The Good Sport (episode)

Does she have to rub it in?

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 show opens when Arthur asks the viewers if any of their friends will remember him if they become famous, then it goes into a fantasy of Brain winning the Nobel prize. It cuts back to current times with D.W. telling the camera man that Arthur fell down. Francine sends Arthur an invitation to the 2014 Team Winter Games. She tells him that all he has to do is write an essay on why he wants to see Francine win a gold medal. After Francine left, Arthur tells the viewers that Francine is the only friend that he knows is a legend in his mind. D.W. tells Arthur that Michelle Kwan did the toothpaste commercial, but Kwan corrects D.W., and states that she is an ice skater. D.W. gets upset that she has never seen a celebrity.

The Good Sport

Lakewood is determining the Athlete of the Year and Muffy is convinced that Francine will win. However at the ceremony, Jenna won the award instead of her. Later, she confronted Mr. Haney about it and there is a reason why Jenna won the Athlete of the Year award: she excels at sports Francine doesn't like. She discusses this with Muffy, who plans to make a petition to make Francine the Athlete of the Year.

Unfortunately, her signature is the only one on the petition. So Francine and her friends choose to give her a party, which flops. When Jenna sees the posters for the second party, she tells them to cease and she runs in the girls' restroom. Muffy goes to confront Jenna saying it was Francine who deserved to win that award but Jenna angrily and sadly admits that she understands that Francine should have won and sick that she is rubbing it in her face and runs out of the girls' restroom crying. Francine heard the whole thing and feel guilty and tried to give an apology, but Jenna ran off and when Muffy think she did a good job telling her off, Francine just tells her to stuff it much to Muffy's surprise.

That night, Francine sees Michelle Kwan on TV and saying how ice skating is dumb and how she can do it easy, then she has a dream that Michelle Kwan is teaching her to skate. Francie keep on falling and admits that skating is actually hard and it is not easy as it looks. The next day, she and Jenna forgive each other, finishing the episode.

Major

 * Jenna Morgan
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire

Minor

 * D.W. Read
 * Michelle Kwan
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Francis Haney
 * Binky Barnes

Cameo

 * Bitzi Baxter
 * The Brain
 * George Lundgren
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Luke
 * Brian
 * Alex
 * 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 Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat
 * Kenny
 * Mary
 * Cecilia 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.
 * Michelle Kwan is the seventh guest star on Arthur.
 * 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.
 * Karma: Muffy told Jenna off about the award, so Francine told Muffy off.
 * Timeline: Jenna Morgan is seen drinking milk. The later episode "Binky Goes Nuts" reveals she is allergic to it.
 * Moral:
 * If someone wins a award don't rub it in someone's face or give them too much attention for your own benefits.
 * Try something out before you start judging it.
 * Dont steal someones dreams and make someone happy for nothing for your own benefits.

Errors

 * Mrs. Morgan has orange hair instead of black.
 * Jenna is gray for the majority of the episode, while she is her normal pink color a few times as well.
 * 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, but when Muffy argues with Jenna about the award, there's no red paint footprints on the bathroom floor, then her footprints are once again seen leading into the bathroom after Jenna runs off crying.

Production notes

 * This episode is one of two 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." The title card is of Francine watching Michelle Kwan jump and spin on the ice.

Cultural references

 * Francine mentions the 2014 Winter Games, which took place in Sochi, Russia 12 years after this episode originally aired.

Home Video
VHS: DVD:
 * The Good Sport (VHS)
 * The Good Sport (2002 DVD)
 * The Good Sport (2011 DVD)