Blind Your Ponies

The next morning, Sam goes to the grocery store. As he leaves, George harasses him. Andrew Wainwright steps between them and tells George to leave Sam alone. The next day, the Broncs lose another game. Diana invites Sam to have dinner with her the next evening. Over dinner, Sam tells Diana that she should learn to drive the bus. However, Diana tells him that she does not want to learn to drive it and that she does not want him asking her in front of the team because it embarrasses her. After dinner, Diana invites Sam inside. Diana asks him if he was married, and he tells her that he was but that it did not work out. Diana tells him that she was also married for six years and that they had a daughter named Jessica but that Jessica died when she was four.

The next day, Olaf quits because he feels embarrassed by his playing. Sam tries to convince him to keep playing, but Olaf will not listen because he heard one of the locals call him an “oaf.” At practice, Sam tells the boys about Olaf’s decision and about the townspeople making fun of him. Sam encourages the boys to tell Olaf how they feel about having him stay on the team.

Grandma Chapman overhears Peter begging Kathy on the phone to not break up with him. On Friday night, the team warms up for their first home game. The Painters convince Olaf to support the team. In the fourth quarter, Dean and Peter foul out and the team plays three against five as Sheridan wins. As Sam leaves the locker room, he sees Olaf waiting outside. Sam says that he should not live his life as a bystander.

Sam wakes up with the realization that he has put too much pressure on Olaf by believing that he is the only person who can save the team. Sam drives to the Painters’ house and apologizes to Olaf. As Sam drives away, he remembers a time when he was 10 at the state fair. He went into an outhouse, and a truck backed into the building while he was inside. The outhouse tipped over, covering Sam in excrement. Sam fell out of the outhouse, and a crowd of people laughed at him. Sam always felt that he had done something wrong, and any time he suffers a defeat, he remembers the humiliation of the outhouse.

Olaf wanders around the Painters’ house after Sam’s visit. Someone knocks on the door and Olaf answers it to see the entire high school standing outside. Rob tells him that they cannot do it without him, and everyone cheers for Olaf. Rob tells him that they are a team, so no single person is responsible for winning the game. Olaf agrees to play again, and everyone erupts into cheers. Later, they all go to Sam’s house to tell him that Olaf has rejoined the team.

Andrew asks Diana to go to dinner with him in Bozeman. Andrew tells her in the car that he thought she may need some encouragement after the team’s loss the night before. After dinner, Diana does not invite Andrew inside because she thinks of Sam. As Diana goes inside, she feels overwhelmed by loneliness and she sobs, thinking of her daughter Jessica.

During another home game, Willow Creek is only down by one point in the last three minutes of the game. Peter gets fouled and makes one of the free throws, tying the game. Sam holds his breath for the last 18 seconds of the game. Tom makes a final layup as the buzzer sounds. Sam looks at the scoreboard, realizing that they won by two points. The gym erupts in cheers as Sam runs onto the court and joins the team in a huddle. The entire town then runs onto the court, surrounding the boys. Everyone goes to the Blue Willow to celebrate. Diana invites Sam to come over to her house.

After a while, Sam tells the team they need to go home and everyone leaves the Blue Willow. Sam drives to Diana’s house. Diana invites him inside and he kisses her. Diana says that she does not want anything serious, and Sam agrees as he kisses her again.

Peter and Tom sneak back to the Blue Willow, asking Axel for paint. Peter explains that they are going to paint the winning score on George’s barn because he told Tom he would be a loser his whole life. Grandma Chapman tells them that she will help them. At the barn, Tom leans a ladder against the wall and they start painting a giant score on the side of the barn. Twenty minutes later, they see George pulling into the driveway. They hide behind a fence and hear George walking toward the barn, but he goes inside without looking at the wall. Tom explains that George sleeps in the barn when he is drunk. Tom keeps watch while Olaf and Peter continue painting. Peter looks down to see George urinating beneath him as he paints. Peter accidentally drips paint that hits George’s head. As George looks up, Tom steps out of the shadows and asks George if he is having trouble finding the house. George laughs and walks into the barn with Tom. As Peter finishes, Tom returns and tells him that George went back to sleep. Peter gets down and they stare up at the barn that reads “Willow Creek 81, Lima 79” (294). Tom and Peter run back to Olaf and Grandma Chapman.

On the first day of winter break, Sam thinks about Olaf and his difficulty remembering that he can only stay in the paint for three seconds. Sam thinks about the shock collar for Ray’s dog, and he realizes that they can borrow the collar and put it around Olaf’s waist in practice. At practice, Sam shows Olaf the shock collar and how to wear it around his waist, demonstrating that he will not feel pain but that the tingle will remind him to leave the paint. During practice, Sam sees that Olaf focuses on blocking and shooting, rather than worrying about the rules because the collar helps him.

On Christmas Eve, Grandma Chapman gives Peter new basketball shoes. Grandma Chapman explains that she got them for the whole team. Tom visits to wish them a Merry Christmas and Grandma gives him his basketball shoes. Tom tells them that George says he must repaint the barn because he is furious about his prank. Grandma Chapman drives the boys to the church for the evening service.

As Sam drives away from the grocery store, he sees George’s pickup truck in his rearview mirror. George drives aggressively and Sam speeds up. George rams his car into Sam’s car, and Sam tries desperately to get away. As Sam drives through town, he sees a highway patrol officer filling up gas, and Sam pulls up next to him. He tells the officer about George ramming his car. George drives by and the patrol officer jumps into his car and chases him. Sam finds the officer arresting George. The officer tells Sam that George did not pass the breathalyzer test and it is his fourth DUI. The patrol officer gets Sam’s statement, and Sam breathes a sigh of relief that George will not bother him for a while.

Mervin goes to the café in Manhattan to meet Carl to bet on the game. Rather than his normal $5 bet, Mervin bets $100 because he feels sure that the Broncs can beat Manhattan Christian. Carl puts his money down and Lute Jackson holds their money for them until after the game. One of the locals asks Carl about Maggie, and he says that she is not doing well with her cancer. The Broncs practice all week for their game against Manhattan Christian.

Tom apologizes to Sam about George chasing him. Tom tells Sam about how he saved up money for a gelding when he was 13 that he named Horse. Tom loved Horse, but George wanted to take Horse to the rodeo. Tom said no because he knew George would drink, but George took Horse anyway. On the way back from the rodeo, George drove drunk with Horse attached with a rope to the back of the truck. George forgot about Horse and drove too fast. When they found the truck, Horse was dead; the patrol officer said that Horse was dragged to death and Tom never forgave George.

On New Year’s Day, Diana invites Sam to go to the hot springs with her. On the way, Diana asks Sam to pull over, and she gets out and picks up a dead rabbit by the side of the road. She takes it off the road and lays it in the grass. She tells Sam that she stops for roadkill to show respect for the animals. Sam and Diana go hot potting, and Sam tells her about Amy’s murder.

Grandma Chapman knows that Peter is making a mistake in deciding to return to Minnesota. She tells Peter that when his grandfather developed an alcohol addiction, she believed that it was her job to get him to stop drinking. One night, they got in a fight and he handcuffed her in the garage so that she could not follow him. After he left, Grandma Chapman realized that he had put the handcuff on too tight and her hand started to tingle. Grandma Chapman screamed for hours but no one heard her. Peter’s grandfather forgot about her until the next morning. He rushed her to the hospital, but the doctors had to amputate her hand. Peter’s grandfather never got over the guilt of what he did to Grandma Chapman, and she never told anyone what happened. Grandma Chapman says she wants Peter to know this because she spent years trying to get a man to love her who could not love himself, and she worries that Peter will do the same thing with Kathy. Later, Peter tells Sam that he is leaving for Minnesota the next day. Sam says that they have something special with the team, but that he knows that Peter needs to make his own decisions about his life.