863: Championship Window

28:21And I was absolutely overcome and started weeping. Oh, man. Yeah, I started crying. And I also had the feeling of, oh, my gosh, I'm crying. I'm alone. No one's here to see this. Gabrielle isn't here to witness this. So I pulled out my phone and I to try to capture this moment, you know, like seeing a Bigfoot in the woods trying to get it on film. I mean, it's so funny to me that you were like, like, no one's here to see this. That was the thought that popped into your brain. Yeah. Yeah, I was like, of course I'm alone. No one's going to believe me. I have seen this video Seth took of himself crying, and I got to say, this is no single thug tear kind of joint.

29:08Like, Seth was ugly crying. I'm not going to play it, though, because it, I don't know, just feels a little too vulnerable to share. Seth did share the video with his wife, though. She was moved by it. Glad for him. And ever since then, Seth's been thinking about that cry. How those tears just rolled on out. How he had no control and was just overcome. But here's the thing. Seth hasn't cried since. And recently, he's been wondering, was that it? Like, was this just another freak crying accident that will likely never happen again? My hope is that this wasn't just a window, but I don't know. I mean, I think it was probably the extremity of the surgery.

29:53Just the pure, like, gratitude for still being alive. So, like, I think, I hope I will cry more, but I do think it's possible that this was just such an extreme situation that that was a little bit. That was the thing. Yeah, that was the moment. Okay. Well, so you've come to the right place. And I say that because I want to find out if this was a window for you, if this was a one-time thing. And to help us do that, your co-workers and I created a set of triggers for you. Are you serious? I'm dead serious. I spent hours yesterday compiling a list of things that make us cry. So we're going to start with like sort of our first one.

30:47Yeah. We're doing this now? Oh, yeah, we're doing this now. Oh, wow. Is that okay? Yeah, yeah. I just, I just, I feel so, it feels so unlikely that I'm going to cry and I feel bad for my, in the future. Don't feel bad. Okay. All right. So, level one. So, obviously, it's June. And, you know, at this time of year, we have a lot of graduations from college, from high school. And there is this trend online of people posting, like, graduations. And I just want to show you this. Okay. Do you want to describe what you're seeing? I'm seeing a graduate. It's like a high school graduate. Oh, he's putting his own gown onto his dad.

31:34Yeah. I feel so confused. What do you mean? Is the dad graduating? Is he thanking him? No, the kid is graduating, but he's saying, I did it because of you. You really deserve this. Why is this making you laugh? No, I just, I... I explained to Seth, look, most of these folks are immigrants. And what they're doing is they're saying to their parents, listen, this accomplishment I just made, It's really yours. That's so sweet. I don't feel anywhere close to crying. I feel like I'm appreciating their emotion. It is okay that you didn't cry, Seth. You know why? Because there's more. Because there's more.

32:26Just to say, I had a bunch of videos queued and ready to go. I had Susan Boyle singing I Dreamed a Dream on Britain's Got Talent. which my co-workers want me to make clear, makes me and only me cry. I had the ending to the randomly extremely violent children's movie about rabbits, Watership Down. The opening scene from the animated movie Up. But first, there was this next one. It was an old sports video. I want you to picture it. Yeah. It's the 1992 Olympics. Barcelona. Okay. It's a 400-meter race. Okay. And this young British sprinter. Yeah. Derek Redmond is in the race of his life. Big deal.

33:10And the eyes of the world are watching him. So the race starts. That's him right there streaming away. He's looking pretty good. White and purple. Yep, yep, yep. He's really great. He's 400. He has to run all the way around. Yeah. And then right here, his hamstring goes. Oh, yeah. Oh, jeez. Oh, he's down. So, you know, only 40 second race. All the other runners finish without him. Yeah. And then he decides, oh, okay, I'm going to keep on trying to finish. He's basically hopping on one foot almost. Yeah, he has no hamstring. Oh, God. All of a sudden, this guy comes up. Wow, he's like being his crutch.

34:00That's Derek's father. He's run onto the track. To make sure his son finishes. And it's funny because the security people, they don't know that it's his father. So they have come onto the track and he's having to wave them away to keep them away from him. And he's like, I'm going to finish with my son. And this man is just... He's collapsed in his father's arms. And they're finishing together. Oh, my gosh.

34:41that was just oh sam i didn't think that was actually gonna work i would have bet any amount of money i wouldn't

34:58wow i'm my mind is blown my heart my heart i suppose more specifically is blown there's part of me i have to say even as i am um feeling uncomfortable and sad and kind of crying myself there's part of me i gotta say that is just like did you actually just cry for real Yeah, I mean, I think I, yeah, I want to be really honest because, like, I think I was trying to feel open to it. Yeah. And so I think I could have not. I could have stopped it. And maybe that's something I would actually do without knowing it. But then I actually felt it and I still sort of am. Like, it's, I don't know what's happening.

35:44It just feels like feeling. I'm so glad for you. What about that video do you think made you cry? I think it was seeing, he's in so much physical pain. And he's in so much, I imagine, emotional pain at losing this shot. But I feel like through that you can see he's also crying from joy that his father is there. And then shift my vision to the dad who is waving away these security people and he and is being relatively stoic, but is also clearly like overcome in his own way. I think it just it felt both kind of tragic and so like victorious at the same moment. and it got to me, and I can't, yeah, still can't quite believe it.

36:44As I sat there, listening to this grown man who had almost never cried in his adult life, struggled to find the words, his eyes still slightly watering, I didn't know what to say. I just started sniffling, which is normally what happens when someone cries in front of me. I am, for the record, a crier. But I'm really just a crier because I often find it easier than saying the right thing. For me, crying is like a shortcut. The best way to let the people in my life know that I love them and that I care. And it struck me that for years, Seth hasn't had that. And now, well, he does.

37:38Act three, benched expectations. So like I said earlier, championship windows are these periods when the universe has conspired to make it so that for once, everything might go right. And this last story is about a very particular version of that. It's about two baseball teams who, I should say, were not playing for a championship. Like they were doing kind of the opposite, actually. They were playing to finally not lose. If you combine the records of these two teams, they'd lost 141 straight games between them. 141. But now, the stars had aligned. Because after all those losses, after all that heartbreak, there was this little glint of hope.

38:25Because next on their schedule, those two teams were going to play each other. Which meant, for one of them, the losing streak would finally have to end. Right? Like, there was no way around it. No matter how bad those teams were, one of them was going to win. My colleague, David Kestenbaum, talked to some of the players before this historic matchup, and then he went to the game to see how it all turned out. Here's David. I wanted to know what it was like to go so long without winning a single game. To not win and keep coming out? That takes a particular kind of person. Both teams are in New York City, I reached out.

39:02First, to Yeshiva University. Their team, the Yeshiva Maccabees, Yeshiva's losing streak was at 99 games. And I know everyone knows how to add one, but for them to lose would mean 100 straight losses. Yeshiva did not want to talk to us for this story, which I will just say, I get. But the other team said okay. The Lehman Lightning, who had 42 straight losses. Lehman College is in the Bronx. It's part of the city university system. So I went to visit. And I want you to meet one player, Justin Chamorro, the starting pitcher. Justin has a kind of shy smile. When we started texting, he wrote, Hey, David!

39:41Three Ys, David in caps, two exclamation points. His team hasn't won in two years. And I know all the stuff people say about how losing builds character and bonds you together with your team and teaches you life lessons. I mean, sure. But also, and I appreciated Justin's candor here, it is not fun. I've never been this long of a losing streak a day in my life. It's actually depressing. No, let me stop. But it's hard. It's difficult. I say it challenges me mentally, physically. It's draining. It's really draining. Yeah, same way. How do you feel after? I don't know. How'd you feel after the last loss?

40:20The last loss weighed on me heavy because Mount St. Mary, they're a good school, but we also competed to their level. Playing games like that where you're constantly in the game and then you just lose it, that's exhausting. That's what sucks out of everything, honestly. It's not just him going through this. It's a whole team that every game says to themselves, this time, and then has it not happened? There's a lot of frustration. You have people upset at themselves, the coach. There's a lot of stuff like that. But in the locker rooms also, it's very quiet. It's an eerie atmosphere in the locker room, honestly.

41:03But we pick each other up. That's what we do. A bunch of people on campus must know about the streak, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure everybody knows about the streak. I'm pretty sure. I mean, it's no secret. where there's multiple videos out there on media outlets that highlight it. He's talking about the upcoming game. The internet liked the idea that his team was going to play this other losing team. One post called it the worst college baseball game of all time. I asked Justin why, when the other team did not want to talk, he was willing to. He said he wanted the world to know who they really were.

41:38So here's a little bit about Justin. In his bedroom, he has the following. A poster of Muhammad Ali, an Xbox, shoes, a bag filled with baseballs from the best games he's played in, one from when he was 11. Oh, and textbooks. He's a bio major, planning to be a physician's assistant after all this is over. Maybe work in a clinic. He said, that's my second love. What's your first love? Baseball. Oh, I love baseball with a passion, yeah. Like since you were little? Oh, since I could remember, yeah. What do you like about it? Well, I like how competitive it gets. I like the fact that it's a game based off of failure and that when you actually succeed, it feels that much better.

42:22Yeah, they say like if you get up at bat and you fail seven times out of 10, you're doing great, right? Yes. That's a tough proposition, you know? Yeah, it is. It is. I mean, essentially, you're failing more than you succeed, but you got to look at it on the bright side. You're also playing a sport that involves a tiny little ball with a round bat and you have nine fielders. So, yeah. Funny to think about it that way. Justin says he does sometimes. To remind himself it's just a game. A very hard one.

42:58So what do you do to turn things around? This is a Division III commuter school. Most of these students live with their families. A lot of the players have jobs in addition to school. Justin wanted me to point that out. He also wanted me to point out that there is not a big budget for baseball here. No scholarships for players, no batting cages or pitching machines to practice hitting with. But they practice almost every day, sometimes for hours. The truth is, it's probably their last chance to play like this, with a coach and a real team. This is a moment in their lives that will end. No one is going on to the pros.

43:34And for Justin, this is his senior year, almost the end of the season. and it would feel different to go out with one win. So, to try to turn things around, their coach, Coach Delgado, gives them grades after every game. He has them write in journals about what they did well and what they need to work on. And they are not a superstitious bunch, but it's kind of hard not to be, a little, after a streak like they're on. Your brain is looking for some reason. Justin's coach eats the same breakfast before every game. The players do not step on the lines before a game. That's a classic. They also do not allow crossed bats in the dugout.

44:10I know we've tried playing without walk-up songs. Walk-up songs. You know when the hitter's walking out to the plate? They used to play a clip of a song through the loudspeakers to get them psyched up. Got rid of those. Yeah, so it's just silent at home games. How did it feel the first time? I was kind of mad because I like my walk-up song. What's your song? One is I'm Good by David Guetta. and it's, I'm good and I'm feeling all right. I'm about to have the best time of my life. Yeah, that's that song, so. That song you won't be hearing. Other songs you won't be hearing? Lemonade by Gucci Mane, Nokia by Drake.

44:49Do you think about how it's going to feel when you eventually win? Oh, I think about it every single day. One streak has to end and I'm very confident that ours will end tomorrow.

45:08Now, let's play ball! Game time. It's a Tuesday, 2 in the afternoon, at a turf field in New Jersey, far from both schools. And yet, so many people, like 300, some baseball nerds drawn, I think, by the strangeness of the situation. It kind of went viral online. These two teams that had together lost 141 games about to play each other. One of them had to finally win. I had no idea how this was going to go. No one seemed to. Mostly the people who show up are fans. Some have never been to a game before. Lots of yeshiva supporters hoping the 99 losses would not turn into 100. Do you have any cheers?

45:53No cheers? I'm going to make them up on the fly. Why you? Why you? Why you? And plenty of Lehman fans. Here's one. Francesca Angelis came to support one player in particular, the shortstop. He's her boyfriend. It's funny. He sleeps, he eats, and he talks baseball. Like, he dreams baseball. Like, I'm telling you, it's funny. Sometimes he will flinch, he's sleeping, and he's, I'm like, what's happening? He's like, I'm getting a grounder of all. So yeah, he's in the game always, you know. I settled in on the Lehman side, right up against the fence near the dugout. The game starts and immediately does not go well for Lehman.

46:42Yeshiva, the other team, is at bat. One of their players hits the ball deep, but the fielder is there. Should be an out. Oh, there it is. So he missed it. That right there should have been caught. Then, another ball hit in the air. Oh, that should be a routine-er. Let's see if he makes it. Oh! Man, que malo! So, yeah. The guy narrating here is a former Lehman player named Eric Venn, who'd come to watch the game with his girlfriend. He knows Justin and all the players. Right after that, another mistake. Yeshiva scores. It kept going. Oh, that should be a routine out. Oh!

47:24And that's an error right there. Do they look nervous to you? Oh, yeah, definitely. Another one scores. Yeshiva scores again, so it's 2-0. And if you're thinking, oh, I know how this will go, Justin's team will bounce back. Can I remind you this is real life? A tiny ball, a round bat and all that? And that is Justin out there pitching, a real human being. The Lehman players do score one in the next inning. Both teams actually play pretty solidly once they settle in. There's some truly incredible moments. That was an amazing play right there. That's like ESPN top 10 right there. But by the end, going into the last inning, Lehman is still behind.

48:07The score is 6-4. They have this one last at bat, and they need to score two runs to tie it up. They do get a runner on first. Then this guy Eli steps up to bat. Let's go, Eli! Nueva York! Yo, Eli, tie this shit. Let's go. One swing, baby. Right field.

48:32Yeah! To the New Jersey! The pitcher walked him. It's a huge moment right now, right? So, somehow, someway right now, he's got to make something happen with that bat. Next batter steps up to the plate. Hey, it's cold! The pitch. Yeah! Let's go! Let's go! So right there, hit by pitch. Now the base is loaded right now. This pitcher is obviously flustered up right now. They get a hit. Oh, let's go! The runner on third races to home plate and scores, and then another runner scores. Yeah! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Hold on! Let's go! Now they just tied the game up right now. Oh, no! My boy!

49:31They need one more run to win. The shortstop, number 18, who remember Fields' grounders in this leap, gives a look to his girlfriend, steps up to the plate. Do you know this guy? Yes, I definitely do! Let's go, honey! Did you say, let's go, honey? No, let's go on eight! But yeah, that is my honey. 1-8, that's his number 18. He grounds out, though. So the game is still tied, and it ends up going to an extra inning. Lehman scores one to put them ahead, and then Yeshiva steps up to bat. Lehman just has to keep Yeshiva from scoring one last time. They get the first batter out, and the second batter.

50:14Let's go, Justin! Let's go, 28! And then Justin, who's still pitching, has been pitching the entire game, faces batter number three. One strike, two strikes, and...

50:30Struck him out. Lehman won. All right, that's the game. Walk off right there. Chris, our impromptu narrator and his girlfriend, kiss in celebration the way I think people do when wars end. It just feels like the thing to do. I walk out onto the field to find Justin, the pitcher, whose hand was actually bleeding. It seemed appropriate. In the middle of the game while I was pitching, I snapped the curveball a little too tight, and I guess I cut myself, and that's what happened. And I just kept playing with it. How do you feel? I'm so excited. I'm so happy. I'm jumping for joy on the inside. This doesn't do justice as to how I feel.

51:10I just wish my parents were here to see it. They were at work. Remember, it's a Tuesday afternoon.

51:24So the Lehman streak was broken. And for the Yeshiva Maccabees, their streak was now at 100 straight losses. But at some point that will end. Probably. It has to, right? Sometime, the universe will shift. The stars and the planets will be in the right spot. The ball will take that weird hop that gets you next to run. they'll get their championship window.

51:51In fact, did I tell you this was a doubleheader? Lehman and Yeshiva had a second game to play against each other. Here's what happened. After the first game, almost everyone left. It was getting late and super cold. One person on the way to their car pointed out that Yeshiva had run through like four pitchers, so who could they possibly have left? There didn't seem to be much point. But the two teams played again, And somehow, Yeshiva, after 100 straight losses, they won. Finally. The championship window had opened for both of them. And then it closed. Turns out it was the only win either team would have for the rest of the season.

52:33They both went on to lose every remaining game. Justin, the Lehman pitcher, graduated the other week. He told me he still thinks about that game. Their one win. He can replay every pitch in his mind. His fingers felt warm and tingly, like every pitch he threw was going to be perfect. You could say the stars were aligned that day. But there's another way to see it. The stars had nothing to do with it. They made it happen.

53:12David Kestenbaum. He's the senior editor of our show.

53:23So there is, of course, one last piece of business that I have to take care of, I guess, which is, I got to tell you that Arsenal, my favorite soccer team, the ones who were in that game I was watching in the bar at the beginning of the show, they lost. We ended the season with nothing. Again. And on the way out of a bar that day, I ran into a couple of Arsenal fans arguing about the state of the team. The inquest had well and truly begun. I think we were the better side today. You have copium out the ass. We were not the better side today. The first half, we had them on the ropes. So, yeah, folks were reacting to the loss in different ways.

54:07But in the last couple of weeks, There have been whispers about new star players who could join Arsenal next season. And the thing I keep hearing from my fellow Arsenal fans is genuine excitement for what might happen. People honestly think it could really be the year. They're absolutely delusional for saying that. And also, I totally agree with them.

54:42Fourth quarter, babe I'll hit the game winner Baby, believe in me Take a chance on me, take a chance on me I'm ready to let it fly I can make anything I've been drinking up this time at night It would mean everything to me Give me the ball, I'll hit the game winner Our program was produced today by Angela Gervasi and me and edited by Emmanuel Berry. The people who put together today's show include Fia Benin, Michael Comite, Aviva de Kornfeld, Cassie Howley, Seth Lind, Tobin Lowe, Catherine Raimondo, Stone Nelson, Nadia Raymond, Anthony Roman, Ryan Rummery, Alyssa Shipp, Christopher Svitala, Marisa Robertson-Texter, and our managing editor, Sara Abdurrahman.

55:46The version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game you heard in David Kestenbaum's story was made for us by Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg. You can find their music at deadmenmusic.com. Special thanks today goes to Abbey Adamson, Peter Satiri, Tan Copsey Sophia Moussa, Senna Jochi Jason Andrew and everybody over at the Brooklyn Invincibles Special thanks also to the two Arsenal bars where I camped out for a couple of weeks for this episode, Highbury Pub and Fancy 3. Special thanks as well to Daniel Melamud, author of a recently released book, This is Football, a must read and thanks again to Bell Woods, Denali Marks, Rowan Groom, Lindsay Galser, Christian Keplinger, Benjamin Remy, Alison Cutler, Eric Brooks, Matt Shortall, and Ching Lee.

56:33Our website, thisamericanlife.org, where you can stream our archive of over 800 episodes for absolutely free. And there's videos and lists of favorite shows and tons of other stuff there too. Again, that's thisamericanlife.org. This American Life is delivered to public radio stations by PRX, the public radio exchange. And thanks as always to my boss, the big man, Ira Glass. You know, when we first started working on this episode, he found it really surprising when I suggested that I be the host. I swear, every day, over and over, he just kept asking. Why you? Why you? Why you? I'm Emmanuel Jochi.

57:13Ira Glass will be back next week with more stories of this American life.

57:24Baby, don't give up on me I'll hit the game when I Take a chance on me Baby, believe me Don't give up on me I'll hit the game when I

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