"A little pressure is good for a boy. Keeps him on his toes." 

Mick’s father shows an attitude that will prevail throughout: pressure is helpful for success, and if someone will not pressure himself, it must be applied externally. 

"I ended up practicing every single day, just like my dad wanted, but I wasn't doing it because I thought I had a chance to start. I was doing it because I didn't know how else to play." 

Mick plays and practices hard, almost as if he doesn’t have a choice. There are no real signs that his father has been an overbearing tyrant, but it is possible that Mick never had a chance to not play obsessively. 

"As game time neared, a sense of power filled me. It started in the back of my head and spread like a wildfire until I felt as if I was going to explode." 

Nothing else in his life feels as good to Mick as football. Nothing else in his life gives him the same sense of power. The football field is where he feels the most in control of his life; ironically, he loses control over his own life by taking drugs to make him better on the field.