Episode Report Card Ragdoll: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Blame Game
By Ragdoll | Season 1 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.17.2003
The boys are knee-deep in practice as bongo-like drums play in the background. Whitey blows his whistle, Nathan yells something about moving the ball, and then he jams himself up into the shot and fouls out of the practice round. Whitey blows the whistle and yells, "Hold it!" Luke watches from the sidelines. "That's a foul! Nathan, you've got to get off his back!" Nathan's all hopped up on speed, so his temper is in the same place as that move -- foul. He snots, "Why don't you get off my back, Whitey!" Nathan grabs the ball as it bounces back toward him. Whitey yells, "How'd you like to call that a practice?" Nathan slams the ball onto the court and bitches, "Whatever, man, that's fine by me," as he walks away. Whitey screams, "Nathan!" With an attitude as big as the court itself, Nathan turns back around and snits, "What? Huh? What the hell do you all want from me?" Whitey says calmly, evenly, "Just walk away, son, just walk away." Then Woda blows the whistle and says, "White ball up top." And they get back to practice. Seems like those little white pills aren't the magical solution to all that's wrong with Nathan's game -- shocking, isn't it?
Haley comes up behind Nathan (it's the next day now) and tickles his neck. He looks to one side, but she's on the other, and shockingly, she's giggling like a maniac. For a second I thought Haley was a long-lost member of The Powerpuff Girls, she giggles so much. But wait, Nathan is still peaking, so he's not in a very good mood. Haley asks him if he's okay, because Lucas told her that he had some trouble at practice yesterday. Nathan bitches, "Lucas needs to mind his own business." He sees Haley's face and explains, "We have a game coming up this week, it just gets a little intense." She asks him again if he's okay, because his hands are shaking. Nathan takes his hand in hers and puts it to his chest: "My heart's racing too. It's what happens when I'm around you." It's a good thing he's smooth and she's inexperienced, because any rational girl would have rolled her eyes and walked away. But Haley just smiles and looks at him like he's the second coming of cool. Nathan says, "So your house tonight, right, tutoring?" Haley asks, "Are you sure you're all right?" Nathan replies, "Yeah, I'm fine, I just, I had a bad day yesterday. I'll see you tonight?" Haley walks away, and Nathan pops another little white pill. Next, he'll be following the rabbit, dancing on the rooftops and jumping into pools. Yawn.
Woda pays Dan a visit at his dealership. It doesn't go very well. Dan mutters, "If you came here to lecture me and argue, I get enough of that at home with the wife." And as if we needed any more reasons to hate Dan, here comes one more: what kind of a Neanderthal in this day and age actually refers to the woman he loves as "the wife"? Jackass. Whitey follows Dan into his office and says, "I came here to talk about Nathan. His behaviour concerns me." Dan mocks, "Oh really? You put Lucas on the team, give away his position, and drop him off thirty miles from home, and now you're worried." You know why we love Whitey? Because he never backs down from Dan's intimidating crap: "You forgot pressuring him and belittling him, of course, that happens at home doesn't it?" Then Whitey takes his own walk down memory lane, but unlike Dan, who needs the quick fix to boost his ego, Woda's just trying to make a point: "I remember when you came to me, you were a scrawny freshman with a hell of a jump shot." Pause. "You loved the game. What the hell happened along the way?" Dan bitches, "You happened. There was always something for you to pick apart, something was never good enough." Dan inches forward: "But you are right, I did love the game -- I simply despised the way you controlled it." Whitey asks calmly, "Who's controlling Nathan now?" Dan doesn't respond to that question, so Whitey continues, "Be a shame if he learned to hate that person like you hate me." Wait -- is that Chuck Barris over there? Is he dancing? And wearing that funny hat? Are we now on the set of The Blame Game? Where the one adult who should take responsibility for his actions seems to always find another person to blame? Yes, I think so -- look what Dan has to say: "I might be tough on him, Whitey, but I'm not the one who told him the sun wouldn't rise if he lost his next game." To add insult to injury, Dan takes a sip of coffee or water from his Ravens Basketball cup. Sigh -- and just when I was getting so good at avoiding those random heavy objects that kept dropping from the sky. Ouch! There goes another one -- it landed on my toe.