In the week before he married Caydance O'Brien, Griff was headed to his about-to-be-sold childhood home. Sacramento was a familiar drive, but he had not been to the house where he grew up since his Father moved to Canada. That this early before the wedding, his Mom came to Sacramento with his Dad was surprising. She had not been home since he graduated from high school. But there were things that remained in the house after she left: furniture that she had picked out when she and Claude were first married; Canadian paperback novels on the shelves; in her closet, clothes that his Dad had never discarded. As if turning back the clock to his childhood, on what might be his final visit "home", his Mother would be there.
The car radio was on, tuned to the Oakland A's channel; in Detroit, the game against the Tigers had not yet begun. Griff's mind was on the uncertain fate of the computer that his father had built in the basement, and he was not focusing on pre-game radio talk, until the commentator spoke a former teammate's name: "Sad news this morning for Raiders fans. John Matuszak, known as 'the Tooz', died at his home in Burbank two days ago on Saturday June 17. The former Raiders Defensive End was 38 years old."
"All I can think about," Griff said to his Father in the basement of his old home, "is Tooz tackling Chuck Foreman. In my mind, I see him stopping Payton, sacking Tarkenton, sacking Steve Spurrier, grabbing Detroit Lions Quarterback Gary Danielson at precisely the perfect time, hitting Steelers Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, putting Los Angeles Rams quarterback Pat Haden under pressure, tackling Ron Jaworski in Super Bowl XV. These are good memories."
"I have a lot of memories of new parts for this machine." His father affectionally patted the large computer. "Of frustrating late nights chasing bugs, of the first moment when I knew it would work, the clanking sound as the punchcards moved along the tray. I don't remember where your Mother was when this machine first solved an equation. But I remember the day she left me."