“Me and Jack are dating.”
This assertion of social reality is essentially what the book is all about. The book is a sequel that takes up Bitty’s story after he has come out as homosexual to his hockey teammates. That confessions goes over better than expected, but there is a big difference between people knowing something and people actually seeing it. This book is the story of Bitty literally coming out into the open with his sexual identity. This revelation takes place inside a big circular booth at a restaurant filled with friends. The very next panel shows their reaction, and it is purely visual with no text indicating speech or thought. The next panel after that has the same visual arrangement of friends, but now everybody is talking at once. Notably, they are all purposefully evading the subject as they begin to talk about things besides the fact that Bitty and Jack are sitting there gazing lovingly—and silently—into each other’s eyes. The suggestion is that the reaction to the Bitty’s announcement is ambiguous. It could be that the friends already knew this big announcement was coming and so it is no big deal. Or it could easily be that it is a very big deal and they do not know quite how to react. This ambiguity and uncertainly is also what the book is about.
“I want to tell me I’m not messed up. J-just tell me you don’t think I’m messed up.”
Another aspect of the book that dabbles in a different sort of ambiguity is Bitty’s relationship with his father relative to his relationship with Jack. This quote is the culmination of a painfully awkward and realistic scene which begins with Bitty’s father referring to Jack as his son’s friend. Bitty is wound up and tension increases as he pushes his father to acknowledge that Jack is not just a friend, but his boyfriend. Bitty’s father is resistant, but not because of any outright explicit homophobia. It is clear that he loves his son and is struggling with Bitty’s homosexuality, but he is not rejecting it. He is trying to reach some middle ground between the extremes of rejection and marching in a gay pride parade. Ultimately, Bitty emotionally explodes, letting his father know the real issue is not rejecting his relationship Jack but rejecting his son’s very identity.
“And as an openly gay athlete…I think sometimes all you need to be a role model is to exist. To show it can work. Being a role model isn’t about being perfect, it’s giving an example of one way to live life successfully.”
This quote comes from a section of the book in which Bitty is being interviewed by a reporter from the college newspaper. This chapter differs from the rest of the graphic novel is that the interview questions and answers are framed in a panel as straight text situated right next to a standard visual panel. The section creates a juxtaposition between the Q&A and visuals. For instance, next to the interview panel featuring this quote is a close-up image of Bitty trying to rouse a teammate at a low moment during a game. The juxtaposition seems to work as, literally, an illustration of the point Bitty is making. The connection between being gay and being the team captain is negligible. To be a success as captain and teammate requires real effort such as motivating a player when he’s down. That’s because every team has a captain, and every teammate needs motivation. There are not that many openly gay players, much less team captains, and that divergence in sheer number makes the accomplishment itself the motivation. In other words, Bitty is suggesting that he is not merely a hockey player, not merely a team captain, and not merely homosexual. None of those individual things define him. He is a combination of each, and many other things not named. The requirements for success vary from one aspect of identity to the next.
