Jack returns to Willie, whom he refuses to tell what Judge Irwin did. Jack also quits his blackmail work for Willie and removes himself from the MacMurfee problem. Willie is very stressed, his only calm coming from watching Tom play football. Willie decides that he cannot allow MacMurfee to win the US Senate because it will derail Willie’s political career. If he waits a whole term to enter the US Senate, he will no longer be a young and exciting politician and others will believe they can walk all over him. He decides to solve the problem by buying Gummy Larson’s loyalty, giving him the hospital contract, and robbing MacMurfee of much of his support.

Tom is a confident young man, but Willie’s parenting makes him erratic. He and two teammates get into a serious bar fight and are suspended from the team. At halftime of the first game without Tom, Willie tells the team he knows they’ll do their best, and though they come out fighting, they lose. Willie then forces the coach to put Tom in the next game to keep the team’s championship aspirations alive, and he is knocked unconscious by a hit.