Good morning, Hank, it's Tuesday
I had a great weekend
In fact, I'm probably experiencing peak happiness right now
So listen, I don't believe in listening to my gut
I find my gut to be unreliable on many levels
Sorry about my voice by the way
I've been screaming for four days
But yeah, when you live with an illness of disordered thinking as I do
you have to learn not to trust your intuition
because it's constantly lying to you
To cite a minor example from my own life, my intuition tells me many times a day that I did not lock the car door
when in fact, I always lock the car door.
I bring this up, because on Saturday morning my unreliable gut told me that
in order for the soccer team I've loved for most of my life to win the Champion's League
I needed to give away one of my most prized possessions
a jersey signed by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard
Now this is the part of the video where I tell you that of course I understand that giving away a signed jersey
is not going to effect the outcome of a sporting event that's happening thousands of miles away
But no, no I don't understand that. I mean I get it intellectually, I guess
But one, like a lot of humans I'm incurably superstitious and two
who am I to say why we won the Champion's League?
But I think something else may have also been going on
which is that lately I've been thinking a lot about the verb to treasure
And how valuing something can sometimes lead to hoarding it
when what would help the universe most might be to share what you value
rather than clinging to it.
Like that jersey had brought me a lot of joy
and maybe it was time for it to bring someone else joy
Right, so I was in New York City for Bookcon that day
I walked into a soccer bar, found a guy sitting alone wearing a Liverpool shirt
who appeared to be approximately a size L
and I told him that I'd had a premonition that I needed to give away this signed jersey
and I gave it to him.
He was a nice guy with a PhD in I think something science-y.
He didn't know who I was, but he was very excited about the jersey.
So we chatted for a bit, took a picture together, and then I left.
He told me his name but I don't remember it.
I'm not going to show his face, because I don't know if he wants his face shown,
but if anybody happens to know this guy, I'd love to know how his day went.
Due primarily to me giving away this jersey
and secondarily to the exploits of the players on the field
Liverpool won the game 2-0
I was actually backstage at Bookcon during the last couple minutes of the game
and Kristine Froseth who plays Alaska in the Looking for Alaska Hulu show got this video
of me very nervous and excited.
After the game Akilah Hughes and I went to a Liverpool bar in the neighborhood
and sang our hearts out and everyone was hugging everyone
At one point in the evening I was hugging a stranger, which is not something I do in the normal course of daily events
and I noticed that he was crying
He was heaving sobs and I didn't understand why he was crying
Until I found that I was also crying
and then I knew why.
Sports are about winning and losing, heartbreak and joy, grief and celebration
They provide simple narratives when life only provides complicated ones
But more than that, I think they are about celebrating together, and grieving together
and being together.
Sports remind us that what we have is not as important as what we share
And that we are never truly alone, not in loss and not in victory
At the end of every game Liverpool fans sing a song that ends
"walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone"
My wish is that each of us might always know that truth as profoundly as I did on Saturday night.
Whether you love football or not
you'll never walk alone
Hank, I'll see you on Friday