Monday Night Football music blasted into Caydance's studio on October 9, 1989, the night before her class. If that game between the Raiders and the Jets had been on a Sunday afternoon, Griff would have gone to whatever bar where retired Raiders were gathering to watch 6'5 300 pound former Offensive Tackle Art Shell take the helm. But, from an East Bay bar populated by his former teammates, Griff was afraid he would not make it home to walk Caydance to her class the following morning. Was it the feeling of power that he got from this noble gesture? he wondered. Or was it that if he did not walk Caydance to her class, Yuri would be there, and he would not?

Caydance was deep in last minute prep for Tuesday's class and did not join Griff on the bed (which in her studio also served as a couch) until the second half began. In the third quarter, the Raiders put seven on the board when a pass from Schroeder to Fernandez resulted in a 73 yard run. Caydance's presence beside him was a good omen, Griff thought. No flags appeared on the field, and from the booth these words emerged: "The Wide Receivers are back in the game plan."

It was "so what", when the Jets delivered a touchdown, because early in the fourth quarter, tough running Safety, Eddie Anderson, took an interception 87 yards for the winning touchdown. A few nerve-racking moments occurred when the Jets were on the Raiders' 25 with only three seconds remaining, but Terry McDaniel knocked down a final end zone pass. Raiders 14 Jets 7. Art Shell had won his first game!

"I wish", Griff said to Caydance, "that I could forget Marcus Allen down, and the dejected look on his face, as with injured reserve looming, he sat on the sidelines."

"Let's replay Art Shell walking off the field, surrounded by his team," Caydance suggested. There was nothing she could do about the role Griff's knee had played in his life, and with dismay, she also had watched injured Marcus Allen on the bench.