Overtime

(Recent Stamford High School graduate Khairi Fortt is in San Antonio this week for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the 10^th anniversary of the bowl. Past alumni of the bowl include the likes of Tim Tebow, Terrelle Pryor, Noel Devine, Mark Sanchez, Adrian Peterson and Reggie Bush. Fortt won the ‘G Award’ at Football University’s Top Gun this past June in Florida as the elite camp’s top defensive player. Fortt, who is heading to Penn State, will be blogging about his week in San Antonio.)

We went to Dave and Buster’s tonight, which was a lot of fun. I had a little pasta with alfredo sauce and Italian bread. Dave and Buster’s is part restaurant and part arcade, so after we ate we were able to play some games and have some fun.

I started off by playing some racing games but I really got to business when I saw that they had Guitar Hero — that’s my game. I was playing on expert and just killing people. If things don’t work out in football, I may have to become a professional guitar hero player.

Since no one was really challenging me I decided to play this jackpot game, where I had to spin a wheel and land the dial on a certain number. Looking back on it, that was a pretty bad idea since I lost all of my card money on that game — but it was pretty addicting.

After that we went back in the hotel and I actually got some more food. They were serving Philly cheesesteaks in the players’ lounge, so I had to get my hands on a few of those. Then I just went back to my room and called my mom and dad and my girlfriend. I always have to check in with them and let them know that everything is going OK.

Today we had the skills challenge, which was cool. The best part was interacting with the soldiers. Almost all of these guys have been in wars and have lost legs and just talking to them and seeing them here meant a lot. It made me want to try harder and play better just knowing they were around watching.

We also had a speech at the end of the skills challenge by Colonel Petrenko. Pretty inspiring. He told us that even though we aren’t joining the Army and are going to college – GO PSU! – we can still be leaders. He said what makes us great football players — hard work, dedication and teamwork — are the marks of a soldier. Then the colonel said that we can be leaders in the community and be role models. We can all have a little Army in us, every day.

Something to think about.