Last Shot

“I really don’t need this. I know my reservation was for a suite. I don’t want one of those tiny little rooms you give to people. I didn’t come here to spend five days sleeping in a closet.”

Kornheiser is one of Stevie’s media heroes, but Stevie’s first glimpse of him in person is of him yelling at a hotel employee. Kornheiser’s abrasive tone foreshadows the questionable behavior of the media and shows that people on TV can act differently in reality than they do before the cameras.

“She had one of those Southern accents that stretched words out. ‘Palestra,’ in her accent, became Paa-lae-sta-ra. Four syllables. At least.”

Feinstein shows how Susan Carol speaks through the literary device of diction. He carefully explains how her Southern accent makes Palestra sound because her voice is a crucial trait that she uses to disarm people.

“‘We’ve got too many kids today who want to grow up and be on television,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with TV work except that it’s shallow and requires that you spend most of your life screaming into a microphone about how great every coach is. We need to encourage real reporting because it’s important.’”

Kelleher’s speech at breakfast connects to the motif of good journalism and the theme of illusion versus reality. People on TV don’t have truth as their top priority. Rather, their job is to create a spectacle that doesn’t require deep thinking. Conversely, good reporters want to tell a meaningful story and spotlight the truth—however discomfiting the truth may be.

“Now it was Stevie’s turn to feel a hot flash across his face. Oh God, he thought, I’m blushing like a girl!”

Stevie meets Coach K for the first time and realizes his illusions about him are baseless. The Duke coach compliments his story and is infectiously friendly. Feinstein uses a simile here because he compares Stevie to a girl by using a connecting word. The comparison connects to the motif of gender and Stevie’s patronizing attitude toward Susan Carol.

“‘That was about avoiding trouble,’ she hissed. ‘Is it a guy thing or a Northern thing to always have to have the last word? He’s letting us by. If he wants to say something to make himself feel better, just let him say it.’”

Instead of arguing with the guard like Stevie, Susan Carol shows him their USBWA letters so they can access the locker rooms, which is how they stumble upon Chip and Whiting. Susan Carol highlights her ability to maneuver through the Final Four and adds to the motif of gender by commenting that males regularly seem to want the final say in an argument, while she navigates the space successfully by avoiding confrontation.

“There were several giant trucks with the CBS logo on the side and a small city of trailers. Everywhere Stevie looked, there were people scurrying in different directions, in and out of the trailers and the trucks.”

Feinstein uses imagery and figurative language to illustrate the spectacle of the Final Four. There are so many trailers that they could compose a mini metropolis, and people rush all over the place as if they’re in a cartoon.

“I want you to walk over to that security guard, give him the wide-eyed-Southern-girl routine, and tell him you really need to talk to your ‘uncle’ over there on the MSU bench.”

Stevie encourages Susan Carol to use her accent to let the guards get her near the Minnesota State bench so she can try and identify the man who is blackmailing Chip. Stevie plays with Susan Carol’s femme fatale characterization, and the directions show how the two characters work together to collect information about the impending scandal.

“Stevie had wanted the inside view of college ball, but he wasn’t liking what he saw. Almost no one was who they appeared to be—or who the people running the event wanted you to think they were. The moderator kept screaming about ‘student-athletes,’ as if that would somehow make it true. Thomas R. Whiting, noted professor of ethics and morals in American society, had clearly lost track of his ethics and morals somewhere along the way. Stevie wondered if Chip Graber was really what he appeared to be. He’d kind of assumed that Graber was a victim—but maybe he’d done something really bad and was trying to cover it up.”

Stevie grapples with illusion versus reality. He realizes some hard truths about college basketball and the people involved in the sport and with the schools. There’s a lack of morals and ethics. The media and the NCAA produce countless false impressions, and it’s possible Chip’s public persona is misleading. Maybe Chip isn’t a great star but a bad actor.

“Stevie remembered something Dick Jerardi had told him when he had asked him about how to get a good story. If it’s important, Jerardi had said, you have to get someone on the record. Otherwise, it’s too easy for people to shoot you down.”

The motif of good journalism propels Stevie and Susan Carol to interview Chip. They have to get him on the record. They can then determine the reality of the situation and dispel any illusions or lies.

“Chip, that didn’t sound like a joke. It sounded like he was threatening you and your father. You need help. Heck, we need help. We couldn’t hear that conversation and do nothing. So we came to you.”

Once again, Feinstein highlights Susan Carol’s Southern character through diction and her use of the word “heck.” She demonstrates her morals and dedication to tough reporting since she and Stevie feel obligated to pursue the dangerous story. The theme of teamwork appears because for the two writers to break the story, they need Chip to work with them.

“Nothing. I haven’t told him. It would ruin the biggest week of his life. And he can’t do any more than I can. If he comes out and says I didn’t flunk those courses, he just looks like a coach covering up and a father covering up. Double whammy.”

Chip demonstrates his loyalty to his dad. The Final Four is a big deal for Chip, but it’s a bigger accomplishment for his dad, who won’t be moving on to the NBA. Regardless of how things turn out, Chip will play professional ball. Chip also explains why he doesn’t tell his dad, which is critical to the story because it keeps the pressure on him, Stevie, and Susan Carol to resolve the situation alone.

“This is about right and wrong. I’m not a cheat and neither is my father, and these sleazebags are trying to make some kind of killing betting on a game or else we’ll be the ones people think are bad guys.”

Chip explains his motives for helping the teen journalists: right and wrong. While the bad guys care about money, Chip’s primary concern is combating their lies and exposing the truth. Chip’s character displays moral behavior.

“I feel badly doing that, but the one thing I learned in my years working with the Panthers is that most people will crawl through mud to be on TV, and the rest will help you find the mud just to be associated with TV. It’s like a magic trick. Mention TV and all obstacles disappear.”

Susan Carol’s dad adds his opinion on what’s wrong with TV and media. He uses figurative language to express his belief that people will do nearly anything to get on TV. His critical perspective suggests people care more about illusion than truth and will compromise their morals and ethics to achieve their goal of TV stardom.

“The walk over to the Superdome was a little bit like taking in all the sideshow acts at a circus at once. Stevie was convinced he saw a bearded lady at one point. There were several fortune-tellers, not to mention all the various ticket-scalpers and vendors selling ‘official’ merchandise.”

Feinstein uses imagery to illuminate the carnival landscape of the Final Four. He throws in a simile to compare it to circus sideshows and then includes stock circus types, like a bearded lady, to reinforce the hectic picture. The issue of money appears through the scalpers and the NCAA products.

“Everything about the Final Four was big. The PA was loud, and the announcer seemed to take several days introducing the players. The TV time-outs seemed to last forever, no doubt because he couldn’t click to something else during the three minutes of commercials he knew CBS was showing.”

Hyperbole establishes the outsized presentation of the Final Four because Feinstein uses hyperbolic language to describe how sensationalism and money impact watching the games live. The player introductions last “several days,” while the TV time-outs “last forever” due to the number of commercials CBS airs.

“It had never occurred to Stevie to think of Graber’s 38 points and last-second heroics in terms of money. Which, he quickly decided, was naive.”

Bobby Mo congratulates Chip on his game-winning shot against St. Joseph’s by equating it to money. Stevie realizes the transactional reality of college basketball: Even a miraculous game-winning basket is reducible to a price.

“But you haven’t got proof. You’ve got the word of the player in question and the memory of a retired old man. And they have a physical transcript. Whom would you believe?”

Through his diction and his tone, Wojenski convincingly hides his role in the scheme. His word choice makes him seem like a harmless old person, and his tone is passive and not overly defensive. He ends his statement with a question, which puts the pressure on Chip, Stevie, and Susan Carol to counter him.

“Listen, jerk, I’m tired of all this NCAA crap. All the rules, and the student-athlete mumbo jumbo, and no exceptions. I’ve been hearing it for three weeks in three cities. Here’s the deal: You take all three of us back there now or we all leave now. And then you can go in there and explain to the national media that I’m not at the press conference the day before the championship game because you couldn’t do anything except recite the freaking rules.”

Chip’s tone is abrasive because he thinks Jurgensen is bad and might harm Stevie and Susan Carol if he doesn’t stick with them. He also reveals his frustration with the NCAA’s vacuous regulations and annoying double-speak. Chip is on the side of Stevie and Susan Carol, not the NCAA.

“Tom Whiting was seated, wearing the same sort of sickly smile that Dean Wojenski had been wearing as he ushered them into the room. And standing behind him was Stuart Feeley’s assistant, Gary, the muscle-bound flowered-shirt guy.”

Through description, Feinstein conveys the menacing environment or atmosphere of the room. Wojenski and Whiting have grotesque smiles, and beefy Gary wears a strangely goofy shirt. The imagery tells the reader that Stevie and Susan Carol are in danger.

“For the next hour they listened to the game being broken down a thousand different ways. At eight o’clock Vitale and Phelps were replaced on ESPN by a cheerleading championship, and Gary flipped the channel to CBS. Jim Nantz and Billy Packer were telling the audience that this was shaping up to be one of the best championship games in years.”

Hyperbole conveys the excessive nonstop media attention on the championship game. After listening to ESPN’s analysis, Gary turns to CBS’s coverage, which is similar. Both networks are clueless about what’s truly going on behind the scenes of the tournament, so the media perpetuate illusion and spectacle instead of truth.

“‘I didn’t think I could live the rest of my life dependent on the whims of teenagers,’ he said. ‘So Alan took the job, and I went into law.’”

Jurgensen exposes his red herring status and tells why he didn’t want to become Davidson’s head coach. He unveils the harsh reality of college basketball and the reliance on teenagers who turn into commodities for the coach and school.

“Koheen has been quietly sniffing around all winter to replace Tom Sanford as Duke’s president. I knew that from being on the board. Then all of a sudden MSU and Duke are in the Final Four. Koheen knew Chip had been in some academic trouble and he also knew that Feeley’s finances hadn’t been great the last year or so. My guess is he called Feeley and offered a deal: I’ll see to it that Duke wins the championship game if the schools play. Feeley makes a huge financial hit and in return Koheen ends up as Duke’s president.”

Jurgensen’s dialogue clearly explains the motives for Koheen and Feeley’s scheme. Koheen wants to be president of Duke, and Feeley needs money. Thus, Jurgensen’s words show that the scheme originated at the top of the Minnesota State hierarchy with the university’s president.

“I told myself Kelleher would get your message and get to you. But as soon as I made that shot, a chill went through me. What if I’m wrong? I kept trying to convince myself you’d be okay, but I couldn’t shake the vision of you tied to those chairs.”

Chip highlights his thoughtful character and his loyalty to Stevie and Susan Carol. He wanted to believe that they’d be fine, but his conscience wouldn’t allow him to set aside his concern for the young reporters. He remained worried that something bad would happen to them if he played well.