Figure Skating: The Soaring, Spinning Battle Of the Brians

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Despite competitive tensions, the two Brians are friends off the ice. Since first crossing blades at the 1978 junior world championship in France, they have developed a genuine warmth for each other, built on shared interests, common pressures and gentle mutual needling. When Orser turned 26 in December, Boitano sent a card that read, "You are just like a ripe, vintage wine. Old." Both men know not to push the friendship where it cannot go. "We never talk skating," says Boitano. "The program is taboo."

Maybe following Budapest, those barriers will come down. The Hungarian capital will be the host for the 1988 world championships -- and a quad perhaps? -- just four weeks after the Olympic Games. Then both Brians intend to retire from amateur skating. Is there life after 6.0s? Orser already co- owns a restaurant in a Toronto suburb and is planning a second this year. Boitano (surprise! surprise!) also wants to go into the food business. His dream is to open an Italian restaurant in San Francisco, some place where he can satisfy his constant craving for pasta. Both Brians will have ample offers to build professional-skating careers, an option that appeals more to Orser than to Boitano. But they have kicked around one other idea that may prove irresistible: a new ice show that features bright lights, colorful costumes -- and two Brians.