There Will Be Buds

Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony

"There Will Be Buds" is the sixth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 602nd episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on November 6, 2016.

This episode was dedicated to longtime Simpsons writer Kevin Curran who died on October 25, 2016 from cancer complications.

During the season opener game of the Springfield Neutrinos peewee football team, an excessive amount of special effects smoke fills the field causing the entire team to crash into each other and even though no one seems to be hurt, the parents freak out that they've suffered concussions and the football season is suspended. At a town meeting, no one is happy with alternatives like baseball or basketball, and when Kirk Van Houten tries to pitch the idea of coaching a junior lacrosse team nobody wants to hear it. Marge feels bad that everyone including Luanne treats Kirk like garbage and orders a reluctant Homer to make the crowd shut up and listen to Kirk. The pitch, which includes a description of lacrosse as a cross between "hockey and soccer" and a display of great ability by Milhouse himself, leads everyone to ignore the very high rate of concussions in lacrosse and create a new kids league for it.

The team is formed with Kirk and Homer as coaches, where Kirk does the actual coaching while Homer sits on the sidelines cutting oranges. Their team wins games easily, making it all the way to the championship match. Kirk begins to see Homer as his new best friend while Homer, although impressed by his excellent lacrosse coaching skills (which Kirk explains is due to his former lacrosse career ending in the mascot unintentionally breaking his wrist with his armor during a high-five), becomes increasingly annoyed by all the time they are forced to spend together, not least when Kirk keeps trying to get Homer to go to strip clubs when Homer doesn't want to. After a musical number during which he hears Homer insult him at length and call him a loser, Kirk then disappears just as the team needs him for the championship game.