The stories in Athletic Shorts primarily take place in small towns of Montana. The exceptions are "Telephone Man" which is set in Oakland and "Angus" which is set at Lake Michigan High School. The city and state are not given. The settings are important in all the stories, since many of them have to do with issues of honor, shame, and embarrassment. While these are key issues in young adult life, in small town life, they take on even more importance because "everyone" knows. Everyone would know if Petey loses his wrestling match to Chris Byers, if Johnny Rivers loses his match to his father, if Lion is unable to come to terms with Neal, but in particular the story about Louie Banks in "In the Time I Get" is where the sense of place is most important. Playing on stereotypes of small town bigots, Crutcher puts his...