In the living room of what was now a shared beach house with his wife, Caydance Skye O'Brien, Griff McGuire held in his hands the preliminary depth chart that Durango Palacio-Earle had made for the fledging Division3 Huygens Tech football team.

Griff's coaching experience was limited. He was lucky that he wasn't coaching at a school in the flat endless prairie, or in the hot Deep South, or in a stark urban environment, he thought, as he contemplated the empty spaces on the roster for the California Bay Area team, where he was now officially Head Coach.

On a table beside him were a lone beer and a bowl of potato chips. On the radio, the Oakland A's were playing the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome. The A's were leading the West Coast Conference standings. Dave Stewart was the starting pitcher for Oakland. Holman for Seattle. The 3rd inning was about to begin. The score was 0-0. Coming to bat were Walt Weis, Mike Gallego, Rickey Henderson, Tony Phillips, Jose Canseco, Dave Parker, Mark McGwire, I love these guys he thought, as in his mind (instead of considering why there were no kickers listed on the Huygens Tech Depth chart), he reviewed the A's 3rd inning lineup.

Baseball was always like this before football camp began. Once football camp began, there would be nothing but football on his mind.