'He put the shoe in my hand so I could see if I liked it, but he was too late.

The pattern looked like a drafting blueprint, and the silver swoosh stitched on the side practically screamed 'speed.' 'It was dark blue, with an even darker sole. But as I took a deep breath, getting ready to tell Dad how I felt, I saw it in the salesman's hand. 'I didn't want a special outfit for not making the team. 'I didn't want all the extra complications. 'All I wanted to do was go home and be the Russell Evans I'd been for my entire life. And that's when I knew that the tryout situation was officially out of control. 'I watched Dad listening to the salesman, as if the shoes I wore for a single afternoon really mattered. 'I glanced around the store, looking for some kind of a knockoff brand, but Go Time seemed to sell only the big names. 'Whenever I felt frustrated or nervous, I calmed down by working my way through the periodic table of elements. ''I don't need Nikes,' I said, but no one was listening.

But then their father takes him out to equip him for playing: Russell at first seems agreeable to the notion that he'll go through the motions, fail to make the team, and return to more academic pursuits. Russell is the 'mathlete' in the book's title, the leader of the school's Masters of the Mind team, and Owen figures his klutzy brother should stick to geekdom and leave the basketball playing to him. After making a fool of himself trying to educate the new coach as to why they shouldn't have to try out, the coach spots Owen's fraternal-twin brother Russell walking down the hallway (Russell's the tallest kid in their grade.), and insists that Russell try out for the team, too.

'Tryouts.''Īs Owen says, things only get worse (at least for him). ''Next Wednesday afternoon,' Chris said, then pointed at the word as he read it. We were undefeated in sixth grade (if you didn't count our five losses, which I didn't because the refs had been out to get us), and we'd been shooting hoops at Sunset Park all summer to stay on top of our game. 'Chris, the rest of the guys, and I had been playing together since Cotter Elementary. ''Unbelievable,' I muttered, staring at the sign-up sheet on our new coach's office door. 'Seventh-grade basketball started out all wrong, and it only got worse.

Athlete vs mathlete