Nine's loneliness at the beginning of the story and desperation for anyone to respond.
When Born Unlucky Lacrecia Evans finally catches a football after 10,000 years of trying, the one she catches is the one that broke the Centennial Bulb.
Ten's eulogy to the lightbulb is very touching in spite of it addressing an inanimate object.
In chapter 16, Juice and Nine are discussing a lawn that no one has ever stepped on. While Nine is struggling to conceive of why absolutely no one has ever stepped on the lawn in the 15,000 years since it was laid down, Juice continues to explain that only one kind of person would step on the lawn just because they can:
Juice: you know who would've wandered out there? just to do it? (long pause) Nine: Children. Juice:children.
Brought up later in the drowned New York, where a player has an ugly emotional breakdown after seeing a mural of a child being swaddled by its mother. A grim reminder of the past that, as far as anyone knows, is never coming back. The worst part is he's talking to his partner...and she can't offer anything to comfort him.
Ten: Time's almost up. Juice: ahhhhhh fuck well i got pretty far Nine: I love you guys. Ten: Love you too. Juice: love y'all too Nine: I need to make a partition in my data storage. This is the end, right? The end of this story? Ten: We were always at the end. It's a free play, buddy. Clock's all zeroes. It's after the end of the world. Nine: Goodnight. Ten: 'Night. Juice: night
20020
The seventh 20020 chapter underscores just how important Nick and Manny's time together was when Nick learns he might have to make the run without him, and that he had a nightmare about messing up the play.
Nick: I knew five minutes was 300 seconds. And 300 seconds is 300 years of OBT. 300 years he spent saving up that time, staying on the field, cooking me dinner, making me laugh. Being there for me every time I was fucked up about something. And like, it was like I could see those years just vanishing from history, just disappearing.
Even though the train plan worked, Manny is very clearly upset that Nick burned a minute of OBT just to pull it off.
Manny: Yeah! Literally a minute! More than that! You needed every second of that to cross the desert. You and me, we're a team, you know? We make decisions together. You have no right to just pop off and do shit like that. Nick: I know, I just knew that– Manny: I mean what the fuck am I gonna do without you, Nick? If I can make it home but you can't? [...] Nick: But look at you, though. You're still gonna have almost all your time. I mean look what I did for you! I made a fuckin' miracle happen and I'm like, you're puttin' me in the shit here! And I pulled off a fuckin' miracle! Manny: Did for ME? Best thing you coulda did for me was keeping your time! Giving me a partner! Givin' me my fucking husband!
And then Manny voices a concern that their Coach will call Nick back and make him wait another hundred years to earn back that time. "Babe, I don't wanna do a hundred years without you."
Towards the end of chapter 11, albeit with a less dramatic reveal than last timenote the font color getting lighter as opposed to an abrupt low battery warning, Nine's battery once again starts to go dead, causing Ten and Juice to fix the problem on their ownnote Juice manages to shut down the cause of the problem, Nine's Stanford antenna, but Nine will need to shut down again for a few months to charge it back up.
After realizing the full weight of Nick's sprint to Ole Miss' field, Coach E decides to let Nick and Manny take Oklahoma State's footballs, knowing full well they are going to get fired for this, with the only consolation being Manny agreeing to stay on their field for a little bit longer, until they make it to Stillwater.
Coach E: Don't let this eat you up. I've been through it time and again. I've played football a long long time. All kinds of different games, all kinds of different rules. This game's beat me down over and over again. It's about to it again. I'm gonna get fired for this. [...] Biggest fumble in centuries, and we let it bounce out of bounds. That's on me. I'm done. And that's okay, because that's what this game does to me. This game hates me. I'm snakebit. But that's okay, because it taught me how good it can be sometimes to just let go. Walk away. That's the advice, I guess. Lord, I hope y'all make it. But just … don't let it eat you up if you don't. We've all seen enough sadness in our time. No need for you to go off and make more of your own. Life's too long for that. You got a trillion tomorrows.
And the pain of this defeat becomes harsher when we learn exactly who "Coach E" is.
Greg Griffin: And if it turns out things went sideways? If we don't have possession? Then I'll just come out and say it: Lacrecia Evans MUST resign as head coach of Oklahoma State football.
