♪♪ Man: Places, everyone.

[ Indistinct conversations ] [ Crowd shouting ] [ Whistle blows ] [ Crowd chattering ] [ Indistinct sports announcements ] Man: Brings up third down and goal.

[ Indistinct conversations ] There he is.

[ Chuckles ] Here I am.

Brother, man, brother, man, brother, man.

[ Chuckles ] Um...

I can't stay long.

Bull.

Sit your... down.

I really can't.

Man, what are you talking crazy for?

Woulda took you at least two hours to get down here.

About an hour and a half, but, uh, traffic was light.

On a complete road, it might take less than that.

Well, I know you ain't trying to rush out to get back on that road for that long after you just came up off of it, huh?

What you want to drink?

Let me get you something.

I'm alright.

Man, I got it.

I have to drive back home.

Bro, one drink ain't even going to pinch you.

I quit drinking.

Oh.

What -- What -- What kind of brought on that decision?

I just didn't want to come home to my kids and having them smell booze on my breath, that's all.

Oh, that's all, huh?

Mm-hmm.

I-I see.

Don't let me stop you, though.

[ Chuckles ] Goose.

[ Chuckles ] Goose is out the lake.

The way you used to own the keg?

A-And don't give me no crap about calling you that neither, Okay?

Look, that's your line name.

As far as I'm concerned, that's the only name you got.

[ Chuckles ] Hell, I was right there beside you, shoulder to shoulder, barking like dogs and crawling like cats.

But we made it through.

We became real men on that campus.

Huh, man?

L-Listen here, listen here.

I don't care what those military folks used to call you or what them business folks call you.

Now, I really don't care about your government, legal eagle birth certificate name neither.

To me, you're Goose, and that's all you gon' be.

You can complain about it all you want.

Sure.

You know, I appreciate the small talk, but, uh, that could be done on a phone call.

What I'm saying is that's not why I'm here.

That's not why I came.

Today marks a year.

It's been a year.

You think I need you to tell me that?

You think I need a reminder?

I didn't say that.

L-Listen, listen.

He was my son, not yours.

You got your own family.

You take care of them.

You can -- You can take care of them any way you want.

But he was mine.

Okay?

You can't take that away from me.

I'm not trying to take anything -- I don't want your pity.

I didn't want nobody's pity.

I came here as a friend.

I don't need no friends, neither.

I'm a grown... man.

Hell do I need a friend for?

Who else do you have?

I have me.

And that means that I got somebody that I can depend on.

I talked to Ruthie.

[ Scoffs ] Good for you.

You should call her.

The hell I need to call Ruthie for, huh?

Ruthie left.

She made her decision, and that's fine.

She got a phone just like I do.

She more than capable of calling.

You're grieving.

You're both grieving.

It might help to grieve together.

I didn't have you come all the way down here to lecture me on grief.

I wanted a distraction.

A laugh.

A-A brother of mine.

My -- My favorite one.

The one that I pledged alongside.

Huh?

Get a little -- some memories and some old stories.

Oh, come on, man.

A couple of drinks or -- or not, in your case.

Look, that's all I wanted.

Nothing heavy.

Just -- Just a good evening.

And then I was just going to go on home, lay down, and go to sleep until that alarm clock tapped me on my shoulder.

That's all I wanted.

And here you are, trying to play Dr. Feelgood when ain't nobody want it or needing it.

And now if that's the energy that you're going to come with, well, you can go on and hit the road and we can carry this on about a year from now.

[ Scoffs ] I didn't come here to argue with you.

Well, are you sure as hell ain't come to drink.

I came to apologize.

I got more than enough.

"I'm sorry for your losses" about a year ago.

I don't need any more.

I came to apologize for not telling you that your son hated you.

The hell you just say?

I know he wasn't my son.

You got that right.

When I came to stay with you all for Thanksgiving last year... Yeah?

He -- Timothy -- Tim -- I was going to the bathroom one night.

It was real late, probably around midnight or one or so, and I hear this sound coming from his room.

This -- This sniffling, breathing sound.

He's in there crying like a newborn.

I ask him if he wants me to get you or Ruthie.

He says no real quick.

I ask him if he wants me to stay.

He says yes.

I don't know what kind of disease that you got, making up a story like this.

I asked him what it's about, and he told me all about football.

Do you still think I'm making this up?

Because what he told me was that you started assistant coaching his school.

You insisted, and what with your college trophies and charisma, who could deny you?

He wished they had, but the way you treated him pushed him.

Look, if the boy wanted to be an athlete, he had to work harder.

But what if he didn't want to be one?!

Hm.

He tried out for that team.

On his own?

I can't force a boy to do anything!

No, but you can guilt him for the rest of his life if he doesn't.

Is this what you want, Goose?

Huh?

Is this why you came?

'Cause if it is, why don't you say it to my face with your chest bucked like a man?

[ Scoffs ] A year after he passes... ...and you want to come down here and you want to... [ Bell dings ] You want to blame this all on me?

Huh?

Huh?

Like I can control the weather, too.

Huh?

Like I'm a regular old God.

Come on!

He tried to tell you he didn't want to play.

We all said that, huh?

Long practices, sore bodies, disappointing days.

Look, everybody -- Once a week, I would tell my daddy that I didn't want to play, but I didn't mean it.

I was tired.

You called him weak.

Did your daddy say that to you, too?

I know they said that to you in the military.

Oh, they sure did.

I'm not defending anyone.

He was my boy, my son, not yours!

Quit the excuses!

Doesn't it hurt your mouth, having all those excuses fall out of it?

Dang!

You are hurting.

I know it.

And I hate it for you.

I hate to see it, I do, because you are my friend.

But being a friend doesn't justify bad decisions.

It doesn't mean I'm going to make excuses for you when I come in here and see you sitting at this table, looking like some kind of hermit.

That's not how this goes.

No, sir.

You were there that day.

You were on that field.

Did he tell you?

Did he tell me what?

Did he tell you he wasn't feeling good?

I said, did he tell you he wasn't feeling -- Did he tell you?

Did he tell you he wasn't feeling good?!

Did he -- Yes!

Yes!

[ Yelling on TV ] Somebody turn that... off!

[ TV turns off ] Yes.

Okay?

He told me that he didn't feel good.

Okay?

Yes.

And what did you tell him?

I told him to toughen up and get back to practice.

And he listened to his daddy, like he always did.

Yeah.

And he played that game he didn't want to play.

Yeah.

And then he fell out on that field he didn't want to be on, and that was it.

[ Crying ] Yeah.

I looked it up.

It was over 100 degrees that day.

I loved my son.

Don't get it confused.

I never doubted that.

I just...

I just wanted a good life for him.

You play ball, life is good.

You get recruited for a school, and your family ain't got to worry about or sweat about how they can afford it.

Life is good.

You get the girls, you get the grades, you get the crowds.

Life is good.

That's all I wanted for him.

I didn't think I was doing nothing wrong.

I thought I was doing right by him.

He was -- He was a couple years from going from a boy to a man.

You know, a Black man don't get no second chances.

A Black man has got to fight and bleed for his.

You know this.

That's why you joined the service, so you could become one of these men of merit.

A Black man got to be strong, because if he's weak, he don't stand a chance.

He needed to be somebody that was respected or else he'd be somebody that they dug into the ground.

But don't you see something, Coach?

That's where being a man led him anyway.

You know my son?

Of course.

That's my godson.

Yeah.

A few months ago, he started walking around in his sister's dresses, playing with her dolls.

And what you do about that?

I thought about what my father would have done if I walked into the living room like that.

He would have beat me.

He would have beat me until I turned into a man.

Then we would have sang along with the church choir that Sunday.

Sound like mine.

I didn't do it, though.

My son's smile is too precious and priceless to deny him a life of his own.

He'll do what he has to do.

He'll do what he wants to do.

We aren't gods.

You got that right.

There's no point in taking away our sons' smiles just to make ours larger.

It's not worth it.

[ Sighs ] Look, um...

I'm going to go home to my family now, if you're okay.

I'm alright.

No, you're not.

Uh, come on.

I'm gonna take you home.

I'm not ready -- I'm not ready to go yet.

I don't care.

[ Crying ] When you talked to him, did he tell you what he wanted to be instead?

Uh...

He had a thing for violin.

I guess he wanted to learn.

That's all he said.

I should have -- [ Crying ] I should have sat him down, man.

I should have got him a Gatorade or a water or something.

I should have done something!

Look, look, look, look, look.

How about -- How about -- Um, I'll take you home, okay?

Keep an eye on you.

I miss him.

I miss my boy.

I know.

I'm sorry.

[ Sobbing ] [ Coughing ] I-I-I'll meet you outside.

I just need a second.

Are you sure?

Mm-hmm.

[ Sighs ] [ Sighs, sniffles ] I am guilty.

[ Cheers and applause ]