Overtime

(Recent King graduate Silas Redd 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. Redd who won the ‘G Award’ at Football University’s Top Gun this past June in Florida as the elite camp’s top offensive player. Redd, who is heading to Penn State, will be blogging about his week in San Antonio.)

For dinner tonight we all had a good time at Dave and Buster’s. That’s a fun place. We ate some good food and then had a chance to let loose and play some games. I spent most of the night on the hot shot basketball game, you know, the one where they give you a minute to make as many shots as you can? I love that game and I was beating everyone.

Today we had the skills challenge — East vs. West. I was involved in the running back challenge and the final obstacle course. It was great to go through those courses and measure up against some of the best athletes in the country. It wasn’t easy but I think I held my own. We lost to the West guys but to be honest with you they were cheating. That’s OK though because we’re going to get them back on Saturday.

The most memorable part was meeting the wounded warriors. These were soldiers who were injured in wars. Some of them had severe burns, others had lost their legs — it was sad to see. I spoke to a lot of them. Obviously I tried to avoid asking questions about their injuries but I emphasized how grateful I am for their service and what they do for our country. Despite all that they’ve been through, they were all in good spirits and having a good time themselves. To me, that was great to see and was a sort of reality check — it’s hard to complain about anything ever again after meeting the soldiers.

Tomorrow, we have the press conference for U.S. Army Player of the Year, and I am a finalist for the award. They don’t announce the award at the press event, but I get to meet the media. I might just steal that trophy if I see it. I also think I will run into Sergeant Henderson at the event — he won Soldier of the Year and I met him in New York. Real cool dude and we got to talk a lot during our Player of the Year media tour in New York. He is going to Iraq soon I think, so I will definitely be thinking about him over there and what he is doing so that I can live my life.