceries and she borrowed a cookbook from the library so she could learn how to prepare a few proper meals.

With Corey, she knew that her life would be different, and it was. Even when they worried about money they never worried about money. Corey paid for cleaning ladies and babysitters and this made Helen’s life as a mother much easier than it had been as a daughter and older sister. As for her parents, they worked themselves into an early grave. Helen was determined to avoid a similar fate and Corey provided that insurance.

At the same time, Helen was not naïve. She knew that she could have done much better than Corey in many respects. He was always busy and never showed her affection. On the rare occasions when they were intimate, Corey never looked at her and gave the impression that he was thinking of someone else.

As the years went by, he was taking less care of himself. This was hard for Helen to accept as she regularly ran into muscular, younger men in the gym who looked like they wanted to jump her. She resisted the urge to cheat on Corey, but she sometimes wondered if he had the same willpower. It was almost as if she did not really want to know because she honestly could not see herself leaving him, but she would hurt him if she had to.

While she sat on the Grenadier patio that evening, Helen decided she wanted more for herself. If Corey wanted to set up a tournament, then she would help him set up a tournament. It would probably amount to nothing, but it would get her blood flowing and when he put his name in for mayor, she would work on his campaign and help him get elected. She would become his Hillary Clinton and one day it would be her turn to pursue something.

Surprisingly, this “non-professional” tournament seemed to be coming together. A competent and persuasive lawyer, Corey had been very effective in securing the old Arena Gardens by using money from his old buddy Dave Chambers while also manipulating all the right people in local government.

Fifteen cities were now confirmed for what was simply being called The Tournament, including New York, Toronto, Detroit and Ottawa. A fifteen-game round robin schedule would be played before playoffs with the bottom three teams eliminated. Twelve teams would then compete for the championship.

As good as he was at being a lawyer, Corey had no idea how to promote anything. Helen, on the other hand, studied marketing in university and had a flair for it. During that time, she also completed an internship at a public relations firm downtown. She knew that in order to succeed, events needed to move into the public imagination. Figuring out how to push The Tournament was her first exciting task since she got her marketing degree years ago.

Helen quickly organized and executed a public relations blitzkrieg, which culminated in a press conference scheduled to take place at the foot of the CN Tower. First, she made expert use of electronic media, promoting The Tournament presser through notices and ads on social media sites. Second, she created a sleek-looking press kit which she forwarded to every major news outlet as well as university and college campuses. Helen then spent two days completing follow-up phone calls with each of these media venues. There was lukewarm interest at best, which is why she convinced Corey and his sugar daddy Dave Chambers to hire their own photographer and freelance scribe to cover the event. That way at least somebody would be there.

Finally, there was good old-fashioned grunt work. Helen made up flyers about The Tournament and paid two teenagers from her neighbourhood to distribute them all around downtown. The two teenage boys were eager to please and Helen offered them each a hundred dollars a day. In fact, they were so keen that they were thrown out of the Metro Convention Centre for being a little too aggressive while distributing the flyers there. About an hour before the press conference, Helen gave them both another hundred dollars to stand on the steps of the always crowded Ripley’s Aquarium and give out the flyers there too.

It came as no surprise to Corey and Helen that they needed special permission to use the CN Tower for a press conference. So, their way around it was to move the event onto municipal property in between Ripley’s and the CN Tower. The tower was so big that if filmed from the right angle it would appear in the background anyway. Let the city come after them if they really wanted to.

Helen hired an expensive DJ who specialized in outdoor events. Close to the noon hour, a podium was set up for Corey, and the DJ adjusted his microphone. After a few minutes, he told Corey that everything was ready. Corey looked at his watch and it was 12:01. The photographer they hired turned on a light from his camera and focused it on the podium. Corey could not believe it, but a small crowd had gathered, and it looked like more people were coming over to see what was going on. At least four or five actual reporters were there too, judging by their portable recording devices and tablets.

Corey suddenly began to sweat. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow. He had a speech ready, but now wondered if he could get through it. Helen caught his eye and turned him away from the cameras to face her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you nervous?” Helen asked. “You’re a lawyer, for Christ’s sake, Corey.”

“Yeah, but I don’t like court,” Corey replied as he wiped his forehead again. “And I’m a partner, by the way.”

“Okay, but right now you’re a promoter. Go and promote,” Helen said.

Corey nodded and looked at the crowd, which had swelled to nearly two dozen people in addition to the handful of reporters. Helen pulled him in, gave him a kiss and then wiped her lipstick from his mouth.

“You’ll be great,” she said before stepping off to the side of the podium.

Corey put his handkerchief away and pulled some cue cards from his suit pocket. He took a deep breath before exhaling onto the open microphone by mistake, and the whooshing sound of his breath reverberated around the open area. A few people laughed. Helen smiled at Corey and shrugged. At least the microphone worked.

“Good afternoon and thank you for coming. My name is Corey Peters. In my day-to-day life, I’m a partner in a successful law firm downtown, but today I stand here a disillusioned hockey fan.”

Corey paused for a moment and looked up at the crowd. It had grown more and people appeared to be listening.

He continued:

“Recently, the professional hockey season was cancelled because of yet another dispute between players and team owners. And while players and owners continue to get more and more rich, the average hard-working fan cannot afford to take their own family to a game. This is wrong.”

Corey paused to clear his throat. The reporter Brooks Edwards rolled his eyes and frowned, but he kept listening.

“This amazing game has changed, and not in a good way. We have gone from delaying a season so players could fight for their country in World War II to cancelling games over salary caps, luxury taxes and revenue sharing.”

The only thing that could be heard other than Corey’s voice was the sound of a pleasant breeze which blew litter around the sidewalk.

Corey went on:

“I, for one, have had enough. And I think it’s time we bring hockey back to the people!”

Corey really punched that last phrase. He had rehearsed in front of the mirror for a long time.

“I am putting together a team that will participate in a fifteen-city tournament that will do just that: bring hockey back to the people!

“This tournament will be based on tryouts and it will be competitive. The only criteria is that any player who tries out cannot have played professionally. They will not do this for money or fame. They will do it because they love hockey and a married couple with two or three kids will be able to go and see the games without worrying about breaking their budgets.”

Corey took a few more minutes to explain some of the details of The Tournament. The old Arena Gardens would host...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	5.7.2021
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik ► Dramatik / Theater
ISBN-10	1-0983-7845-8 / 1098378458
ISBN-13	978-1-0983-7845-5 / 9781098378455

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