The narrator is part of the Usher family and is the last of that family.
BECAUSE PAIN IS THE #1 WAY TO KEEP THE ATTENTION OF PUNY BRAINED BOOKWORMS.
When your heart starts bleeding because you are ridiculously emotionally engaged in a fictional story…you know you care. OH GRAPE. YOU SURE DO CARE. And the best way to show you care is to ache and worry and fret over something.
That the football player was timid