The novel Bleachers by John Grisham is a story of a legendary football coach in his last days, and the players and former townspeople that return and reminisce over memories of his long, illustrious career. The story is told from the point of view of Neely Crenshaw; a former all-American quarterback for Messina High School who played in Eddie Rake’s (the coach’s name) last championship win. Neely had been avoiding the town due to unmet expectations and bad memories in Messina, but the news of Rake’s soon to be death draws all of the coach’s former players to the town to show their respect. Neely’s main problem in the story is an altercation that occurred between Rake and himself in the ’87 state championship game; down by a ridiculous amount at halftime, Coach Rake walked into the locker room and started a fight between himself and Neely, in which Neely knocked out his coach, while at the same time breaking his hand. The football team then went out to play without coaches, calling plays for themselves, and made a miraculous comeback to win the game. Neely never looks at his coach the same after this event; not sure if he hated him for those memories, or loved him for how much he pushed him to succeed. At his funeral, Rake leaves a note for someone to read, apologizing publicly to Neely for what had happened at halftime in the said game. Neely finally comes to peace with his former coach, and gives a eulogy at the funeral as was requested by Rake.