Fight, Team, Fight 2/5

That night at dinner, Pete reports that the first game is against last year's champions. Pete is cautiously optimistic, pointing out that the Walnut Grove team needs to boost their spirits if they want to do well. He thinks a good game against the champs will probably do the trick. Dan is so over this already. Pete tells his son to speak up about what is bothering him. Dan asks "You sure?" I think the kid was referring to the concept of being allowed to speak up, but Pete interprets it as a question of the potential spirit raise. Dan decides to follow his dad's train of thought and says that Albert is the only good player on the team and many of the players are bad, particularly Willie (HA!). Pete agrees that some individuals need to improve, but that the team is in decent shape. Dan goes on to say that many of his teammates aren't as good as he is, which Pete turns around by saying that Dan has improved and the others just aren't up to his standards. Mom perks up at this praise as does Dan. Pete tells his son that he is gaining confidence and Dan smiles.

Dan excuses himself from dinner to go to bed. Pete reminds Dan not to be late for practice and mom laughs. Once the son is gone, mom tells Pete that it was nice of him to compliment Dan. He says he hopes he didn't overdo it, but mom assures him that these moments of approval are oh so vital. "Well if he deserves it he'll get it: Simple as that," Pete says. Mom bristles at that, so she segues into a concern about how tired her son has been lately. Pete tells her that all the boys are tired and it is part of his toughening up process.

Over at the homestead, Charles is driving nails into a plank of wood. Albert is coming home from practice and looks pretty roughed up. Pa reminds him to take care of some sacks of feed on the wagon and Albert assures him that he'll get to it. Charles notices how beat up Albert is and the boy says that he is a bit overwhelmed with football, school and chores. Albert confides that he liked it better when Mr. Oleson was coaching because it was more about having fun instead of work. Charles asks why Albert is sticking with it and he replies that he can't let the team down. Charles is kind of blase about this sentiment, but is nice enough to say that he'll take care of the feed sacks so Albert won't have to.

Laura is at home grading papers and is getting pretty flustered. "Every single member of that football team is gonna fail," she calls out to her husband. Almanzo asks if she has spoken with them, and she says they all have the same excuse: too tired from football practice. She says she doesn't know what she is going to do if this keeps up.

The next day at practice we see an improved punt return. Albert is looking extremely roughed up -- even Willie is showing concern. No time for that though, as Ellerbee yells at Albert from the line of scrimmage to hustle. "No, Willie, I'm not all right," Albert grumbles as he walks over to his coach. He's so over football at this point and tells Ellerbee that he wants off the team. As the team reacts to the news, Coach Ellerbee asks for an explanation. Albert responds that he doesn't have time for anything else like school or chores and he isn't really a fan of getting pummeled daily without a really, really good reason. "If you don't know why you wanna play football, why play it?" Asks Ellerbee. So, we're in agreement? No, I guess not, because the coach turns it into a passive-aggressive guilt trip about how the other boys want to be courageous and blah, blah, blah. Once the coach is finished with his tautology, he dismisses the boy and moves on to the next drill. Albert thinks about it for a minute and runs over to Ellerbee again. After a couple of rounds of the silent treatment, Albert capitulates and is let back on the team. Sorry for the cliffs notes version of the events, but I really can't stand listening to Zen and the Art of Pass Interference crap and I'm not all that interested in writing it down. After a few more lottery numbers, we see Albert perform another rushing play that pleases Ellerbee.