Chapter 111 110: Glorious History
The contract signing was completed quickly. The whole process was uneventful and unremarkable.
The next morning, after Lu Ke arrived at the training facility, he began a long physical. This was not the same physical from the Rookie Training Camp. To confirm a player's condition, the team had to conduct a comprehensive examination. The drug screening alone included both urine and blood tests, while the injury evaluation and athletic skills assessment involved over a dozen different tests.
All in all, it took over four and a half hours before that part was temporarily concluded.
After lunch, a staff member led Lu Ke on a tour of the entire training facility, including the weight room, indoor practice field, and locker room, giving him a general overview of the team. The most important and interesting—or perhaps, most boring—part was the introduction to the trophy room:
The staff member gave a detailed explanation of the San Francisco 49ers' long and glorious history. The purpose couldn't have been more obvious: to instill a sense of belonging and pride in the players.
Just as in other sports, player trades are quite common in the football league. However, the quarterback position is a special case. Those exceptional or reliably steady quarterbacks might go their entire careers without changing teams. Of the current four elite quarterbacks, all but Drew Brees had only ever played for a single team.
Regardless of what the future held, for at least the next two years, Lu Ke would be a full-fledged member of the San Francisco 49ers.
In truth, Lu Ke didn't need much of an introduction from the staff. Located in Northern California's Bay Area, the San Francisco 49ers were undeniably one of the most successful, glorious, and greatest teams in the history of the Alliance.
The NFL is divided into two conferences: the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Each conference is made up of four divisions—North, South, East, and West—and each division has four teams. San Francisco belongs to the NFC West; the other three teams in the division are the Arizona Cardinals, the Seattle Seahawks, and the St. Louis Rams.
In this year's Forbes list of the most valuable sports clubs, the Dallas Cowboys ranked first, followed by the New York Yankees in second. Then came Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Barcelona. The San Francisco 49ers were high on this list, ranked ninth.
Incidentally, there were no basketball teams in the top ten.
As of 2011, on the Alliance's historical roll of honor, the Pittsburgh Steelers reigned supreme with six Super Bowl titles, remaining the most successful team in the Alliance. Behind them, the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys were tied for second with five Super Bowls each, followed by the Green Bay Packers with four.
For any player, joining the San Francisco 49ers was the highest honor!
But those were glories of a bygone era. The last time the San Francisco 49ers had won a Super Bowl was way back in 1994.
After the turn of the millennium, the team missed the playoffs for eight straight years. What was even more humiliating was that in only one of those eight years—the season two years prior—did they manage to break even with an 8-8 record. The other seven were all losing seasons, plunging the team into the darkest, longest, and most chaotic period in its history.
This great team had produced legendary players like Steve Young, Joe Montana, and Jerry Rice—names that made their mark on history, stood out even in the Hall of Fame, and were even considered contenders for the greatest of all time. Now, the fans were desperately crying out for a savior to appear, to lead the 49ers out of the darkness and back into the light.
Once, people had placed high hopes on Alex Smith, but sadly, they were disappointed. This year, people were hesitant to get their hopes up for Colin Kaepernick, yet couldn't help but look toward the future. Could he carry the 49ers out of the abyss?
For an undrafted player, especially an undrafted quarterback, joining the San Francisco 49ers was a dream come true. It was one of the most desirable teams in the Alliance, and also one of its greatest. At the same time, the team was in a slump, desperately searching for a chance to rebuild its former glory, so a rookie quarterback might also be given more opportunities.
More importantly, San Francisco was Lu Ke's home. Could anything make this more perfect? 'Maybe aiming for the team's starting position is a bit too greedy, but that's my next goal.'
Ordinarily, all of Lu Ke's work for the day would have been finished. All that was left was to wait for the physical exam report. Before the contract was officially signed, the team couldn't show Lu Ke the playbook or let him participate in internal practices. After all, legally speaking, Lu Ke still wasn't a member of the team. He could have spent the leisurely afternoon going for a drive and enjoying a rare break.
But the preseason was imminent, and the team had no more time for adjustments.
After the tour ended, Lu Ke dove back into training—not on the regular practice field for the starters, but on the open practice field next to it.
Quarterback coach Kip Kester was on the practice field right away, accompanied by a strength and conditioning coach, a nutritionist, and other relevant staff. They began conducting specialized baseline tests, observing Lu Ke's various techniques and physical metrics. Over the next few days, they would create a specialized training plan to help rebuild him from the ground up.
At first glance, it all sounded highly professional, but in reality, the basic training drills were largely the same, without much variation. The initial excitement and unfamiliarity soon gave way to a familiar routine. It felt as if time had rewound to yesterday; no contract, no draft selection, nothing had changed. He was still an undrafted rookie trying hard to make the team.
The anticipated novelty and excitement ultimately dissolved amidst the perfectly ordinary training session.
On the morning of the third day, Lu Ke arrived at the team facility again. Jonas was there once more. With him present, both sides formally went over the key items of the contract. After Lu Ke confirmed each point, he signed his name in black and white, and the signing was complete.
A moment later, Kip appeared at the office door and knocked. "All done?" After getting an affirmative answer, he looked at Lu Ke. "Lu Ke, come on. Follow me to the strategy meeting room next door." Without giving Lu Ke a moment to breathe, he urgently waved him over and called, "Quick, we don't have much time to waste."
Lu Ke grabbed his copy of the contract, not even having time to stuff it into his backpack, and scrambled to follow.
As the two of them walked briskly down the hall side-by-side, Kip lowered his voice and said, "Normally, we should do our introductions first, then go to the locker room to meet the other teammates. But we're behind schedule, falling further behind. We don't have time."
The ink on his signature wasn't even dry, and Lu Ke had already entered pro-player mode. For rookies like Logan and Marcus, they had already spent three months adapting to the mentality of a professional player, the rhythm of a pro team's training, and the daily routine of the professional league. But Lu Ke hadn't. Not for a single minute.
They entered the strategy meeting room. This was the space where the magic was cast and wonders were revealed before every game.
At the far left, a large projector screen hung on the white wall, convenient for the players to review game film together. At the far right, a whiteboard stood against the wall, covered in a dazzling, chaotic scrawl of black marker—all tactical terminology and play diagrams. In the very center were rows upon rows of chairs.
"Over here." Kip's voice brought Lu Ke back to his senses. He stopped looking around and saw a thick stack of papers on the table to Kip's right. It was piled incredibly high, looking to be taller than two stacked palms, a truly spectacular sight. "This is the playbook."
The legendary playbook. In college, there really weren't that many plays, fewer than a thousand even. But in the Professional Alliance, legend had it there were as many as twenty thousand. Teams would arrange and combine them based on the coach's style and the roster's composition. A quarterback needed to memorize and execute at least several thousand plays.
Today, Lu Ke finally laid eyes on a professional team's playbook.
Lu Ke thought he was mentally prepared, but when he actually saw it, he couldn't help but let his mouth fall slightly open. '...It really is thicker than the Oxford Dictionary.' After the initial shock, the first sentence that popped into his head was, surprisingly, Marcus's teasing remark. The tension broke, and a smile crept across his lips.
Kip didn't understand why, but he simply nodded. "Next, you need to read the entire playbook, understand it, and apply it. It would be best if you have your own ideas and insights..." He paused. 'Colin Kaepernick has been looking over the playbook for almost three months and still doesn't have his own ideas. That's really asking too much.' So, Kip changed his tune. "If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask. Discuss it with your teammates, discuss it with the coaches—all of that is welcome."
Kip rested his right hand on the playbook and patted it gently. "This is no easy task, but with the regular season opener less than five weeks away, we need to speed things up. You... just do your best. If you can't keep up, the entire team will help you." Then a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. 'Look at me, worrying about the guy who got a perfect score on the Fonderick test. He's the last one who needs my concern.'
Lu Ke chuckled and teased, "Talk about pressure. If I'd known, I would have gotten one wrong on purpose." His confident, self-assured expression made the joke even funnier, and it made Kip laugh out loud too.
He opened the playbook. The first few pages laid out the training schedule for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with a detailed daily plan broken down into ten- and fifteen-minute increments. After that came the actual plays. At the top of each page was a diagram breaking down the play, from player formation to their movement, with itemized annotations below.
The annotations for each play were incredibly detailed, with at least ten to twenty explanatory points, each one laid out with perfect clarity.
What set a professional quarterback apart was beginning to reveal itself.