Nervousness, changes us all in the moment. In a football game when you’re having a bad day you get nervous and your personality changes a bit. When you do this and you’re the leader of the team then everybody else is going take this bad and get nervous too. Nate Brodie is an average teen who likes football, but he does have exceptional throwing skills. Nate gets the chance to win a million dollars by throwing a ball throw a ring at halftime of a patriots home game. When you get the chance to win a million dollars and your family desperately needs it and all the weight is on your shoulders, when your best friend is going blind, and that can change you.
Nate
Brodie's family is suffering from money problems, he
is definitely taking a toll on this like his parents. He won a raffle
drawing and now gets the chance to win a million dollars with a single throw
that could save his family. If you've ever been in a situation with pressure
you know it's not fun. This pressure changes Nate throughout the story
especially when it changes him to actually complain. Nate is for sure not a
complainer especially with his friend Abby going blind and not complaining. I
think that is something else that helps him change back to the regular person
he is.
Abby
is Nate's friend since they were little and she is now going blind but there’s
one thing about her that no other child or teen could do. If you were going
blind like Abby wouldn’t you think why it had to be you? Abby never thought
that or complained. Throughout the book Abby influences Nate to just suck it up,
Abby is really Nate’s best friend and they are both always there for each
other. When Abby's dad loses his job her family goes from never having to
complain about money to just as bad as Nate. When Nate hears this he is very
comforting for Abby trying to help her. I think this changes his perspective on
losing jobs because in the book after this it talks about how he thinks about
that before he thought that it wouldn't be able to happen to Abby but it did so
he realizes that it can happen to anyone.
If
you've ever played a sport or watched one where there is a obvious star one the
team, then you know the feeling when he gets nervous. Everyone also gets
nervous, and they get uneven with their playing the do good and bad. Nate is
the captain of his football team and in games know he's getting nervous and
doesn't want to throw. This is because of the pressure about making the throw
on Thanksgiving, he keeps thinking what if I don't make it so this also changes
him in a game. It's one of his favorite passing plays and he chooses to run it
instead of throwing it. This is a good example of being changed by
pressure.
A
million dollars, that's a lot of money especially to a person who's family is
suffering from debt and money. When a kid is 13 years old and
is basically being expected to make this throw. Thus throw is from 20
yards through a hoop which doesn't seem hard but it really is. A million
dollars is the reward for making it and it's a million dollars that will decide
if his family gets to keep or sell their house. That is way too much pressure
for a 13 year old and that can make or break you, but it most definitely
can change you.
