Barry sharply looked up when he heard the sound of grinding gravel in the driveway. He was glad to see Joe Morse, his best friend.
   ‘Hey Bear, you’re all sweaty,’ the happy-go-lucky Morse noted as he whipped shut the driver’s side door of his rusty Chevy S-10. ‘You look like you’ve just finished two-a-days. How come you’re so red?’
   Bham. Joe instantly saw blue sky. He landed on the ground with a resounding thud, just short of the roadside ditch. Joe was a bit larger than Barry was and not exactly the easiest guy to take down. But down he was.
   ‘Dang Barry!’ Joe gasped while he tried to collect himself.
   Barry laughed, ‘Sorry, I couldn’t resist.’
   He began to cough hard, alternating between deep hacks and bursts of laughter. He wasn’t able to speak. At length, ‘Bear’ collected himself and admitted, ‘I just read the letter from Coach Annese. I guess it just got me too pumped up and I needed to hit somebody.’
   They both fell into a comfortable laugh, a laugh that only two closest friends are able to share after one has plowed the other into the turf. It was the summer of 1988 and both boys looked forward to their senior year. While Greg Louganis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Florence Griffith-Joyner waited for the Olympic torch to be lit in Seoul, South Korea, Barry and Joe awaited football season. It was their chance to be the top dogs at school. They especially looked forward to football season with a premonition that their new coach, preparing for his second season, could make things happen.
   Bear and Joe sat on the porch, reminiscing about the season past. They laughed about the huge senior who faked a heart attack to get out of practice. The poor boy was nearly 400 pounds and couldn’t fit on the school’s scales.
   ‘Remember him laying there, wearing two pair of the biggest practice pants they had?’ Joe asked.
    ‘Yeah, they had to sew `em together. Remember how the team huddled around him, waitin’ for the ambulance? Think Coach Annese wanted to give him mouth to mouth?’
    They both roared.
    ‘I wasn’t doin’ it!’ Bear piped in. He started coughing again.
    ‘Me either.’ Joe asked, ‘Hey, you okay?’
   ‘It’s the grass. Been allergic to it since I was kid.’
   ‘Oh, yeah, that’s right.’
   Between coughs Bear managed, ‘What about Clyde and the time he tried to get us to stop swearing?’
    Joe feigned seriousness, ‘You guys’ (gasp – gasp). I’m gettin’ tired of runnin’ gassers’ (gasp – gasp). ‘Stop yer damn swearing!’
    Bear, now under control, with his best Coach Annese impersonation, ‘Back on the line, Boys!’
    They lost it. For a team that lost more games than it won, there were a lot of interesting moments.
   Their banter that day was one of those stitches in time that weaves the fabric of friendship: sharing common experiences and caring about one