“He said he didn’t care what color we were. All his players wore green” (152).

I chose this line because I thought it demonstrated an important trait in Coach Rake; that is, he wasn’t biased to groups of people. He didn’t see the color of somebody’s skin, instead he just saw a person, and in some cases someone that could be good at football for him.

“For all of his toughness, he was terribly sensitive to the suffering of others” (154).

Another trait of Coach Rake. Though he was a tough, brutal football coach, he couldn’t stand seeing people get mistreated. The way he taught his players, nobody was allowed to mistreat someone or abuse power over someone else. Rake believed in equality of all people.

“If you’re winnin’, never quit. If you’re losin’, never quit. If you’re hurt, never quit” (108).

This line shows the attitude that Coach Rake installed in his players minds; never quit. Rake believed in working as hard as possible no matter what the circumstances were, whether you had no chance of succeeding or whether success seemed inevitable. He taught his players to never slow up or take it easy.

“But the Lanes were gracious people, slightly more educated and affluent than most in Messina. If they held a grudge, and he was certain one was being held, they wouldn’t show it” (123).

I chose this line because I feel it shows a flaw in society; as opposed to honesty, a virtue that is viewed positively in almost all cultures, this line contradicts the idea of honesty with saying that putting on a charade of emotions is considered proper. I always thought that somebody being blunt and honest would be the genuine thing to do, as opposed to being nice to someones face and conveying their true emotions of that person to everyone else.

“He refused to accept failure. You want his advice on how to overcome it” (158).

This line describes the way in which Rake impacted his players in a way. Coach Rake taught his players that failure was unacceptable. His success made him someone they all wanted to go to for advice on how to turn failure around.

“The question is, ‘Do I love Eddie Rake, or do I hate him?'” (159).

I chose this line because it shows the largest internal conflict in Neely Crenshaw, and that is his feelings toward his head coach. Neely spends the majority of his life so far answering this question in the novel, and finally comes to peace with the question at Rake’s funeral.

“Cameron was probably home by now, a million miles from Messina. She might think of him once or twice in the coming days, but the thoughts would not linger” (162).

This is one of my favorite lines in the story because it is a sort of symbol in the way failed love effects people the rest of their life, and the way that it is indelible in the memories of somebody’s life.

“Messina was the only hometown he knew. The best years of his life were there” (163).

I enjoyed this line because it is where Neely comes to peace with the memories of his hometown, and realizes that instead of running away from everything he’s known, that he should visit home frequently and remember his best days.

“His genius was simple–stick to the basics, and work nonstop until you can execute them perfectly” (148).

This line is interesting to me because it demonstrates a simple idea; success comes from hard work. Coach Rake never made anything complicated, he simply outworked everybody else and found wild success for this.

“And don’t cry for the memories. Never look back, there’s too much left to do” (145).

This was probably my favorite line from the story because of how it applies to anybody’s life. Don’t worry about what has been when there is still more left to do, remember it, but don’t let it interfere with the rest of your life.