The novel Bleachersby John Grisham is full of mixed emotions of love and hate between Eddie Rake and his former high school players. The most obvious case of this can be found between Rake and Neely Crenshaw, a former all-American quarterback that played for Rake. In a fight at halftime, Rake called Neely a lousy football player and started a fight with him, in which Neely knocked out Rake. The players would then go out to win the championship game without their coaches, calling the plays themselves. Throughout the story Neely feels mixed emotions toward his old coach, often asking himself; did he hate Rake for hitting him and calling him a lousy player after all he had done? Or did he love Rake for the way he pushed himself to succeed and do more than he ever could have?

Another example could be found in the way the townspeople saw the money being spent at the school. Rake’s football program received more money than all the other school programs combined, which upset people in other activities throughout the school, but made many people happy for putting the town on the map. Rake, though a very good man and bringing groups of people together in harmony, caused much dispute amongst people on this issue. He made many love him for giving the town some life and something to claim to, but angered many as well and made some hate him for taking away from other opportunities that students could have had.

Another example of mixed emotions toward Coach Rake can be found in the way his former players talk about him amongst themselves drinking beer early in the story and the way they talk about him at his funeral and amongst other people that are not former players. Amongst themselves they talk about the grueling practices, how they hated playing for him out of fear, the way they ran all the time; however at the funeral they mention the way he pushed them to excel, to not be afraid of anything, and the lessons they learned playing for him.