the brothers after lights-out: Pemulis played the man like a fine instrument

The competitor who chokes on court comes through cold over a urinal. Hal marvels that Pemulis, "the alleged weak-stomached clutch-artist," "showed some serious brass under pressure, standing there over that urinal. He played the O.N.A.N.T.A. man like a fine instrument." The clutch nerve that fails Pemulis in a real match holds perfectly in the administrative loo — the body's pressure-response is situational, and the arena where he's fearless isn't the court but the confrontation with the governance apparatus. Later Hal amps it: Pemulis "could have sold that urologist land in there... His face was a brass mask."