Directed by Bryan Gordon
Written by Matt Tarses & Aaron Sorkin
Dana and Natalie are at Anthony's. Dana is trying to make her picks for the draft, but Natalie is more interested in getting drunk and wondering why no one's making a pass at her. Dana tells her to calm down.
Casey and Dan are at their own table. Casey is also making his picks and thinking about winning his annual Draft Day bet he's making with Dana, but Dan is more interested in the fact his friend David Duval has invited him to play golf.
In the news room the next morning, Dana reminds Casey of the rules; they need to make all of their predictions before the commissioner reaches the podium. Both of them are excited, and each of them are confident they can win the bet. Jeremy comes in, and Dana leaves. Jeremy mentions on the elevator he heard someone described as a "choreo-animator", and he has no idea what that means; neither does Casey. Casey is excited about Draft Day, but also tells Jeremy he knows about him and Jenny. Jeremy admits it, but also says Casey and Dan are the only ones who know what Jenny really does for a living, and he wants especially to keep Natalie from finding out. Casey agrees.
Dana and Isaac are in Isaac's office. Isaac is worried about the bandage on Dana's face, and Dana says she fell on her face, but she's fine. She also tells Isaac she made T-shirts that say, "I survived Draft Day at 'Sports Night'." Isaac gives her a fax that says there's a strong possibility a tennis tournament at Indian Wells that the station is supposed to cover will get rained out, so they'll get to cover the second round of the draft. Dana is excited to hear this.
Natalie and Dan are in the studio when Dana joins them. She tells them about the T-shirts, which Dan is unenthusiastic about, but he's really unhappy when she tells him they might be covering the second round because of the rain at Indian Wells. He doesn't want to work the second round, and nothing Dana and Natalie say convinces him.
In the control room right before the broadcast begins, Natalie assures Dana Dan will be fine. In the studio, Casey introduces the special coverage of Draft Day, and Dan reminds everyone each team has 15 minutes to make their selection. They throw it over to Kelly Kirkpatrick at Madison Square Garden. Back in the studio:
Chris, Dana, Dave, Jeremy, Natalie and Will give their orders (Chris and Jeremy ask for cheese, Dana and Dave want cinnamon, and Natalie and Will want prune), and Elliot and Kim leave. Dana wants to know why no one's wearing their T-shirts; Jeremy points out the show's not over yet. He leaves to "stretch his legs"; when he leaves, Natalie gets upset because she wants to know why Jeremy can't admit he's calling his new girlfriend.
In the studio, Casey points out it might not rain, and that Dan will get to play some other time, but Dan doesn't care, nor does he care about Casey's picks. Dan goes to the editing room to lie down until Cleveland's 15 minutes are up.
In the editing room, Jeremy is on the phone, assuring Jenny 3 pm will be fine. He hangs up as Dan complains at how Casey is driving him crazy. Jeremy tells Dan Jenny is coming over, and he wants to be upfront about their relationship, but he invited her over after the coverage would be over so she wouldn't run into Natalie. Dan tells Jeremy it may ran at Indian Wells, so they'd be covering the second round, and neither of them are happy about that.
Back in the studio, Casey and Dana are having a staring contest. Jeremy interrupts them by saying he needs to talk to Casey, and Dana leaves when Elliot tells her he's got her danish. Jeremy tells Casey about Jenny coming over when the show might still be on, and Casey tells Jeremy he's screwed.
Natalie and Elliot are in the news room when Jeremy comes up to them and asks to see her. The two of them go to the conference room, where Jeremy apologizes to Natalie for not telling her he was seeing someone else. Natalie admits she's okay with everything, and is happy Jeremy is being straight with her now. She then asks what Jenny does; he says she's a choreo-animator. Jeremy says he has to leave.
Casey comes into the editing room, and wants to know what Dan's problem is. Dan says he's tired of Casey acting like the camp counselor, and wants to know when it became Casey's show. They walk out to the studio, and Dana shows them footage of rain at Indian Wells, which neither Dan nor Jeremy is happy to see. The broadcast starts up again, and Casey tells the audience the show will be covering the second round, and everyone should be sticking around for that.
This episode contains examples of:
- All Women Are Lustful: Natalie.Natalie: ...I find his (Castro's) taut and muscular body and piercing green eyes to be attractive and that I'd like to have sex with him.Dana: You need to calm down.Natalie: I should call him up and tell him that.And a little later:Natalie: I'm saying where are the men? I'm saying what happened to the boys?And the next day, back in the control room:Natalie: Any man who wanted to could just have me right now.(Will starts to stand up)Dana: Sit down.
- By "No", I Mean "Yes":Dana: Is it noticeable?Natalie: The bandage?...No.Dana: ...Except you just noticed it.Natalie: ...You have a bandage the size of a sleeping bag on your face, Dana, of course it's noticeable.
- Call-Back: Dan is still pissed at Casey over the fact Casey made the list of 100 Most Influential in sports and he didn't.
- Hypocrite: Jeremy claims he wants to be open with everyone about Jenny and not lie about her, yet as soon as he hears Natalie will still be there when Jenny comes over, he panics, and lies to Natalie about what Jenny does.Jeremy: I'm still living in that shadowy place.
- Insistent Terminology:Casey: You're dating a porn star?Jeremy: I have met and spent social time with an actress who appears in adult films, yes.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: When Dan has a woman he meets in the bar read a phone message he got from David Duval. The woman thinks it's the guy from The Godfather, and he corrects her, "That's Robert Duvall."
- Product Displacement: The show is covering the NFL draft, except you never hear the words "NFL draft".
- Running Gag: Once again, Casey forgets he's miked in the studio and Dana can hear his every word.
- Shaped Like Itself:Casey: She knows you're seeing somebody and I thought maybe you could say a word to her to let the healing process begin so there could be a process of healing that could begin.
- Shout-Out:
- When Dana brags at how clever her T-shirts are, Isaac cracks, " Oscar Wilde would be proud."
- Dan wants Casey to stop treating him like he's Ed McMahon.
- Two-Part Episode
- What the Hell, Hero?: Casey and Dan each give this speech to each other; Casey over the way Dan's been acting during the broadcast, and Dan over the way Casey's acting like Dan is second fiddle to him.
