good morning Hank it's Tuesday on
November 23rd 1984 I watched a college
football game between Boston College and
the University of Miami I was seven
years old and I was rooting for Boston
College I didn't really care much about
sports at the time like this is gonna
surprise you to learn but I was not a
particularly athletic child this game
however really held my attention so much
so that I actually started crying when
with less than 30 seconds left Miami
took a seemingly insurmountable lead but
then Boston College's diminutive
quarterback Doug Flutie threw a 52-yard
pass to his roommate and best friend
Gerard faithlyn who caught the ball in
the end zone Boston College won the game
in what has come to be known as the
Miami miracle my dad threw me in the air
and in a way most of what I've done in
my life since has been an attempt to
understand to celebrate and/or recreate
that moment I'm after that feeling that
Al Michaels had when he famously
exclaimed I'm very interested in what's
called radical hope the idea that hope
is available to all people at all times
I believe in it not because of theology
or philosophy or whatever but because I
have seen with my own eyes that even
when there really is not much cause for
hope hope is still the correct response
to the human condition as evidenced by
the ridiculous and beautiful hope of
Doug Flutie and Gerard falen of course I
know there's nothing miraculous about a
completed Hail Mary or the u.s.
defeating the USSR in hockey by
definition improbabilities usually don't
occur but sometimes do I'm not looking
for anything supernatural I just want to
have hope and more than that to be on
alone in my hope for me there's just
nothing like being in a virtual room or
a real one or a stadium with people
whose hope is oriented in the same
direction as mine and who loved the same
thing I love I don't think you need to
get that from sports by the way you can
get it from book clubs or concerts or
being heavily invested in Martian Rover
landings but ultimately this urge to
find and share hope is why I write books
and make videos and work in my garden
and also sponsor AFC Wimbledon the third
tier English football team that wear
dftba on their shorts I love AFC
Wimbledon because they've shown me again
and again that hope is the thing with
feathers that perches in the soul and
sings the tune without the words
never stops at all Wimbledon have had a
terrible season they are in last place
in their division facing the prospect of
being relegated into the fourth tier of
English football
but somehow amid this disaster they made
it to the fourth round of the FA Cup and
Wimbledon were drawn against West Ham
United
West Ham play in the Premier League they
have the distinction of being the only
Football Club mentioned by name in the
Harry Potter books and also they have
several individual players who make more
money per year than AFC Wimbledon's
entire annual budget and yet Kwesi
Appiah scored in front of the John Green
stand you'll note to put Wimbledon up 1
nil in the first half Scott Wagstaff
then tore through West Ham's defense to
create a breakaway and finished as
calmly as you like to make it to nil in
the second half Wagstaff scored again
and then 19-year old Toby Civic scored
and AFC Wimbledon beat West Ham four to
two and in a basement in Indianapolis I
found myself in tears overwhelmed with
gratitude for the football club that had
again shown me the meaning of life it's
never wrong to be hopeful and anyone who
tells you otherwise just hasn't watched
enough AFC Wimbledon games the FA Cup is
now down to its final 16 teams and
Wimbledon is one of them in the next
round will face off against Millwall a
team division ahead of us there's no way
we can win that game of course but then
again there was no way we could win the
last one Hank I'll see you on Friday
ps3 things first I wrote a lot about
Wimbledon and penalty shootouts in the
most recent episode of the anthropocene
reviewed a new episode comes out in two
days if you're interested in our book
club lights library but didn't get a
chance to sign up before there are a few
slots open now at life's library book
club calm and lastly Hank check out this
warm-up jacket if you want to become the
part owner of a third tier English
football team there has never been a
better time for 25 pounds or around $30
you can become a member of the Dons
trust which owns the club and make AFC
Wimbledon's next miracle your miracle