"Must've hurt like hell."
"It did."
"He was carried off in an ambulance and they wept in the streets of Messina."
"I'm sure that's true," Silo said. "But it doesn't take much to get this town upset. Rehab didn't work?"
"It was what they sadly refer to as a career-ending injury," Neely said. "Therapy made things worse. I was toast from the second I tucked the ball and ran.Should've stayed in the pocket like I'd been coached."
"Rake never told you to stay in the pocket."
"It's a different game up there, Silo."
"Yeah, they're a bunch of dumbasses. They never recruited me. I could've been great, probably the first nose tackle to win the Heisman."
"No doubt about it," Paul said.
"Everybody knew it at Tech," Neely said. "All the players kept asking me, 'Where's the great Silo Mooney? Why didn't we sign him?' "
"What a waste," Paul said. "You'd still be in the NFL."
"Probably with the Packers," Silo said."Making the big bucks.Chicks bangin' on my door.The life."
"Didn't Rake want you to go to a junior college?"Neely asked.
"Yeah, I was headed there, but they wouldn't let me finish school here."
"How'd you get in the Army?"
"I lied."