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Wrexham's Most Amazing Feeling

2023-04-11 · letter vlog · John · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Sports · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, community lore

Setting aside a planned Pinterest video, John tells how Wrexham AFC, co-owned by his friend Ryan Reynolds, beat Notts County when 40-year-old Ben Foster, brought out of retirement, saved a last-minute penalty, and argues that sports matter for the shared joy people give each other.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting, the shelved Pinterest video, and John's friend Ryan Reynolds, co-owner of Wrexham AFC

  • ★ John says he had a whole video planned about trying to become a Pinterest celebrity but has to tell this story instead. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says he is friendly with Ryan Reynolds, a lovely guy who supports the Project for Awesome and the community, an actor who with his friend Rob owns Wrexham AFC in Wales. — 00:00:00 · Project for Awesome
  • ★ John jokes that Ryan, part owner of many companies, is a real Hank Green when it comes to jobs. (playful) — 00:00:20 · Hank Green

00:00:29 — Why John loves sports despite their unimportance; the 2016 play-off final and 'great day for you lot'

  • ★★ John grants that sports are not very important to humanity's future and sympathizes with those who think we shouldn't devote hundreds of billions of dollars and so much attention to them. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John loves sports not for the balls but for the people: loving something together lets him feel earnest, unironic connection and emotion he couldn't feel otherwise. — 00:00:44
  • ★★ John says the best sports fans know that in sports, as in life, no condition is permanent. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John recalls watching AFC Wimbledon, sponsored by them for over a decade with DFTBA on their shorts, win a play-off final against Plymouth Argyle; a crying Plymouth fan answered his condolences with 'Great day for you lot, though.' — 00:01:05 · AFC Wimbledon, DFTBA
  • ★★ John says one team's joy in sports is usually another's heartbreak, but neither is final. — 00:01:20

00:01:27 — English promotion and the National League; Seb Brown's 2011 saves; Wrexham's troubled 20 years and title race

  • ★★ John says Plymouth Argyle have been promoted twice since that play-off final, and each time he thought 'great day for you lot'. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John explains that England and Wales have four tiers of full-time professional football, the Football League, with the best and worst teams promoted or relegated each season. — 00:01:36 · England
  • ★★ John says the fifth tier below it, the National League, is 'the league from hell' because it has only two promotion spots: the league winner and the play-off winner. — 00:01:47
  • ★★ John says Wimbledon escaped the National League in 2011 thanks to two brilliant saves by 19-year-old Seb Brown, and fans still sing about it every game. — 00:01:56 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ John says Wrexham has been through hell in the last 20 years: five lost play-off promotions, bankruptcy, and fans pooling savings to save the club and its stadium. — 00:02:07
  • ★★ John says Wrexham are locked in an epic title race with Notts County, whom they played yesterday in a game that might decide the title. — 00:02:21

00:02:26 — Wrexham v Notts County: Ben Foster's last-minute penalty save

  • ★★ John calls it a brilliant game: fifth-tier football with incomplete passes, but incredible guts, heart, fan noise and passion. — 00:02:30
  • ★★★ John says Wrexham led 3-2 and gave up a penalty in the final minute; with goalkeeper Rob Lainton injured, they had brought 40-year-old Ben Foster out of retirement. — 00:02:41
  • ★★★ John says Foster, in about his fourth game after a year retired, dove right to save the Notts County penalty, and the game ended seconds later in joy. (hedged) — 00:02:55
  • ★★ John says that if Wrexham win the league, fans will remember and sing about the day and Ben Foster for a long time, as Wimbledon fans remember Seb Brown's saves. — 00:03:05

00:03:24 — The memory Wrexham gave each other; sign-off

  • ★★★ John says it wasn't just Foster but players, coaches, owners, groundskeepers and fans who held the club together: Wrexham gave each other that memory, which will make it last and burn bright. — 00:03:24

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a comment, John says he spent much of his life as a pretentious artist looking down on sports lovers. — creator comment
  • ★★ The description says John cannot be particularly excited about his own football club, so he decides to be excited about other people's joy. — video description · AFC Wimbledon

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Ben Foster · Wrexham A.F.C.

Also: People: Rob Lainton · Rob McElhenney · Ryan Reynolds · Seb Brown

Projects: Project for Awesome

Organizations: AFC Wimbledon · English Football League · National League · Notts County F.C. · Pinterest · Plymouth Argyle F.C.

Terms: DFTBA

Places: England · Wales

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