Tell Scott and me ALL about Marc.

My boy Marc -- the brother I'd CHOOSE to have.  We met while I was home on a two-month respite from the road -- we worked out at the same gym and quickly became friends and training partners.  He was just finishing his Master's degree in education when I got a job teaching at my current school -- at that time, he was working as a bartender at a local sports bar.  He went to campus with me one day and I introduced him to my principal and before you could blink, they offered him a job, too.  (Marc can charm a snake out of his skin.)

Not long after, he introduced me to the bar manager where he was working and they offered ME a job as doorman (which soon promoted me to a manager myself, where, shamefully, I made more money working three nights a week than I did teaching). 

For nearly seven years, we were inseperable.  Then he met his current wife and fell head over heels in love with her -- she was a rookie cop at that time. 

He HATED teaching -- mostly because of the OBSCENE amount of extra-curricular work that goes with the job.  He coached the hockey team, too. 

Then they moved to Florida where she quickly became pregnant with their first kid.  Teaching was even harder for him there because he doesn't speak Spanish and latinos were mainstreamed into the classroom.  Finally, frustrated, he joined the police academy, where he excelled for all the right reasons. 

Marc is a great cop.  I got to ride along with him last year while visiting for my godson's christening.  He's tough but fair -- and nobody's fool.  I think it's made him a little bit cynical about the nature of man, but I've always been a bit of a cock-eyed optimist (pardon the pun).  He's got a football/hockey player mentality and he can chase-down a bad-guy like he's still a defensive end.  He plays on the hockey team that recently competed in the Police Olympics.

Great guy, great friend.  My brother:

And there's ANOTHER one -- a "Geoff" instead of "Jeff".  Were your parents being pretentious?

Marc and I are both from Upstate New York, originally.  He's a Buffalo boy and I'm from the Finger Lakes area.  He's a Bills fan and I'm a Jets fan -- which has caused more than one confrontation between the two of us.

And there's ANOTHER one -- a "Geoff" instead of "Jeff".  Were your parents being pretentious?

No.  They just thought it would be fun for me to spend my life correcting people when they call me G-Off.

That's one of the nice things about having a simple name -- one syllable for both first and last.  Makes it easier to remember.  "John Byrne" is direct and easy, though I understand people have mispronounced and misspelled it plenty of times, eh?

It's tough to f**k up "Tom French" but you'd be surprised how many people spell my last name "France" -- seriously.