A reason to support Duke football

The phone rang. I didn't recognize the number.
"This is Jeremy."
Jeremy, David Cutcliffe.
"Hey coach."
I hear you are working on something about Patrick.
(Patrick being Patrick Willis, the now 49ers linebacker, who played for Cutcliffe when he was the head coach at Ole Miss before the fools who support the Rebs ran him off for the disaster that was Orgeron. Cutcliffe is now at Duke and I was indeed working on an article about Willis.)
"Yes sir."
Well, I had heard that you were and I just wanted to make sure you had what you needed.
"Yes, sir. Mike MacIntyre was very helpful."
(MacIntyre is Cutcliffe's defensive coordinator at Duke and was an assistant with him at Ole Miss. He was also the guy who found Willis in tiny Bruceton, Tenn. and got him to Oxford.)
That's great. Coach Mac had said he spoke to a reporter about Patrick but I was just wanting to make sure.
"Yeah, he was great, we spoke for at least 30 minutes on the phone. He really helped me out. I appreciate it."
Good. Very good. me and Coach Mac are about to go out recruiting and I wish we could find some more like Patrick. I wish we could find a team of Patrick's. He could have played tailback, fullback, linebacker, safety, receiver. Just about anything and he would have been great.
"Yes, sir. I'm probably just one of a couple reporters in the country who saw Patrick play in high school and I knew that he, well, I still say he's the best high school player I have ever seen play."
So you know then.
"Oh, yes sir."
Must have been a wild ride for you to get from there to San Fransisco.
(I'm writing the article for McSweeney's and they are based there. Many people just assume that's where I live now. Even though I call Little Rock home. I haven't been correcting people.)
I'd think that Jackson, Tennessee to San Fransisco is about as far apart as you can get.
"Yes sir, I think that some would argue they aren't even in the same country."
Laughs ... I'd agree.
I'm sure you are done with it if you talked to Coach Mac, but I just wanted to tell you that Patrick is one of the best I've coached, but what really sets him apart from the others is that he was so coachable. First time, we met, he had a notebook in his hand and was taking notes and asking questions. He was a real student of the game. And that's what made him different. Physically, he was able to do anything he wanted. But he had a real drive to be better. Better every practice. Better every day. He was like any other in that regard. He was really driven.
"I've heard that from others."
Oh absolutely. He's still one of my favorites.
"I've heard that from others as well."
They'd be right. Time to get on my plane. Time to find another Patrick.
"Okay, and good luck. Thanks for calling."
No, thank you.

•••

What does it say about a Division I football coach. A guy making millions, to find a reporter. Get his number and call him, just to make sure the writer had what he needed? Not to get all sappy, but I think that Duke is pretty lucky to get Cutcliffe.

The quarterly issue of McSweeney's comes out Dec. 8.
Read more about it here.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/SFPanoramaPR.html

I'm told my article will cover two pages, with photos. They are also running a full page cartoon poster.