Introduction
It was a warm summer night in late August, the rain was coming down in buckets as the man was driving through the city. Everyone says this is a dangerous town at night, maybe it won’t be so bad with this crazy amount of rain. Come to think of it, this summer has been filled with lots of rain. Probably that global warming stuff those politicians are always on about. As the man pulled into the facility, he pulled to the guard post at the gate where he quickly handed his ID to the guard and was allowed into the well lit parking lot. Well there aren’t many cars here, that makes sense. It is getting awfully late. The man had been driving all day, across multiple states but the people of importance had told him that time was not an issue and that they would wait for him but that the meeting had to happen today. I wonder what is so important that they call me. I hope they aren’t keeping this many people here just for me, I’m sure many of the cars are the night janitors and security, ya that’s it.
As he parked his car in the nearest open spot, hoping to avoid as much rain as possible while wearing his best shirt and tie he quickly hustled into the building. That didn’t work, still drenched, great first impression. He thought to himself as he quickly was becoming nervous realizing where he was standing. He was standing inside a basketball arena, that was completely dark but the hardwood floor, the stands and the baskets were unmistakable.
Suddenly the lights turned and he saw the banners, the banners that he had seen on television but had never seen in person. Out of the other tunnel began walking a shadowy figure. This is how horror movies typically start, if this guy has anything sharp I’ve just walked into his house of evil. Maybe that is why they called me randomly. Yup this guy is going to kill me, I should probably leave. Despite the urge to flee, he was still mystified by the banners hanging all around him. There were six of them, six championships but none in the past ten years. Finally the shadowy figure came into view. “I am Eugene Petit, we wanted to give you an idea of what it feels like to be the guy coming out of the tunnel with the lights coming on. We would have funneled artificial noise in to simulate a crowd but there was an NFL team that recently was punished for doing just that.”
As Petit and the man quickly walked up a few flights of stairs into an office that looked like his was big enough to also double as a house or at the very least a bedroom if this meeting took too long. Petit motioned to the chair in front of the desk. Petit began speaking to the man who was beginning to look as though the long trip was taking its toll. “Mr. Getty51, we are pleased to have you. You did not tell anyone where you were going correct?”
“I did not, as your assistant, I think her name was Kelsey, said on the phone.”
“Fantastic, you see we have been keeping an eye on you….
Ok, this is weird, I wasn’t supposed to say where I was going and they have been keeping an eye on me, what the heck does this guy possibly want with me.
….We are hoping that you would have some interest in a job that we have that will be opening up here in the next few hours.”
Confused, the man asked; “What job could I possibly do to help you all out here? I really doubt that a franchise as successful as yours?”
Petit laughed, “Well, the job would be in the front office. You see we recently have had a couple of our staff members accused of, well we will say misconduct. This has been kept under wraps and they are waiting to resign until we have completed our search for a candidate to replace them.”
Getty51, still confused; “What job would that be?”
Petit then got very serious, “You would be the General Manager of our team.”
As Getty51 rubbed his ears, his eyes and pinched himself Petit clearly looked at him as though something was going to go terribly wrong.
Did this guy just ask me to be the GM of this team? Am I dreaming? I’m obviously hallucinating, too much driving, too many energy drinks. Maybe that guy that cut me off earlier actually wrecked me and this is that in between that ev…..
“Sir, is everything ok? Like I was saying, we would like you, to be the General Manager of our team starting tomorrow when these men resign.”
Ok, maybe this guy is real, even if it isn’t and its just a dream why not say yes.
“I’m sorry, long drive, I accept! Where do I sign a contract?”
Petit began smiling now, becoming slightly less serious, “One of my secretaries will bring tell you where to sign before you leave, tomorrow we will introduce you to the media and get you set up in your office. However, you should know that there is one slight catch. Because this is your first GM position we will only have you in the role as a one year contract and we will want you to keep our current staff.”
Petit’s smile wasn’t because he had his new GM, but because he had his new fall guy, Getty51 wouldn’t succeed, what with the Cavaliers signing Lebron, did anyone think this team had a legit chance at a title? By setting this guy up as the fall guy Petit could get anyone he wanted next year, maybe a Phil Jackson could be pried away from New York, the possibilities were endless.
This is awesome, I came here expecting some boring meeting and now I’m signing a contract that will make me an NBA General Manager.
The two shook hands and Getty51 left the office and walked to the secretary, her name was Samantha, not the same secretary he had spoken to on the phone and gave him the contract and where to sign.
I Getty51 accept this contract to become the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls for a term of 1 year with the salary of ********* over the course of that year.
With that the Bulls had a new General Manger heading into the 2014-15 Season, would Getty51 be able to get the Bulls a conference Championship that Petit demanded? Would Petit use Getty51 as a patsy for a mishap in the Bulls front office? Find out in our next episode.
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