Fahey. ���We had to pick each other up some
days.������
But the good days have far outnumbered
everything else. So was it worth it? ���I really
never questioned it,������ Fahey said. ���Every time I
would come home in the summer, people would
say, ���Are you sticking it out?��� I would kind of get
offended by that question. Being able to compete with these guys on a daily basis was great.
I couldn���t see myself as a regular student; I
couldn���t do it.������
Neither could Wise, who can still vividly remember that call that he got from Gard telling
him that he had done enough during the open
tryout with other UW students to earn a spot on
the team. He stepped out of his Zoology class to
answer his cell. ���Coach goes, ���Aren���t you supposed to be in class?��������� said Wise, wondering
initially ���Is this a test?������ before he got the good
word. ���I was speechless at first,������ Wise said.
���I told him, ���Thank you, and I won���t let you
down.������
He hasn���t. Neither has Fahey.
JOHN FISCHER / CAL SPORT MEDIA
���From the top down, everybody is treated
equally and fairly. You have to put in the same
amount of work. You���re not going to get any extra credit if you���re a star. You���re not going to get
out of anything if you���re a walk-on. Bo is going
to push you and get you better.
���That���s been a huge part of why we���ve been
so good for so long: our chemistry in the locker
room. They���ll go at each other in practice but
when they leave at the end of the day, they���re all
together, all one.������
There is no better illustration than the friendship between Fahey and Wise. ���That���s my
brother,������ he said, pointing to Fahey who was
standing out of earshot. ���Until the day we die,
I will look at him as my brother. I feel like he
looks at me the same way. We���ve been putting
in the same work in practice and sitting next to
each other on the bench since the time I got on
the team. I���ve got his back, he���s got mine.������
The feeling has been mutual. ���J.D and I have
been through this together from our first year
as walk-ons and we pushed each other,������ said
33