Name: Jordin Carter
Nicknames: Sauce (team-mates), Jor (friends)
Ethnicity: Black
Age: 20 (July 5 1995)
Sexuality: Straight
Role: Muscle
Major: Economics (freshman)
APPEARANCE
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 260lb
Distinguishing Marks: Three-inch scar on left knee, both earlobes pierced.
Jordin has the classic build of a linebacker, broad, rangy, and muscular. He keeps his hair tightly buzzed, and occasionall wears a thin mustache. He dresses simply, sticking predominantly to beat-up hi-tops, a white tank, and Berkeley athletic clothes. His diamond stud earrings were a gift from a high-school football well-wisher, and are his only extravagance.
So you better grab your pistol, if you sit still I'm gonna make your fuckin' shit spill
PERSONALITY
Jordin alternates between quiet determination to make the most of his one shot at a different life, and simmering frustration at the social forces that have put him in a last-chance saloon at such a young age. He resents more privileged students, who have come by their opportunity much easier, and have safety nets should they fail.
As a result, his default appearance is one of a silent, sulking scowl, which has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more people give the intimidating giant a wide berth, the more he scowls. And there's something about California's endless optimism that just rubs him the wrong way; people that happy have to have some sort of inside track on life that's closed to him. This unease sometimes comes across as shyness or lack of confidence.
However, anyone who is genuine enough to pierce Jordin's outer shell, and convince him for a moment it's not him against the whole world, will find a loyal, even grateful, friend who takes an almost patrician interest in their well-being.
Likes: Working out; playing, watching, talking, and studying football; sport generally; street life
Dislikes: Loud or overdramatic people; wasters and slackers; injustice and unfairness; high-class society; police; junk food
Hobbies: Football (see above)
HISTORY
Relationships: Three younger brothers and an uncle in Detroit.
Known Languages: English, motherfucker, do you speak it?
So, eschewing the easy route to the street corners, he threw himself into football, taking on bigger and bigger players in his own version of Jordin-versus-the-world. When it came time to go to high school, three different schools sought to enroll him. Jordin chose the best, but only after elicting the promise that his three brothers would be enrolled there too. For two years, everything went Jordin's way as he lived the high-school athlete dream - girls, parties, hero-worship, compliant teachers... Then he tore his ACL in a meaningless game, and his football career hung in the balance. All the trappings of success vanished, leaving him feeling hollow, betrayed, bitter.
Three days later, Yolanda was shot dead in a convenience store robbery, and the Carter boys were sent to their Uncle Kane in Detroit. Without football to bargain with, Jordin and his brothers ended up in the worst school in the district. And Uncle Kane, heavily involved in the Motor City trade union movement, wasn't a football fan. Instead, he imposed on the boys, and Jordin in particular, his interest in current affairs - the patterns of politics, the swirls of society, the tides of time; he gave Jordin the gift of the bigger picture. Still bitter from his injury, Jordin was a willing pupil.
Silver lining time: The distruption of the move to Detroit meant an extra year in high school for Jordin, an extra year for his knee to heal, another year of playing football and beating on the biggest guys he could find. But whereas in Baltimore he'd played for the joy and the glory, in Detroit he found an urgency verging on desperation not to let this second chance slip. Uncle Kane had lined him up a job building Grand Jeep Cherokees and attending community college evening classes; in front of Berkeley's scouts, Jordin channelled that urgency into a mean streak and recorded two sacks and returned an interception for a touchdown.
But it didn't take long for the magic to wear off Jordin's West Coast adventure; his athletic scholarship barely covered his tuition, let alone living expenses, and as he was spending more time in reserve than on the field, he wasn't picking up the little perks and bonuses that help many college athletes survive. With no option than to get part-time work bouncing at a nearby bar, Jordin's grades began to suffer, and the late nights began to affect him in training. Giving up any one of work, study and sport means giving up everything he - and Yolanda and Kane - fought for. How can Jordin get out of this Catch-22?