"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him."

Before I proceed, a brief history:

Murph played basketball at Ohio University with Jeff. He's from Lawton, Oklahoma (technically an Army brat, he claims this as his home), so he used to come home with Jeff on holidays like Thanksgiving when they only had one day off from practice and it wasn't really worth flying all the way back to the dust bowl. The first time Jeff ever brought Murph home, we ended up going to bed a bit earlier than Jeff, who stayed up watching the 2:00 AM Sportscenter. Since the house was kind of full for the holiday, the three of us were sharing my old bedroom. As I was drifting off to sleep, having known Murph for about an hour, I hear his overly testosteroned baritone say, "Hey Jon." Evicted from the warm confines of my slumber, I snapped, "What!?" "Have you ever had a dream that you were wetting the bed, then woke up and realized you actually were?" I laughed so hard I nearly did wet the bed, and it turned into a slumber party. We stayed up until about 4:00 AM goofing around like the immature little boys that we are. And so a friendship was born.

Jeff and Murph played basketball at OU with Gary Trent, who was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1995 NBA Draft, then immediately traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. After spending a year in Kuwait running a gym on a military base, then kicking around Boston for a couple months trying to find a job, Murph accepted Gary's invitation to come live in his house rent-free until he could settle on a career path. Murph had no idea at the time how lucky he was that Gary got traded to the Blazers. Although it certainly didn't seem so at first.

When Murph moved to Portland, he packed up everything he had accumulated in 24 years on this earth and loaded it into his new Ford Explorer (the only good thing about living in Kuwait was a tax-free salary). He arrived a day early and Gary was on a road trip in Los Angeles, for a game against the Lakers. So Kev had to spend a night in a hotel room and wait for Gary to return home before he could move in. He first tried a place just east of Portland called The Dalles. After deciding $49 was too expensive for one measly night in a hotel room, he made the fateful decision to go up a few more exits and try another hotel. Bingo! For $25 per room, he decided to spend the night in Troutdale. He put his mountain bike in the room with him so it wouldn't be stolen, and locked the rest of his belongings in the car for the night. So the next morning, feeling all happy about his new life and job prospects, he heads out to his car only to find it... empty! Somebody had drilled out the keyhole on his door and stolen everything that he owned, right down to the folder containing his resumés and job contacts. Bummer. As he explains it, "I just wanted to drive straight back to Oklahoma and put my head in my mom's lap and cry." Fortunately for Trish, he didn't.

Incidentally, for those who don't know, Murph stands a shade over 6'8" in bare feet (a full 6'9" with shoes on) and weighs approximately 210 lbs. Hence the nickname "Sliver" from his teammates. Jeff stands a shade over 6'7" in bare feet (roughly 6'8" in shoes) and weighs about 240 lbs. He also has a long torso, hence the nickname "Horseman" from teammates who say he's built like a horse. My brother, the centaur.