Football is often used as a metaphor for life throughout the novel. In the beginning, Nate admits that he doesn’t understand many of the unfortunate circumstances going on around him, but he knows the game of football. Nate’s dad knows this about his son, and he often uses the game of football as a symbolic way to get Nate to understand the complexities of what’s happening to his family. This can first be seen when Nate’s dad uses football to illustrate how his real estate business is failing. He says to Nate, “We’re like the Patriots […] They were down when Belichick started coaching them, but look where they are now. They’re the team to beat pretty much every year now. It’ll be our turn again soon” (39). Nate’s dad doesn’t expect Nate to understand the adult problems happening to them financially, but he knows that Nate will understand the football analogy of being down but coming out back on top.

Nate’s dad again uses football to be symbolic of their situation when he “explained how important these ‘showings’ were, making a sports analogy out of it for Nate, saying you never knew if today was the day that might change everything” (105).