Blind Your Ponies

The next day at school, Sam experiences flashbacks of his wife’s death. Later, he talks Dean into joining the basketball team. After school, Peter asks if Grandma Chapman misses his grandfather, who passed away. She explains that when she married his grandfather, he already had a mistress who he had been with for years. She says that he had an alcohol addiction. Grandma Chapman explains that now that she is a widow, she can finally be herself.

As the people of Willow Creek learn that Olaf does not play basketball, they all return to their former pessimism. The locals in the coffee shop descend into a depression about the team, and even Grandma Chapman wonders if they will win a game.

Sam spends his evenings taking notes on coaching basketball. Sam meets the boys at practice at midnight. Rob, Peter, Tom, Curtis, and Dean get ready in the locker room. Sam looks them over and knows that he is asking a lot after they lost so horribly the year before. When the boys run into the gym, a group of locals sits on the floor cheering the boys on. Sam calls the boys over and announces to everyone that he has a surprise.