Be happy with sports

Chapter 315 1997 NCAA Division I Men“s Basketball Tournament 3

Jake was happy to have a week to rest and just doing his training that was easy for Jake, he wouldn’t risk going home even though he had almost a week to rest before Sweet Sixteen, it was obvious that Coach Smith would not like it at all.

For the next week Jake was planning on just hanging out with his friends and relaxing beyond training, but the next day Tiffany called saying she wanted to meet him at a restaurant near the university.

Jake naturally accepted and was glad Tiffany came to the university to visit him again, only she and John came to visit him at the university in almost a year he was studying, of course speaking of people Jake has some business with.

Last time Tiffany had come more to talk than to tell Jake about Coach Davis, so this time Jake hoped Tiffany had just come to talk to him this rest week.

So after classes and training with the basketball team, Jake went out to meet Tiffany, she was beautiful with always wearing a very elegant suit made for business women like Tiffany.

"Hi Tiffany, you look beautiful as always."

"Oh thanks for the compliment, Jake, you’re also looking like a grown man now after you are 18, it’s amazing to see how you grew up these last few years since the first time I saw you."

"It’s normal for me to grow a lot since before I was 14 if I didn’t grow up I couldn’t become a basketball player, maybe I’ll keep growing."

"You can’t keep growing, I’ve always hated wearing high heels and have to wear when meeting you, now just sitting at a table I can look you in the eye, Hahaha."

They both laughed for a while, it was fun to remember the past when two people had known each other for several years like Tiffany and Jake, especially in this situation where Tiffany met Jake when he was just a kid.

"I’ve been watching your games this season Jake, you have been doing very well this year, since I met you and saw you playing I always thought you had a basketball talent, but I’ll admit that until this year I found it hard to imagine you playing in the NBA like the pro gamers, but now I can imagine you being very successful."

"Thank you, I was lucky to choose such a good team as the Tar Heels team, only in that team I think I would have the opportunity to play my best and play so many games, I hope we keep playing until we win the NCAA tournament."

"I hope so, I’m rooting for you and your team, but honestly seeing your team in the last few games I can’t imagine you losing."

Tiffany was honest, unlike Eva, she was someone who knew basketball well after following Jake for a few years, yet she also thought that Jake played at university as he played at high school.

Of course, she knew that college basketball games were much harder than in high school, but even though it was harder the results were still the same, especially this string of multiple wins that the Tar Heels team had.

"What do you think about the coach I found for you, Jake?"

"I found Coach Davis very good, he has some difficulties with his family and so accepted my demands, but he still does his job very well and doesn’t interfere with my plans for the year."

"And you plan to run a marathon this year?"

"Sure, I’m going to compete in some marathons until the Chicago marathon later this year, I don’t plan on running in New York that year again, and I plan to win every marathon I run."

"That’s great, I hope you win a lot of marathons this year, you have the world record now, you can’t start losing this year."

Jake naturally did not intend to lose any marathon nor did he think it was possible to lose any marathon, but just as happened in New York a few years ago unforeseen events can happen.

"I came here to talk to you Jake, and because I want to tell you to prepare a few days for us a few months from now on your university vacation, my company and our company plan to make a commercial this year for our companies."

"So you decided to make a commercial? That’s good, I’ll prepare some time so, I hope sales will increase even more, but you remember you can’t make any implications for basketball in commercials, right?"

"Of course, we remember that your agreement with the university does not allow, we hope to enjoy your popularity with basketball and the movie you made at the end of the year, by the way very good your acting in the movie, I watched, you did well in keeping a secret from me."

"Depending on when the commercials come out, it may end up using some popularity of the marathons I’m going to participate in mid-year."

"It would be nice, at the end of the year we will send you a report of the investments that our company will make, if you want to give some idea you can talk to Clara."

"No, I left everything in her hands, if she wants to buy me the shares I’ll sell to her anytime, I’m too busy this year and don’t understand much of sporting goods to give Clara any advice."

After that, they talked some more time and Tiffany soon left for Miami again, after all, she was president of her company and couldn’t just go out and walk around whenever she wanted.

Jake had hoped Clara would want to make a new commercial this year because soon their contract would end and Jake said he would not renew again.

After that, he went back to college and talked to his friends all day, after that day in the batting cage Zack’s brother would almost always come to talk to them.

Just as William had said Brett was very nice and even though Zack said he didn’t like his brother he always had fun when Brett was with him, Aaron who also had an older brother said he should be just jealous.

The other day before Jake went to training with the basketball team he got a call, he answered naturally as only his closest acquaintances knew his number and hoped it was some friend.

"Hello, is this Jake Smith’s phone?"

"Yes, I’m Jake Smith, who is it?"

"It’s a great pleasure talking to you Mr. Smith, here is David Falk, I’m a sports agent and I got your number from reporter Eric, I’d like to meet with you today to talk."

"So it’s Mr. Falk, I have some time later after basketball training and I can meet you."

Jake then arranged a dinner with David Falk, one of the greatest sports agents of the time. Jake didn’t expect to meet anyone like this but soon realized that it was normal for skilled basketball players to be approached by sports agents.

Jake had never thought of hiring any sports agent before, but seeing how busy he was he realized that he probably wouldn’t have time to talk to sponsors and NBA team managers about contracts while playing.

Jake also wanted time to run marathons and spend time with his mom and maybe even make some movies, and no one better than Michael Jordan’s sports agent to get him a great deal.

A few years ago Jake didn’t think of having a sports agent so he wouldn’t have to give anybody part of the money he made, but after the meeting, he had with the Nike representative he realized that it wouldn’t be that easy in the future.

Plus, with his investments and shares in various companies, Jake probably didn’t even have to mind the few million that could be paid at most from commission to David Falk, it was the same with his investment company.

Clients like friends of Emily and Matthew’s dad might find 10 percent too much for Jake to receive from commission for hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, but if it weren’t for Jake they wouldn’t have made those investments and made that money in the first place.

The same was true of a sports agent, it was the sports agent who got the sponsorship deals and best deals from the NBA managers, if Jake as an NBA novice wanted to negotiate a contract the NBA managers would probably laugh at him.

But if it was David Falk who was a multi-star agent like Michael Jordan surely an NBA manager and a Nike representative would respect a lot more when negotiating a contract.

Not to mention that David Falk had several contacts with companies that could pay a good sponsorship deal for Jake in his early years, so it seemed that having a sports agent was the best choice for Jake’s career at the moment.

Later that day he went to meet David Falk, Jake hoped the conversation was just as Falk was not trying to hire Jake but to work as his sports agent and Jake was also interested.

"Hi Mr. Smith, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person."

"It’s a pleasure, Mr. Falk, you can call me Jake."

"Call me David then Jake, I’ll confess I became your fan after this season of yours on the Tar Heels team, I hope you can win the NCAA tournament this year."

"I hope you can too, it’s always good to win and I hate to lose."

"I realized from this great winning streak of your team, Hahaha."

"So what did you want to talk to me about before these important games, David."

"You can already imagine Jake, after seeing you playing this season I couldn’t help but think that you could become the future NBA main player in a few years, and playing PG as your style no one will compare you to any player , you can create your own style and master the NBA with it."