Bobby Farnham: Brown Graduate, Pro Hockey Tough Guy

Farnham is listed at 5-foot-10, 188 pounds, but when he’s out on the ice he looks tiny compared to the other players. Team rosters also are notorious for fudging this sort of thing, but in Farnham’s case the roster is more or less right. He does stand about 5-foot-10, and he’s thick in the shoulders the way that hockey players are.

Farnham’s hands are what are arresting, though. They’re massive, and hard. The skin is ripped on the knuckles, scabbed over and calloused above his wrists. He’s got a small blood blister on his left pinkie, a blister he doesn’t seem to notice but looks pretty damn painful. His hands make Farnham seem older, somehow.

Farnham’s eyes are bright and kind, and he smiles often. When he talks, he finishes most sentences with “you know?” then looks at you, expectantly, until you nod and confirm that you do, in fact, know. He’s wearing gray sweats, a black T-shirt with a complicated logo, and a red beanie covering up his shaggy blond hair.

He refuses to order breakfast until I tell him that I can expense it, then he orders exactly what I’m having, down to the way I like my eggs. Then he explains how he got here.