Character Analysis
Forgione is just one on a list of many things that scare Slocum's son.
He's the "squat, barrel-chested, simian gym teacher with forests of black, wiry hair curling out all over him everywhere, even through the weave of his white T-shirt, except on his head, who can break me in two with his bare hands if he ever decided he wanted to, and who tries to be helpful and encouraging to my frightened little boy in his blunt, domineering, primitive way and only succeeds in frightening him further" (5.2).
Yeah, that pretty much covers it. Dude is pretty much the embodiment of the dog-eat-dog competitiveness at the heart of American corporate culture and barely concealed by the smiles and picket fences of 1960s suburbia.
Slocum goes to his son's school to try and reason with this gym teacher his son fears so much. Forgione tells Slocum that his son lacks a true will to win. The two negotiate a plan to allow Slocum's son to participate only when he wants to, and although Slocum has essentially won, he walks away from the meeting feeling like he has lost.