I don't remember who was asking, but my Jericho recap is up, so... Short form of my crazy (or IS IT?) theory:

Jake was in prison. Hawkins is a corrupt cop who was either in cahoots with Jake, or helped put him away. Or both. He used his ill-gotten gains to buy a place in town -- the gossipy store owner mentions someone new in town who paid for their house in cash, and I'm betting that's about him. He knows about Jake's inheritance and is blackmailing him for it, which is why Jake's was in such a hurry to get the money. If Jake didn't pay up, Hawkins (and maybe other baddies) were going to tell everyone that the Mayor's son was in prison for whatever bad thing he did, ruining the family's name and costing his dad the election. Oh, and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the escaped prisoners knows Jake, and/or Hawkins.

I'm fully prepared to be wrong about some details, but I feel pretty confident about the general idea. On the other hand, my eerie psychic powers seem to kick in when I make jokes that turn out to be right, so this whole "intentional speculation" thing may backfire on me.

not giving credit for sports

Gender of teachers aside... are there schools that do this? Is he complaining that he had to take History, Math and English instead of having a GPA based on football?

There are students at Santa Monica College getting credit for krav.

Now, it's by no means easy to get your yellow belt, especially with the instructor they have, but college credit? Weird to my head.

And, randomly:

Rapping stop-motion pirates! [link] [Quicktime, but there's a YouTube link if that doesn't work]

a GPA based on football

Maybe he got his rushing average confused with this grade average.

Strega, I'm with you on the first and last sentences. I'm not so sure about any kind of conspiracy or blackmail between Hawkins and Jake. I'm sure there is some shocking secret about why Hawkins is an ex-cop (it'd be better if he were ex-FEMA) but I'm sure it'll turn out (eventually) that he's a good guy who got a bad rap.

Now, it's by no means easy to get your yellow belt, especially with the instructor they have, but college credit? Weird to my head.

They offered bowling at my Univ. for credit. It's weird, but I think the school has a defensible logic. I can't fully explain it, but it has to do with the fact that you still have to meet the specific requirements for a degree.

I'm talking about High School.

Strega, aurelia:

I think Hawkins is one of the escaped prisoners.

I got graded on gym in high school, and it did factor into my GPA.

not giving credit for sports

My daughter is a high school freshman this year, and as far as I can tell sport teams count as the PE class so they get credit but it's in lieu of regular PE. When their sport isn't playing, they have to do regular PE stuff or lift weights. They get out of class for games/meets but they have to make up the work and maintain at least a "C" average with no unsatisfactory citizenship grade.