The Moviegoer and the Multiflex

The room is dark, except for the figures dancing on the small screen, setting up, running and hitting over and over and over again. A grim expression on his face, his pencil almost rhythmically tapping on the table. The Man sits and watches. The Man is not happy with what he sees.

Over and over again, the same plays run, forward and backward, first at normal speed, then in slow motion, then normal again. Ron Cuccia scrambles loose for hours in slow motion, dodging tacklers and hurdling a fallen player for a first down. The Man remembers 1979. The Man is not happy.

Jim Callinan takes a hand-off, pops through a big hole on the right side of the line and rambles for 22 yards. The Man remembers Harvard's 4-0 record on the road. He stops the projector, flips a switch, and Callinan bounces up off the ground, out of his tackler's clutches and back through the hole, which quickly closes up. The play runs again, the result is the same. The Man stretches his arms over his head. And runs the play again.

Cuccia has the ball now, running an option right, getting hit and still getting the pitch off to...The Man checks the roster...to Acheson, who goes around end for seven. Got to stop that running game, The Man thinks. Got to stop Cuccia. And Callinan.

Callinan is running free once more, against Princeton. The Man cringes at the thought. Princeton. Harvard tied Princeton. And Callinan ran free, getting the ball again and again. The Man is almost hypnotized by the constant bombardment of 32s on the screen. Again and again....

Wait a minute. What was that? The Man stops the projector and backs it up. Now forward again, this time slowly, Cuccia moves in behind the center and starts the count. Suddenly he pulls up and ambles off to the right, without the ball. What the.... The pencil snaps, and The Man pauses, as the absurdity continues. The ball is snapped back to the halfback, number four. Number four...he's rolling right...number four...and he's throwing a pass. Downfield a receiver is open, but the ball sails over his head.

The Man finally has a chance to check the numbers. Of course, there's the answer. Back-up quarterback Donnie Allard wears number four. Two quarterbacks in the game at the same time, and one of them in motion! Ooh, that Restic. The Man chuckles, always something different, always something crazy. But then The Man starts to get anxious, remembering what pass plays did to his team the last time, remembering numbers like 33 for 55, for 501 yards, remembering Bob Holly's arm cocking over and over again....

His attention is turned back toward the screen, Harvard was called for a penalty on the play, as Allard stepped over the line before he threw. Lucky Princeton. An overthrown pass and a penalty. Got to watch for that quarterback-in-motion. Sure don't want to be surprised, The Man thinks as he makes a note on his pad with a new pencil.

Harvard has the ball again, in a third-and-long situation. Oh-oh, there goes Cuccia in motion again and the snap back to Allard. And another incomplete pass. And another penalty. The Man intently eyes the screen. Why, Harvard's going to run the play twice in a row. Not much of a surprise. The Man muses.

Suddenly, as the projector rolls on and on. Harvard starts to send Cuccia in motion on every play. The Man starts to chuckle again, as yellow flags and incomplete passes are falling everywhere. Allard rolls out and almost collides with Cuccia. The Man really starts to laugh now, Allard connects for completions to both Cuccia and Callinan--The Man catches his breath for a moment--but then the flags start to fly once more.

The room is dark, except for the figures dancing on the screen, and The Man, he can only laugh.