Reading #6 Question 3 - Summarize the outcome of the game. Why does Junior cry at the end? What does he realize? (Rachel)

            Arnold wanted to get revenge on his best friend so badly, he did not realize that while doing so, he only made the situation worse.  Once Readan beat Wellpoint, Arnold looked into the crowd to find that his father was not happy but disappointed; "I was suddenly ashamed that I'd wanted so badly to take revenge on them."  (Alexie, 196)  Arnold finally understood that this game, and being good at basketball, was the only thing that the kids could control.  Everything else in their lives are out of their hands and mostly life threatening.  For the Reardan team, if they lost, they could go on, but the Wellpoint kids would have to live with that shame forever.  Immediately after Arnold says, "I was crying tears of shame."  (Alexie, 196)  Junior instantly wanted to take back what he had done to his best friend.  He realized that while he could go off to college and have a life, Rowdy and the other kids were stuck in the circle of poverty and depression, unable to change their paths.  His tears are for his friend, and what he can never give back to him.