Coach Oberman has been coached football at Haskerville High School in Kansas for seventeen years. Though the Hornets showed promise in his early years as a coach, in recent years, they have had only losing seasons, and team spirit is low. The school principal has told Oberman to step his game up, because a winning football team can do a lot for school and town unity. His former assistant, Mike, whom he used to make fun of for being skinny and nerdy, now coaches the rival Ashville team, and will soon move on to coach at the college level, a blow to Oberman's self-esteem. Mike and Coach Oberman will face off one last time, though Coach O expects defeat. The day before the game, the school hosts a pep rally, complete with cheerleaders and a bonfire. Mike calls up Coach O to say good luck, though both coaches know the outcome is already set. Before he hangs up, Mike tells Oberman to send his regards to Oberman's wife, Sandra, a comment that Oberman finds odd. Sandra, Oberman's wife of 18 years, has acted odd recently. Usually a football wife, she has begun to read books on spirituality and listen to New Age music. Oberman had chalked her behavior up to her way of coping with caring for her disabled mother, Ruth. But after his brother sights Sandra with another man while she is supposed to be on a ladies' weekend with a friend, Oberman suspects she is having an affair. The man in question is Lonny Hinkle, the high school English teacher. In retaliation, Oberman deposits a single bullet in Hinkle's mailbox with a sticky note which reads "end it." The police find the note and warn that whoever sent it could be charged with aggravated assault. To add to Oberman's worries, his quarterback has a drinking problem. Javi Esteban is the team's only hope to defeat Ashville, but he has been sloppy and slow-minded at practice. Javi has a tough home situation, where he deals with a crippled dad and a sister with cerebral palsy. Oberman approaches Javi at the pep rally, and notices alcohol on his breath. He calls Javi into his office, where Javi asks if Oberman is okay. Oberman considers spilling everything to Javi, thinking he'd understand, but decides not to, and instead tells Javi that he had better not show up drunk to the next day's game, or else he'll "blow [his] fucking brains out." Disturbed by his own anger, Oberman leaves his office and walks to the bonfire, where the cheerleaders nervously greet him. He looks at the papier-mache buffalo which is to be torched as a grand finale, and holds it above the fire.