Kevin breaks his leg trying to perform a stupid stunt on a motorcycle, and melodramatically believes he has to quit the football team even though everyone tells him his leg will heal. As a result of the Lawndale Lions losing their star quarterback, the team suffers several humiliating defeats and Lawndale's reputation starts going down the drain.
Meanwhile, Brittany is devastated by Kevin breaking up with her...
And is accidentally led to believe the ghost of Tommy Sherman is haunting the school because Kevin destroyed his memorial tree.
This episode provides examples of:
- Ax-Crazy: The quarterback Ms. Li enrolls to replace Kevin has some... unique ideas about how to play football, and has been in high school for over six years because "People make him mad." The rest of the Lions fear for their lives when he joins the team, and even Ms. Li is scared of him.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Jane figures Daria is due to get struck by lightning for her merciless trolling of Brittany.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Sandi's youngest brother is the first to heckle the Lawndale Lions and brand them losers.
- Call-Back: Kevin's stunt destroys the Tommy Sherman Memorial Tree.
- Distinction Without a Difference: Jane compares Kevin breaking his leg to an incident involving a trained monkey and a unicycle at a birthday party when she was a kid. Daria bluntly asks "The difference being?"
- Everyone Has Standards: Jane seems legit disgusted when Daria suggests Brittany can use one of Kevin's crutches to replace the Tommy Sherman Memorial Tree, since they both know she's stupid enough to believe it.Jane: You know you're going to hell.Daria: Anything that gets me out of Lawndale.
- This gets followed up when Brittany wonders why the crutch hasn't sprouted leaves yet, to which Daria questions if Brittany removed the rubber peg at the bottom. Jane worries Daria's gonna get struck by lightning.
- Fate Worse than Death: The Fashion Club is horrified when the employees at their favorite clothing store won't assist them because they don't want to be associated with a loser school, and are only offered... the unpopular people's dressing room.
- For Want Of A Nail: It turns out without Kevin as the quarterback, the Lions quickly lose all their games and Lawndale High gets labeled a school for losers, which also ruins the town's reputation.
- Harmful to Minors: By the end of the episode, Jake is heard screaming at someone over the phone regarding how Lawndale is no longer "a loser town." Helen assumes it's the guy who publishes "The Lawndale Shopper" paper only for Jake to clarify it was his seven year old grandson.
- The Load: Inverted, as it turns out Kevin was pretty much the only reason the football team won any games.
- No Sympathy: When Kevin has his accident, the three J's point out how Kevin broke the Tommy Sherman memorial tree, yet say nothing of Kevin's injury.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Helen advises Jake not to believe what he reads in "The Lawndale Shopper" too seriously, citing its published by an 80 year old man who, in her words, "Had to be taken off the roof of his house by the fire department because he thought he was being chased by screaming mice."
- Wangst: Invoked deliberately through Kevin, who seems to believe he has to quit the team because he broke his leg even though it wasn't even a very serious injury. Brittany reacts with equally hammy behavior as Kevin dumps her.
