53 pages • 1 hour read
John FeinsteinLast Shot
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Money, Morals, and Ethics in College Basketball
The major theme of Last Shot is the role of compromised morals and ethics in college basketball. Feinstein drives home the absence of scruples through Whiting, who teaches a class at Minnesota State called “Ethics and Morals in American Society Today” but is one of the men blackmailing Chip. This astounds Stevie and Susan Carol: If Whiting is ethical and moral, then ethics and morals don’t mean what the reporters believe they should. Whiting’s behavior is immoral and unethical; it represents the short supply of decency in college basketball. As the mystery unfolds, the absence of good actors grows. Minnesota State’s former dean, Minnesota State’s president, and Duke’s board chairman also display a lack of principles. What motivates these men is greed and personal ambition.
Aside from the specific scheme, Feinstein presents college basketball as corrupt and compromised due to money. The Final Four is supposed to be about basketball, but he shows that its fundamental purpose is profit. Weiss says that CBS pays “a billion dollars for the TV rights” (47) to broadcast the games, and this compromises college basketball because it creates the need for TV time-outs so CBS can run commercials. The NCAA’s preoccupation with money manifests in its deal with the New Orleans police: They have “to arrest anyone selling nonofficial merchandise,” as “the NCAA wanted to make everyone buy their stuff” (111). Scalpers like Big Tex and brands like Brickley Shoes also profit from what happens at the Final Four. The emphasis on money creates an environment in which humans become commodities. As Bobby Mo tells Chip after the game against St. Joseph’s, “What a performance last night! You made yourself some serious bucks, kid” (203).
The lack of morals and ethics in the basketball business unsettles Stevie and Susan Carol. Susan Carol realizes, “It’s easier to be a fan when you watch on TV” (90). Stevie doesn’t like “the inside view of college ball” (91). He labels the Minnesota State radio broadcaster Trey Woods “an out-and-out weirdo” (132). Later, the Minnesota State radio engineer Jerry Ventura accosts Stevie over what he and Susan Carol were doing in his room.
The determination of the teen reporters and Chip shows that it’s possible to have morals and ethics in college basketball. Not everything about the sport is rotten. Weiss and Brill are not morally compromised, and the president of the USBWA plays a critical role in rescuing Stevie and Susan Carol. The college basketball figure that Stevie thinks is the worst, Coach K, turns out to be a good person. Their Final Four experiences make the young reporters nostalgic for the days when they simply watched and enjoyed the sport on TV without being aware of the business side of basketball and the machinations that underlie the tournament as a billion-dollar venture.
Illusion, Reality, and the Impact of Media
The theme of morals and ethics connects to the theme of illusion and reality, which the media exacerbate. Stevie carries many illusions with him to the Final Four in New Orleans, and his limited experience with college basketball and journalism gives him an idealistic view of the sport and sportswriting. At the Final Four, he comes face to face with the reality of the business. Money and tedious rules dominate the sport. He finds out about the roles of scalpers, TV time-outs, and marketing in the tournament almost as soon as he arrives at the Superdome, and he encounters numerous security guards. The blackmailing scheme spotlights this gap between illusion and reality, as the young reporters see the disconnect between public images and reality. Whiting, for example, teaches a class about morals and ethics but, in reality, is unscrupulous. He deepens Stevie’s feeling that “[a]lmost no one was who they appeared to be” (91).
The media contribute to the illusions that surround the Final Four because they add to the spectacle. Stevie sees Vitale on TV so much that he wonders if “he ever slept” (137). In person, Vitale acts as he does on TV. In other words, he comes across not as a real human being but as a performer. Most of the TV figures appear to be invested in the illusion. They ask the students and coaches bland questions and provide nonstop analysis, yet none of them is aware of the reality that may determine the event’s outcome: People are trying to fix the championship game. Even TV figures who claim to be concerned about the lack of ethics and morals in college sports, like Wallace of Fox News, inadvertently contribute to the illusions because Wallace has the unethical Whiting on his roundtable to discuss what’s wrong with college athletics.
The theme of illusion versus reality links to Coach K, as Stevie is under the illusion that Coach K is the top villain in college basketball. He’s “the mighty and evil Coach K” (49), and Stevie fantasizes about challenging him in a press conference. As Stevie discovers, there are a bevy of bad actors in the sport, but Coach K isn’t one of them. In reality, the Duke coach is a kind, personable man.
Stevie also holds illusions about gender and Susan Carol that are rooted in sexism and stereotypical teenage behaviors that lead him to insult her at times due to his attraction toward her. He behaves dismissively toward her early in the novel, in part because she’s a girl. In reality, without Susan Carol, Stevie wouldn’t be able to solve the mystery, and he might not stumble on the interaction between Chip and Whiting in the first place. The media and popular culture impact their gender dynamics because Stevie and Susan Carol view their friendship and possible romance partly through the dynamic of Gone with the Wind—a 1936 romance novel that became an Oscar-winning movie and focused on the antagonistic romantic tensions between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Stevie’s attraction to Susan Carol, coupled with the sexism implicit in his need to one-up a female reporter whom he views as a competitor, plays into stereotypical gender dynamics, although he matures through their work together and comes to respect her as an equal and a colleague.
Teamwork and Loyalty
The theme of teamwork and loyalty manifests in the partnership between Susan Carol and Stevie. At first, Stevie wants nothing to do with her. Delving into Stevie’s thoughts, the narrator says, “Whatever. Susan Carol wasn’t who he wanted to meet anyway” (21). After the teens witness Whiting blackmailing Chip, Stevie’s attitude changes. To solve the big mystery, Stevie and Susan Carol have to team up. While Stevie writes his first article, Susan Carol writes down everything she overheard. Later, he helps her write one of her articles. working together to solve the mystery, Stevie and Susan Carol become a formidable duo. They each think of convincing lies that help them access areas and gain valuable information. Stevie tells the guard in front of Chip’s room that he’s Chip’s cousin. Susan Carol then says she’s Stevie’s girlfriend. At the start of the book, Stevie scorns Susan Carol, but by the end, she is his journalist partner. Together, they write the article about the scandal.
Chip’s involvement furthers the theme of teamwork. Chip, whose basketball career gives him a lifetime of experience in collaborating with teammates, turns the duo into a successful three-person team. He drives them to Wojenski’s house, and his cell phone helps them communicate. Chip looks out for Stevie and Susan Carol. He refuses to enter the press conference without them when they still think Jurgensen is part of the plot and might harm them. In the championship game, Chip demonstrates his loyalty toward the teen reporters by playing poorly, knowing the national spotlight is on him, because he can’t shake the feeling that if he plays well, something terrible could happen to them. Chip is also loyal to his father. He knows that he’ll have an NBA career even if he throws the game, but he doesn’t want to let his dad down and let the “sleazebags” (154) win. Chip declares, “This is about right and wrong. I’m not a cheat and neither is my father” (154).
The theme of teamwork and loyalty also relates to the theme of compromised ethics and morality in college basketball. While the men blackmailing Chip show teamwork—they work together to put the plot in action—they don’t demonstrate loyalty. Once Applebaum arrests the perpetrators, they quickly turn on one another, with Feeley and Whiting ready to testify against Koheen to avoid jail. In Last Shot, what the bad characters care about is their personal welfare. Yet the good characters are part of something bigger than themselves. They’re not motivated by greed or ambition—their cause is noble, and they stick together in search of truth and justice.
