In a 2000 "Entertainment Weekly" article, Matt Groening ranked this episode as his second favorite episode of all time, behind "Bart the Daredevil". "Entertainment Weekly" placed the episode twenty-first on their top 25 "The Simpsons" episode list, calling it "a showcase for the series' bedrock of character and heart." The "Orlando Sentinel"s Gregory Hardy named it the fifteenth best episode of the show with a sports theme. The episode's reference to "An Officer and a Gentleman" was named the 23rd greatest film reference in the history of the show by "Total Film"'s Nathan Ditum.