LaRue embodies all things good and wholesome about rural middle America. He is moral, honest, hard-working, responsible, never complains, and looks just a little bit like John Mellancamp. He’s quiet and cool-headed, even though he must be the single Red who sees more bad calls and hears more heckling than all the others. There isn’t a thing about LaRue that I could like more.

LaRue occasionally strikes me as being a little too grateful for the success he’s enjoyed, which makes him a little too cautious. Is he lucky to get to paid millions to play a child’s game all summer? Sure. But he’s also entitled to it. LaRue has earned what he has, and if he doesn’t realize that, someone ought to tell him.