In My Brother's Shadow: A James Kennedy Story

[Loki]

James Kennedy Quick Bio
Class: Junior (RS)
Hometown: Allentown, PA
High School: Allentown Central Catholic
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 237 lbs.
D.O.B.: May 27th, 1987
Position: Dual-Threat Quarterback
Scouting Report: Highly recruited and former Penn State quarterback...younger brother of Heisman Trophy Winner and former Atlanta Falcons starter, Shannon Kennedy...transferred following Freshman year to avoid sitting behind Anthony Morelli for entire collegiate career...enrolled at Miami (OH) and redshirted to save eligibilty.

2007: Passed for 2,313 yards in first season for the Redhawks. Was efficient, throwing 20 TD's while only throwing 5 interceptions. Very mobile in the pocket and was compared to former Redhawk great, Ben Roethlisberger for his size and ability at the position throughout the year.

[Loki]

February 9th, 2008

The phone rang and I let out a sigh as I rolled over Mia and picked it up off the charger.

"Mom...what could they want now?" I questioned as I clicked the talk button. "Hello?"

My head pounded hard from a long night of drinking and I expended all my energy earlier with Mia so the last thing I wanted was a big talk at this time of the night.

"James?"

"Yes Mom..."

"You gotta come home, your brother's been in a bit of an accident."

"Of course he has, he wouldn't be Shannon fuckin Kennedy if he didn't," I scoffed. I was pretty sick and tired of hearing Shannon and his issues to be quite honest. Dude had everything so many different times and he screwed it up EVERY time.

"No it's different James. He's been shot,"

"Well he shouldn't have bought those drugs or whatever the hell he was doing this time..."

"James William Kennedy! This isn't a joke. Your brother was shot in the kidney, he's in a coma, and it wasn't over drugs or anything like that. What's wrong with you?!"

"I'm just sick of running to his side every time he does something stupid."

"Well this time it wasn't him. Chloe's ex-husband beat her up pretty bad and then held up the whole hospital. James, Shannon was shot and he's not in good shape."

I finally let my heart hurt. I could be as arrogant as I wanted to be but it always hurt to see what Shannon went through. I hated the attention he got but..I guess it wasn't necessarily his fault. This time really wasn't. I always thought he was a dumbshit for the things he did to Chloe in recent years and I knew that they'd wind up together eventually. Now, that might be out of the question and I had to go home to Allentown to be with him.

"Mia, get up and go home."

I shook her and she swung a hard hand at me and caught me in the teeth.

"Bitch! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"What?"

"You just slapped me in the face!"

"Oh...I'm sorry," she said, peaking at me through her left eye from under the pillow. She had a big, sexy grin on her face but I had to shake off all urges.

"You gotta go babe, I gotta go home to A-town."

"Right now?"

"Yea, Shannon was shot."

"Oh my God," she exclaimed, rises quickly from the bed. "Is he ok?"

I always wondered if she had some kind of hidden crush, deep down inside her or something you know? "He's in a coma so I don't know. I hope so. Some crazy bastard decided it'd be a good idea to beat on his girlfriend and then hold up the whole hospital before firing at my brother I guess."

She looked at me with her eyes full of concern. "I'm sorry...I don't even know what to say."

"It's alright, just get dressed and I'll take you home babe."

She nodded her head and we were on our way. Back home to Allentown, back home to my family. The two places where I've always lived in Shannon's shadow, the two places I've been trying to avoid the most.

[Loki]

February 12th, 2008

Mia's been asking when I'll be coming back to Miami but I told her I wasn't quite sure. Shannon's still outcold in his hospital bed and my father hasn't been to the hospital since the other day. My mother and Chloe never leave his side. Chloe joked that when Shannon woke up he wouldn't recognize her because her eyebrows and legs are gonna need some desperate yardwork.

Spring practices are inching closer, I've been dying for some more football since we dropped the last two at the end of last season to miss any chance at a bowl. I've got a good feeling about the team this year and I think we can do some big things in the MAC. The biggest competition is Ball State who have been spreading a lot of pre-season excitement. Some say they might be one of those BCS busters if things go the right way for them.

I'm going to have something to say about that come November 1th when they roll into Yager Stadium. I've got a lot resting on my shoulders but I can take it. Shannon Kennedy? Ha. They'll forget him. Ben Roethlisberger? Ha. They'll forget him. Shannon brought you some excitement with his ridiculously small stature, Roethlisberger brings you win, I'm bringing it all. It's James Kennedy's time.

[Loki]

April 3rd, 2008

Haven't written here in a minute. I'm getting set to head back to Miami after a huge fight between me and Shannon. Douche bag. Everyone else's arrogance about him was one thing, but he pushed shit over the edge this time.

"Nice throw pussy," he said, laughing as he chased after a pass I sent sailing a bit. We were throwing the ball around in the yard, shaking off both of our rust to get ready for football. Me for Miami, him for absolutely nothing because no one's gonna sign his retarded ass.

"Thanks bud," I said, assuming he was joking around.

"No really, what the hell was that dude? You think you're gonna go places throwing like that?" he fired back. I must've looked at him like he had three heads.

"Whoa..what? Are you fuckin kidding me right now dude?"

"If you can't throw one simple pass in the backyard, what are you gonna do on the field?"

"Dude..it was one pass. What are you Jesus Christ? Never made a bad pass or something? I saw plenty while you were playing in San Jose State. You set the interception mark didn't you?" I said, scoffing and nodding my head at him, knowing I just lit a fire under his ass.

"Fuck you!" he replied and whipped the ball at me, missing my head.

"And you think an NFL team is gonna sign you with some accuracy like that?"

"You ducked dickhead!"

"You still missed."

He inched towards me and I saw him clenching his fists, ready to go at it.

"What's wrong Shannon? Is it eating at you? The fact that, even though no one on this fuckin planet wants to acknowledge it, I'm actually better than you are. I've got the size and the arm. All you EVER had were those legs under you to make things difficult for defenses."

"You're kidding right? What the hell have you done any better than me?"

"What haven't I done? You failed TWICE at the State Title game. I won twice in two shots. You cheated your ass right out of college football. I'm going into my Junior year of football and Senior year of college. You've had constant troubles with drugs, you knocked up some crazy bitch in high school, and then married another."

"Go to hell," he said and brushed past me, slamming his shoulder hard into mine.

"That's what I thought."

I smirked as I watched him step onto the back porch and then into the house. "I fuck better than you too," I said once he was out of sight. Little does he know...

[SilverChaosVII]

[chosenone58]

Aww, shit! I'm down for the read, man.

[D-Mac]

both your stories are fuckin amazing bro, shits tight as hell im reading both.

[Loki]

April 21st, 2008[/size]

It's been so nice to be back at it again here in Miami, football and my bitch, I don't need shit else but that. Shannon can have his pride and his drama.

We finally had the big Spring Game Saturday afternoon and of course, the Red team easily schooled the White. I feel so bad for those kids, they try so hard but honestly, NO ONE on this team is as nice as I am on the field.

One play I remember so vividly, you woulda thought I was Eli Manning or something but we know he doesn't have shit on me either, even if he is my team's QB he's still a disappointment. But anyway, it was 2nd and 3 or something like that and we were already pounding them pretty good. I took the snap from shotgun and dropback and took a boot to the right, looking for either of my receivers on that side of the ball (Eugene Harris ran a flag while my boy Andre Bratton cut to the flats from the backfield). Unfortunately, neither of them were open so I stopped and tried to look to my left but just as I did, our big defensive tackle Sean Redwine took a dive out me and I did my best to duck under him. He rolled over my back but I seriously struggled to hold the big man up as he did before he fell off. As he did so, he grabbed a hold of my facemask and dragged me towards the ground once more but I put my hand down just in time and twisted myself out of his grip, spun around and up and just wailed the ball into the air towards my main target for this season, Dustin Woods.

Somehow, someway, dude caught the ball with one hand as our DB Jeff Thompson lay a big hit on him which sent him flipping to the field. A completion's a completion, I could careless how I got it and I swear Coach's jaw was eating grass he was in such shock. Actually, I don't know what that jerkoff was doing. He should've blown the whistle before I broke my neck but it's cool, I'm completely in football mode now.

Fuck Shannon. Fuck home. Fuck Pennsylvania. Bring on Fall already!

[detroitbasketball]

Has anyone ever thought of making a career story in which the main character is not, you know, an egotistical ass?

[Loki]

Oct 22, 2008 16:09:07 GMT -5 detroitbasketball said:

Has anyone ever thought of making a career story in which the main character is not, you know, an egotistical ass?

Shannon's been humble a bit up until the little spat with his brother but other than that ehh. I guess it's no fun to write or something, I have some plans for Shannon to continue..not being such a d-bag but there a bit of a way's off.

[detroitbasketball]

Oct 22, 2008 16:38:02 GMT -5 Loki said:

Oct 22, 2008 16:09:07 GMT -5 detroitbasketball said:

Has anyone ever thought of making a career story in which the main character is not, you know, an egotistical ass?

Shannon's been humble a bit up until the little spat with his brother but other than that ehh. I guess it's no fun to write or something, I have some plans for Shannon to continue..not being such a d-bag but there a bit of a way's off.

I was mostly poking fun at everyone, not just you. It's amusing, really

[PrimadonnaPictures]

Oct 22, 2008 17:13:48 GMT -5 detroitbasketball said:

Oct 22, 2008 16:38:02 GMT -5 Loki said:

Shannon's been humble a bit up until the little spat with his brother but other than that ehh. I guess it's no fun to write or something, I have some plans for Shannon to continue..not being such a d-bag but there a bit of a way's off.

I was mostly poking fun at everyone, not just you. It's amusing, really

theres only so many times you can say.. "wel I give it up to my teammates they're great." its get old and dry, but when you get a interview with TO you hope he says something egotistical just cause its kinda funny

[Loki]

August 8th, 2008

It's officially on baby! Sorry for not writing in here for a few months but I was too busy with practice and the new Freshman girls...OH MY. The new Summer Session tail is always amazing so you know I was staying on my grind this summer.

We played Vanderbilt to open up the season, a team a lot of "experts" were predicting to surprise some people in SEC. If that's the case they better crown us now.

Now, we didn't blow them out for a very underrated MAC team to take on a clearly overrated SEC team and beat them that's a big deal. We jumped out to an early 7-0 lead off one of three touchdown passes for me to Junior receiver Dustin Woods.

Vanderbilt took the game in the second, scoring twice and leading into the half up 14-7.

Coach gave us some half-assed speech that motivated no one so I pretty much blew him off, jumped up there, and got the team going. Some head coach he is...The team answered right back when we hit the field, driving down the field, mostly behind my arm and the speed of my receivers because Andre Bratton, our halfback, couldn't get anything going. We capped it off with a big 32-yard touchdown pass to Sophomore Eugene Harris. Dude's my boy, he's gonna do BIG things in Miami, I promise you that.

Vanderbilt got a field goal late in the fourth and went up 17-14.

"One last drive boys, we gotta beat this team. They're nothing, come on, we got this!" I said as we broke the huddle for our final drive. A minute and twenty to go. I lined up behind center and checked off the defense, audibling to the shotgun for a quick screen. The strongside linebacker backed up but didn't fool me, I knew he was still set to blitz. I called for the ball and watched as he charged right for me, turned left and lofted it just over his head to Eugene Harris. The linebacker clocked me good but I could hear the crowd scream as Harris ran down the field for a gain of 15.

The clock continued to tick as we picked up another first down on an out to Sophomore Mitchell Anderson.

"40 seconds, come on guys get to the line," I demanded as we all gathered up for a spike. "Red...Red!"

The center snapped the ball and I motioned for a spike but when I saw the defense fall back, I picked my hand back up and launched the ball into the air in Eugene Harris' direction.

"Ball! Ball! Ball!" the defense screamed as they watched it soar over their heads.

The safety caught up with Harris and both leaped into the air at the same time. Harris reached right over the safety's head snatching the ball from his grasps and tumbling into the endzone with the ball in hand.

"TOUCHDOWN BABY!!!" I screamed and took off for the endzone to pounce on my boy Harris with the rest of the team.

There was no looking back as Vanderbilt just didn't have enough time to pick up three points after our pathetic kicker missed the extra point and set up a very dangerous situation.

1-0 and plenty more wins to come. If we can beat Vanderbilt, we can beat anyone, especially in the MAC. Hand us the championship, because that's where we're going!

[Chief Bstn]

Did they win