公羊隊資深球迷，教你如何買到好位置！

上面影片我沒貼錯，是的，假棄踢真傳球正是他的拿手好戲之一。

而你可能也猜到了--是的，Johnny Hekker剛開始打美式足球時，就跟大多數的小孩一樣，有個當四分衛的夢。

True story: I actually wanted to be a quarterback.

I mean, I was a quarterback … in high school. I had every intention of playing quarterback in college, too. Growing up in Bothell, Washington, I always dreamed of playing in what was then the Pac-10. Oregon State was one of the schools I was considering. I attended the Beavers’ quarterback camp in high school, and talked to the coaches after they watched me throw. They said they would be in touch.

事實是：我原本也想當四分衛。

好吧，其實我曾經也是四分衛...高中時。我當然也想在大學也打四分衛。因為在華盛頓州長大，所以我從小就夢想能在當時還是10所學校的太平洋聯盟打球，奧勒岡州大就是我當時考慮的選項之一。我高中時去了他們的四分衛訓練營，我在丟了幾個球之後跟他們的教練聊了一下，他們說會再跟我聯絡。

圖片來源

奧勒岡州大的教練團沒食言，真的在幾星期之後回電給他了。

A few weeks later, I got a call from their special teams coach. I remember thinking, This is kinda weird … why would the special teams coach be calling me?

幾星期後我接到了奧勒岡州大特別組教練打來的電話。我當時想，我靠...特別組教練打給我幹嘛？！

“We watched some of your film,” the coach said. My highlight tape was about seven minutes long — six minutes of me slinging the rock, one minute of me punting.

"我們看了一些你的影片，"教練說。痾...那部影片總共七分鐘，裡面有整整六分鐘是我丟球的影片，剩下的一分鐘才是我踢球的...

“We think you could come here as a preferred walk-on. We don’t have a punter, and we think we can turn you into a scholarship punter.”

“You can come down and compete for the job. Whoever wins it will get a scholarship.”

"我們覺得你可以以獎學金競爭資格入學。我們沒有合格的棄踢手，我們應該能想辦法給你獎學金--如果你贏得了與其他棄踢手的競爭的話啦。"

後面的故事不用說也知道了，他最後拿到了獎學金，一路踢到了NFL，最後成了聯盟最好的棄踢手之一。

你還記得小時候作文課時，你寫在"我的志願"這個題目下面的是甚麼嗎？太空人、運動明星、模特兒，還是有很多很多錢的大富翁？長大後，你發現了小時候很多夢想都有點不切實際，甚至你可能早就忘了當初寫的到底是甚麼。但看看現在的你，雖然沒有照著當年作文寫的劇情走，但不也是實實在在地活著、走著只屬於你的這條獨一無二的路嗎？

Being a punter is definitely not as glamorous as playing quarterback, but hey, this is the life I chose when I walked on at Oregon State. I took a chance, and I wouldn’t take it back for the world.

I may be on the sidelines for 95% of the game, but at least I have the best seat in the house.

當個棄踢手真的比不上當四分衛那麼迷人，但你知道嗎，當我踏進了奧勒岡州大，這就是我選擇的人生。我下了決定，我就不曾想過反悔。

恩...對啦，我或許有95%的時間都坐在場邊，但至少這裡看球的視野超讚的，不是嗎？

參考資料：

What You Don't Know About: Being a Punter

延伸閱讀：

【黑暗之光】盲人球員Jake Olson，與他抬頭挺胸走過的每一碼

【低調的華麗】Special Team，勞苦功高的贏球功臣

【命運的交錯】《攻其不備》背後的故事，與那個改變美式足球的晚上