By Ragdoll
Previously on One Tree Hill: Coach Whitey introduces Luke to the church of basketball and invites him to join the varsity team. Luke and Nathan have a showdown at the park after dark. Luke kicks Nathan's butt, bouncing all kinds of balls around his half-brother's arrogant demeanor. Luke ends up joining the team, but not before Dan shows up making him feel both unwanted and unloved. Karen yells at Dan for being such a jerk, and, oh, for ruining Luke's life while he's at it.
An old tugboat floats by on the river. This symbolizes Luke's old, safe life sailing out to sea. He stands on the Riverside court as Stinky and Tweedledum blather on in the background. This game goes on even if its star player moved up in the world. Skills says, "Time to go, baby!" Stinky announces that it's 6:30. Game time! Luke attempts to act bashful, but you can tell he's bursting, just bursting with pride: "Ah, come on guys, you don't gotta come! It's just a game, right?" For some reason we get a bit of unnecessary dialogue. After the what-happened-last-week-in-case-you-weren't-paying-attention recap, they boys go ahead and repeat it all, all over again: blah he beat Nathan, blah he joined the team, blah of course they're all going to his first game. Skills says, "This game is for all of us." Hands in the air: who's sick of hearing about how Luke's the pride of the boys who come from wrong side of the tracks?
The town erupts in a pre-game fever. Girls in a jeep drive down the main street screaming, "Ravens! Ravens! Ravens!" Keith grabs his jacket and yells, "Karen! You ready to go?" Karen replies, "Oh, I'm not going. I decided to stay open. I could use the business." She folds some napkins to assuage her guilt. Bad mommy for not supporting your son just because you're afraid of the big, bad Dan Scott. Keith asks, "Did you talk to Luke about this?" Karen says no, but she knows he'll understand. Keith starts to chastise her, but Haley butts in, "She doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to see her high school sweetheart-slash-your brother Dan-slash-the jerk who abandoned Lucas-slash-the father of Nathan the team star player-slash my wrists if I hear the story again, let's go!" Heh. Wow, she talks damn fast. She's got a Gilmore motor, but without the kick. Keith's disappointed in Karen. He walks backwards toward the door: "I think you're making a mistake." Karen doesn't say anything. She just looks at the door like it's going to sprout wings and carry her away -- and she really, really doesn't want that, now, does she? She just wants to stay in her safe, ahem, public café while the world turns around her.