The Forsythia Bowl: weeping over the B.U. punter

texture · ~"last New Year's Eve of Unsubsidized Time"

• When: just after Xmas, the "last New Year's Eve of Unsubsidized Time" (see Dating notes: conflicts with the finale's "over four years before YDAU" framing)
• What: Ironing fake Andover-kid licenses in a stripped luxury apt while B.U. played Clemson in the Forsythia Bowl, Gately watched the B.U. punter — a walk-on inspirational story, two years younger than him, "a lock for a pretty much limitless pro ball career" — and broke down weeping over his own lost football and squandered gift. (Cross-character note: the B.U. punter is Orin Incandenza, though Gately never names him.)