Falcons safety Ricardo Allen sat calmly with his family in a room in the back of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Ga.
Allen was actually waiting to meet a man he'd never met before, but already admires him. No, it wasn't a teammate nor a coach, either. He was there to meet Michael Pike. And just like Allen, Pike is a father of two young children.
When Pike finally entered the room about 20 minutes later, he was holding a guitar. It certainly didn't look like he'd just been given some of the sourest lemons life has to offer, either.