The Good Sport

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## Summary

Francine makes no effort to hide her hurt feelings when Jenna gets the Athlete of the Year award instead of the "rightful" recipient — Francine. Then figure skater Michelle Kwan explains a few things about good sportsmanship.

## Plot

The episode opens with Arthur asking the viewers if they ever wonder if any of their friends will become famous. And if they do become famous, will they remember their old friends? A fantasy occurs of Brain winning the Nobel prize for having disproved the Theory of Relativity. Binky, who is a waiter at the event, runs to Brain and hugs him. He tells everyone how Brain taught him how to make good armpit farts, much to Brain's embarrassment and frustration. It cuts back to the present with D.W. telling the camera man that Arthur fell down. Francine sends Arthur an invitation to the 2014 Winter Olympics. All he has to do is write an essay on why he wants to see Francine win a gold medal. After Francine leaves, Arthur tells the viewers that Francine is the only friend that he knows will be famous for sure; she is "already a legend in her own mind". D.W. thinks she spots an actress from a toothpaste commercial on the ice, but the woman, Michelle Kwan, corrects D.W., and states that she is a figure skater. D.W. (ironically) gets upset that she has never seen a celebrity.

**The Good Sport**
Lakewood is determining the Athlete of the Year, and the winner will receive 10 tickets to the 2014 Winter Olympics and attend a banquet honoring figure skating world champion Michelle Kwan, who had attended Lakewood as a child. Muffy is confident that Francine will win. However, at the ceremony, Jenna wins the award instead, much to Francine's disbelief.

Later, Francine confronts Mr. Haney about why she wasn't chosen instead, citing that she's captain of the softball, basketball, and hockey teams. Mr. Haney explains that Jenna won the Athlete of the Year award because she excels at sports Francine doesn't, like badminton and skiing. Francine scornfully replies that badminton is "for wusses". Mr. Haney adds that Jenna does additional things to help others, such as coaching peewee soccer and managing the wheelchair basketball team.

Later, Francine tearfully tells Muffy that Mr. Haney and the student board found that Jenna was the "best representative of the athletic ideal". Muffy starts a petition to make Francine the Athlete of the Year. However, she can't get anyone else other than herself to sign it.

Later in class, Muffy apologizes to Francine but Francine claims that she's decided to be a good sport about losing out on the award. (In a flashback, it's revealed that her dad tried convincing her to be a good sport, much to Francine's reluctance and her calling it "the stupidest thing I every heard!") Francine starts off by having everyone applaud Jenna for her win.

Later, Francine insists on throwing Jenna a party in class to celebrate her award, complete with a song and Francine giving a speech which does little to hide her jealousy. Jenna grows increasingly uncomfortable. The party flops when Mr. Ratburn resumes class time. After school, Francine decides to go bigger with Muffy's help, despite Arthur and Buster trying to dissuade her.

When Jenna sees Francine and Muffy putting up posters in the hallway for a second party, she furiously demands they stop subjecting her to all this unwanted attention and rushes into the girls' restroom. Muffy goes to confront an upset Jenna, saying she should be "grateful" she won the award that was rightfully Francine's. Jenna angrily and sadly retorts that she, along with everyone else, understands that Francine deserved to be Athlete of the Year, and she is sick of Francine rubbing it in her face before running out of the restroom, crying. Francine overhears this and begins to feel guilty. She tries to apologize, but Jenna runs off. When Muffy thinks she did a good job telling Jenna off, Francine just tells her to stuff it, much to Muffy's surprise.

That night, Francine watches Michelle's banquet on TV. She dismisses ice skating as dumb and believes she could easily "skate rings around" Michelle. Suddenly, an offended Michelle pulls Francine into the TV and transports her to an ice rink. She teaches Francine to figure skate, showing off her complicated spins. Francine keeps on falling and admits that skating is actually hard and not easy as she thought. Michelle assures Francine that she will get better in a few years and encourages her to try again. Francine then wakes up.

Later at school, Francine finds an autographed picture from Michelle on her desk. Jenna explains she told Michelle about Francine at the banquet. Francine and Jenna make amends as Francine finally congratulates her. The two girls accept they can both be great athletes even though Francine dislikes badminton and Jenna dislikes hockey. Their classmates then arrive and ask Jenna about meeting Michelle, finishing the episode.

## Characters

### Major

* Jenna Morgan
* Francine Frensky
* Muffy Crosswire

### Minor

* D.W. Read
* Michelle Kwan
* Arthur Read
* Buster Baxter
* Mr. Ratburn
* Mr. Haney
* Binky Barnes
* Oliver Frensky

### Cameo

* Bitzi Baxter
* Brain
* George Lundgren
* Prunella Deegan
* Sue Ellen Armstrong
* Luke
* Brian
* Alex Davidson
* Rattles
* Maria Pappas
* Fern Walters
* Unknown Female Bear (Number 2)
* Unknown Female Bear (Number 3)
* 3rd Grade Male Rat
* 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
* 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)
* Beulah McInnerny
* Jessica (3rd grader)
* 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
* Paul Jacobs
* Kenny
* Mary (3rd grader)
* Ms. Tingley
* Mrs. Morgan
* Mr. Morgan

## Trivia

* The Justin Bradley version of this episode story is available on the VHS and DVD editions of *The Good Sport*.
* As Jenna walks up to the stage to accept her award, a girl is heard saying "I can't believe it!" The voice saying this line sounds similar to Jenna herself, though the closed captioning credits the line to Muffy, who also comments, "No way!" afterwards.
* This is one of the few episodes where Francine is shown crying.

### Cultural references

* Francine mentions the Template:W, which took place in Template:W 12 years after this episode originally aired.

### Errors

* Mrs. Morgan has orange hair instead of black.
* During the flashback of Oliver telling Francine about being a good sport, the fantasy sound effect is used, but visually, the flashback simply crossfades instead of using the ripple transition.
* Jenna is gray for the majority of the episode, while she is her normal pink color a few times as well.
* Jenna Morgan is seen drinking milk. The later episode "Binky Goes Nuts" reveals that she is allergic to it.
* Jenna gets mad about Francine and Muffy throwing her so many parties, then Muffy storms in the bathroom to tell her off, and she tracks red paint footprints from her shoes. However, when Muffy argues with Jenna about the award, there's no red paint footprints on the bathroom floor, but her footprints are once again seen leading into the bathroom after Jenna runs off crying.

### Production notes

* This episode is one of four episodes before Season 14 (Season 16 in the U.S.) that uses an irregular title card which is not seen again, the other being "Buenas Noches, Vicita" (2013), "Are Ghosts Having A Bad Luck?" (2015) and "Ghost Shoes" (2016). The title card is of Francine watching Michelle Kwan jump and spin on the ice.
* Michelle Kwan is the seventh guest star on *Arthur* (after Jack Prelutsky, Fred Rogers, Art Garfunkel, Yo-Yo Man, Joshua Redman and Alex Trebek).

## Home Video

**VHS:**

* The Good Sport (VHS)

**DVD:**

* The Good Sport (2002 DVD)
* The Good Sport (2011 DVD)

## Gallery

### Promotional images

Michelle kwan promo.jpgWinter Olympics Twitter.jpg
### Screenshots

Miss morgan.jpgIt's Too Much.JPGNigel Ratburn.pngJenna morgan.jpgH n.pngScreen Shot 2014-05-02 at 9.50.59 PM.pngScreen Shot 2014-05-02 at 9.51.08 PM.pngUngreatful jerk.pngScreen Shot 2014-05-02 at 9.48.01 PM.pngScreen Shot 2014-05-02 at 9.45.01 PM 1.pngScreen Shot 2014-05-02 at 9.44.51 PM.pngScreen Shot 2014-05-02 at 9.51.19 PM.pngOjlbo.pngJubvhik.pngScreen Shot 2014-05-02 at 9.46.05 PM.pngJenna Morgan 60901 Angry.jpegJenna Morgan Good Sport Milk error.pngAvon Ave.pngGirls' Restroom.png
## References

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