Bleachers highlights the dangers of hero-worshiping, specifically focusing on the idolization of sports stars in small-town America. The glorification of high school athletes and their coaches, who are ultimately fallible humans, often comes at a cost. Grisham’s novel puts that cost on full display. He directly parallels the town’s attitude toward football with religion, highlighting the extremity to which many towns take the sport. Through the displays of obsession via the town décor (both inside and outside), their annual spending, and their elevation of teenagers, Bleachers explores just how much harm can be done when priorities aren’t in check.

Religious symbolism throughout the novel makes it clear that the people of Messina treat athletics as their god. The Field is considered “sacred” (3), and there is mention of a “shrine to Rake” (45) in the local diner, where pictures of him and the trophies are displayed for all to see. Even after Rake was fired, a bronze statue of the man was erected in town: “It was an altar, and Neely could see the Spartans bowing down before it as they made their way onto the field each Friday night” (8). These “altars” and “shrines,” as Neely deems them, are found all over town.