Mathias took a moment. It seemed rehearsed, like a dramatic pause. “I think I can.”
We’ll see about that, I thought.
Coach Keller brought up the media training again the moment we reconnected. “I should have been on that more. Sorry. I dropped the ball.”
Yup. He’d been close enough to see my interviews and showed his disappointment by using incompatible sports metaphors. We weren’t there for water polo, after all. The only balls involved shriveled when wet.
“At the press conference, try to be a little more…relaxed?” He posed it as a question. “Be the guy you are with your friends and family…with me. You’ve never been short on words around us. Be yourself…except…”
“Except what?”
“Well, it should go without saying…” He leaned in close enough for me to see ear hair and smell his deodora
