Before Chapter 1, the book begins with a letter from Bobby Kelleher, the president of the USBWA, informing Steven Thomas—Stevie, the main character and protagonist—that he and Susan Carol Anderson won the USBWA’s contest for writers under 14, so he gets to the Final Four in New Orleans. When Chapter 1 begins, Stevie reads the letters not once, not twice, but three times and then screams joyously.

Stevie’s mom tells him there’s a chance that neither she nor his dad, Bill Thomas, will be able to take time off work and go with him. Yet Stevie is confident his dad will come through. Stevie and his dad bond over college basketball. Since he was four, his dad has been taking him to college basketball games in Philadelphia, where he lives. Stevie prefers college basketball to the NBA and wrote an article for his school’s newspaper, The Main Line Chronicle, about how some players for the Philadelphia 76ers didn’t care if they lost.

Stevie loves sports journalism. At five, he taught himself to read with the sports section. He admires sports reporters as much as athletes. Due to the internet, Stevie can read articles from other newspapers.