The name is Peterson Samson. I'm a young black man living in the state of Massachusetts. Today, I turned twenty. My boys from the school football team got me a nice gift. A black leather jacket with red buttons. It's gonna look good on me once the New England winter comes in. I'm originally from Atlanta City in Georgia, so I've basically never seen snow before. Word. Massachusetts sure gets cold. Must be why everyone is so damn rude. These days, things are happening for this brother. Life is cool. I hope not to jinx it by telling you about it. Nah, I'm not superstitious, just cautious. You can never be too careful, know what I mean?
I'm a student at Lord Byron College. It's a small, four-year private school located in the Boston area. Truth be told, I never heard about it until a fateful day in homeroom. I thought about applying there. Lord Byron College was a small technical college which was starting a varsity football program after achieving four-year college status. I was a running back on the football team at South Atlanta Regional Technical High School. I thought about playing college football so why not apply to Lord Byron College? I applied and got accepted. All they wanted was a 2.0 GPA and since I had a 3.1 GPA, I was golden. I told my mom and dad and they were happy.
My parents always wanted me to go to college. My father James Samson is a policeman in Atlanta. He's a Morehouse College graduate, with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. That helped him become the captain at his precinct. My mother Alicia Smith Samson went to Georgia Tech and has her engineering degree. She works for one of Georgia's top engineering companies. My brother Leonard works as a corrections officer for the Atlanta City Department of Corrections. We live comfortbly in a mansion in West ATL. I've got no complaints. I thought about enrolling at Morehouse College or Georgia Tech but I've lived in Atlanta all my life. I wanted to see what other schools had to offer. Besides, Lord Byron College was offering me a full athletic scholarship to play Division One College Football. Maybe that's not a big deal to you but it is to me. A lot of men from Division One College Football teams make it into the National Football League. Who knows? I might play for the Atlanta Falcons someday, you know?
So, I went to Lord Byron College. What I saw there amazed me. The school was kinda small, with only five thousand students, but it was an athletic powerhouse. They had every damn sport I could think, and a few that I didn't know about. They offered Men's Intercollegiate Basketball, Baseball, Gymnastics, Cross Country, Golf, Fencing, Tennis, Soccer, Track, Swimming, Volleyball, Archery, Rifle, Bowling, Ice Hockey, Sailing, Wrestling and Rugby. And now they had a Varsity Football team. Excellent! They also offered Women's Intercollegiate Softball, Basketball, Gymnastics, Cross Country, Soccer, Swimming, Golf, Tennis, Fencing, Track, Sailing, Archery, Rifle, Bowling, Ice Hockey, Field Hockey and Rugby. The Cheerleading Team is coed, of course. All of these sports teams competed in the NCAA Division One.
I was impressed with the athletics complex. A twelve-million-dollar Athletic Ccomplex with all the amenities you could think. Lord Byron College had purchased a lot of land in Boston, razed it and turned it into the Football Stadium, where the school's Men's and Women's respective Soccer teams practiced and the Women's Field Hockey games were also played. Nearby, within the same complex the Men's and Women's Track teams could be seen practicing on the Outdoor Track course. The complex was also home to the Gymnasium where the Men's and Women's Basketball teams practiced, along with the Men's and Women's Volleyball teams. The Basketball court was also where the Men's Wrestling team rolled out their mats for their practice meetings and their matches. Lord Byron College was getting ready to take on Boston College in Football. They'd already beaten Boston University in Wrestling and Harvard University in both Men's and Women's Basketball. Yeah, we were getting there.