#7 Summarize the outcome of the game. Why does Junior cry at the end? What does he realize?(Bennett R.)

In this rematch of the number one and number two team in the league, Reardan wins by 40 points. Reardan beats Wellpinit because Junior blocks Rowdy’s dunk and hits a three-pointer at the very beginning to demoralize Rowdy.  After that Junior holds Rowdy to four points the entire game while scoring three himself. After the game, Junior has a realization. He thinks about how “maybe my white teammates had problems, serious problems, but none of their problems were life-threatening”(195). Junior is figuring out how privileged the Reardan kids really are and how lucky he is to go to that school.  Some of the kids at Wellpinit wouldn’t have breakfast the next day or had fathers who were in jail. He also says that none of the Wellpinit kids will go to college but all the Reardan seniors would go to colleges. This is an example of how all the Reardan kids have hope and opportunity, while no one on the reservation does. A second thing Junior thinks about is this. "I realized that my team, the Indian Redskins, was Goliath" (195). He realizes here that his team might be terrifying to Wellpinit because of there power and wealth in comparison. It all boils down to race. Because the people on the Rez are Indians they are given less respect and opportunity in the world and has shaped the kids to be what their parents are. Junior also feels ashamed because he thinks that Rowdy’s dad will beat him for losing. Junior is ashamed and cries because all of the kids on Wellpinit now feel bad because they lost in addition to having life-threatening problems.