Blind Your Ponies

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. He blows his whistle and Olaf emerges from the girls’ locker room. Olaf dribbles to the basket and dunks the ball as everyone watches in shock. The boys start cheering, and Sam explains that he has been teaching Olaf how to play and that the entire team is going to learn how to play with him. Sam divides the team in half, and they scrimmage together. Diana approaches Sam, happy that Olaf has decided to play. Sam blows the whistle, and the boys go back to the locker room.

After the first few weeks of practice, Sam realizes that the team has a long way to go. He worries that they will not have practiced enough by their first game. After practice, the team showers in the locker room. Peter says that he might go back home after Christmas break, but the other boys beg him not to leave the team, which makes him feel good. After the boys leave, Sam sees a light on in the girls’ locker room and knocks on the door, asking if anyone is inside. When no one answers, he walks in to turn off the light and sees Diana, naked, drying her hair with a towel. She covers herself with the towel. Sam hurriedly apologizes and stumbles out.

Sam goes for an early morning run. He tries not to think about Diana, but he cannot help it. Sam passes Ray Collins, a member of the school board, who asks about Olaf playing basketball. Ray shows Sam how he is teaching his Labrador to stay away from his livestock with a shock collar.

Over the next few weeks, Willow Creek buzzes with excitement about Olaf and the team. At the Blue Willow, Axel asks Sam if they will win a game. Axel says that he does not think he can take another year of losing, but that something always pulls him back in to hope that they will win. Sam says that he did not want to coach this year, but something changed his mind, so he understands what Axel means. Axel says that he thinks that the reason Willow Creek feels invested in high school basketball is because people want to win at something in their lives. Amos Flowers sits at a booth and Axel goes to help. Amos lives in the foothills and comes into town once a month. Sam wonders if Amos enjoys his isolation.

As Sam watches basketball videos, he thinks about Diana and his confusion over his attraction to her. Sam hears a knock at his door and finds Diana standing outside. Diana offers to help him with practice since she played basketball in college. Sam feels nervous about being around Diana in practice, but she insists on helping. As she leaves, Diana tells him that she will be more careful about the light in the girls’ locker room. Sam gets so flustered that he does not answer and Diana leaves.

In class, Sam shows Man of La Mancha to help the students with their study of Don Quixote. During practice, Sam makes the team practice four against five in case anyone gets injured during a game. Diana comes to practice, and they scrimmage again. Grandma Chapman and Hazel sit in the bleachers to watch the practice. Diana asks them if they would like to help the boys practice so that it is five versus five. At the end of practice, Grandma Chapman and Hazel offer to help again the next day. Sam notices Tom limping and asks about his knee. Sam tells Tom that he needs to see a doctor about it.

When Tom comes to practice late after visiting the doctor, he tells Sam that his ligament is strained but that he can play if he ices it when it hurts. The next day, Axel shows up to practice to offer to be a player like Grandma and Hazel.

Peter is watching television at two in the morning when Grandma Chapman comes out to check on him. Peter tells her that Kathy said that she wants to go out with another boy since he is in Montana. Grandma Chapman promises him that he will find other girls, but Peter tells her that he only wants to be with Kathy. Grandma Chapman tells Peter about his grandfather, who had an alcohol addiction. She says that one day she found his grandfather passed out on the couch with a bottle of pills next to him and that he left a note telling her not to send for help. Grandma Chapman says that he was still breathing when she came home but that she was always trying to save him from alcohol his whole life. She finally decided not to save him. She sat with him until he died. Grandma Chapman says that she has never told this story to anyone because she could go to jail for not trying to save her husband.

Diana appoints herself as the assistant coach of the Broncs. One day, Grandma Chapman goes into the grocery store and sees Sally Cutter in one of the aisles. Grandma asks Sally if she needs help caring for Denise, but Sally tells her that what she really needs help with is her guilt over God’s punishment. Grandma Chapman does not understand and tells Sally that cerebral palsy is not a punishment from God, but Sally does not listen to her. As Sally walks away, Grandma Chapman wonders what could possibly have happened to Sally to make her believe that Denise is a punishment. Later, Peter asks Grandma not to tell anyone about Kathy breaking up with him, and she promises not to say anything. Grandma Chapman understands that Peter places value in the other high schoolers believing he has a life outside of Willow Creek. She hopes that she can teach him to be himself and not worry about what other people think of him.