I like being a grunt. I love catching, I like throwing BP; I like to do the physical part of it,

I have a pretty good idea of what areas you can cross into and what areas you can't cross into when you're a bullpen coach,

When you walk into that job, it can be a little overwhelming. Getting all your starters lined up, your backup starters lined up, getting your bullpen guys throwing in a routine. Once he gets a handle on that, he'll be fine. It all works out in Spring Training.

We established a pretty good working relationship back then, ... I've managed to keep in touch with him through the years. But I didn't really get locked in too much on the pitching aspect of things last year. It was more breaking down opposing hitters; all of my concentration was on keeping track of the next team.

And I love what I do and I love skating.

We both grew so used to each other, so comfortable with the naturalness and ease of our friendship, that we became sloppy about keeping our relationship a secret. It was not that we were physically demonstrative or obviously in love, more that it had become impossible for us to hide our close involvement. We had gradually acquired the unmistakable air of old-love: finishing each other's sentences and speaking to each other with an offhand, presuming intimacy that was eventually noticed.