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The Unimportant Things

2025-04-22 · letter vlog · John · 4:32 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Sports (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, timely hook, community lore

Exhausted by a month of tuberculosis advocacy and travel, John says fourth-tier English football has held him up: sports are ridiculous, but like Donald Hall's 'third things' they entwine attention and feel like shared love. He announces the premiere on YouTube of a documentary series about AFC Wimbledon and argues that hope is correct even when not rewarded.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Constant travel for the TB book; memory of following Peru v New Zealand on Spanish radio during labyrinthitis; the most important of the unimportant things

  • ★★ Calling himself the tiredest boy in tired town, John says he has traveled 28 of the last 30 days and will travel 32 of the next 40; he got in from London last night and flies to Peru this morning. (playful) — 00:00:00 · London
  • ★★ John says it is a privilege to spread the news that the world's deadliest infectious disease is preventable and curable. — 00:00:00 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ John recalls that a few years ago (November 2017), with labyrinthitis, he was stuck in bed with his eyes closed for two weeks because opening them made him throw up. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ During that illness John followed a Spanish-language radio broadcast of the Peru v New Zealand World Cup playoff by intonation alone; Peru won, qualifying for the first time in decades, and he heard the commentator's tears. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ The game reminded John of the old line that of all the unimportant things, football is the most important. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says his book Everything Is Tuberculosis has spent four consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, a happy surprise. — 00:00:29 · Everything Is Tuberculosis, The New York Times

00:00:58 — A wonderful but exhausting month; football as a pillar; sports are ridiculous yet a balm; Donald Hall's third things

  • ★★ John says he has talked with over 15,000 people about the needless suffering caused by tuberculosis. — 00:00:58 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ John says he even visited Congress with nerdfighters from around the country to make the case for foreign aid funding. — 00:00:58 · United States Congress, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says the month has also been exhausting, with two more exhausting months to come, and one pillar holding him up has been fourth-tier English football. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John admits professional sports are ridiculous: it is genuinely ridiculous for grown-ups to be invested in other grown-ups hitting or kicking a ball. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Yet for John, sports are also a balm and a break. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ John cites a Donald Hall essay on third things in marriage: spouses don't just stare at each other but entwine their attention around third things like children, the New York Times crossword or poetry. — 00:01:27 · third thing, The New York Times
  • ★★★ For John, football is a third thing entwining his attention with thousands of other people, and in that he feels something very like shared love. — 00:01:27 · third thing

00:01:56 — AFC Wimbledon in a playoff place; the AFC Wimbledon documentary series premieres on YouTube

  • ★★ John says AFC Wimbledon are fifth, in a playoff position near the end of the season, with the chance of becoming a third-tier English team. — 00:01:56 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ John announces that a documentary about AFC Wimbledon, made over the last couple of years by him and Rosianna with longtime nerdfighter Jonathan Vogler, who helped make The Last Dance, premiered on YouTube last week (April 2025). — 00:01:56 · Rosianna Halse Rojas, AFC Wimbledon, YouTube
  • ★★ John says YouTube feels right for the series: AFC Wimbledon is fan-owned, and YouTube is the most democratic streaming service, open to anyone with an internet connection. — 00:02:26 · YouTube, AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John invites viewers to watch the first episode and all future episodes free on YouTube via the link in the doobly-doo. — 00:02:26 · doobly-doo, YouTube
  • ★★ John says the series goes inside a small fan-owned club: the players' lives, the locker room, even striker Matty Stevens' boxing gym. — 00:02:26
  • ★ John quotes a commenter: if Ted Lasso were a documentary, it would look like this. (playful) — 00:02:26

00:02:55 — London trip: a goalless draw with his father-in-law and a team talk

  • ★★ In London, not mainly for football, John watched a match with his father-in-law, which was really special despite a goalless draw, a long way to go to see no goals. (playful) — 00:02:55 · London
  • ★★ John got to give the team a short talk, telling the players he was excited to see them play a massive game in person and very grateful to be with them. — 00:02:55 · AFC Wimbledon

00:03:23 — Wimbledon's season, Matty Stevens and Marcus Browne; hope is correct; documentary plug, thanks for the book and sign-off

  • ★★ John says AFC Wimbledon have been quite good this season and striker Matty Stevens is one of the best in the league. — 00:03:23 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John says new central attacking midfielder Marcus Browne, signed with money from John's FIFA stream, makes the team look dangerous. — 00:03:23
  • ★ John jokes that Wimbledon have conceded heartbreaking late goals presumably to give the documentary maximum drama. (joke) — 00:03:23

  • ★★★ John says football and the documentary remind him that hope is correct: not always rewarded, with as much heartbreak as joy, but correct because things might get better, especially when we orient our love together. — 00:03:23 · hope, AFC Wimbledon

    “hope is correct”

  • ★★ Though very tired, John says he is excited and motivated by his work and grateful to everyone who has read and shared Everything Is Tuberculosis. — 00:03:51 · Everything Is Tuberculosis

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: AFC Wimbledon · AFC Wimbledon documentary series · association football · hope · third thing

Also: People: Donald Hall · Marcus Browne · Matty Stevens

Works: Everything Is Tuberculosis · FIFA (video game series) · Ted Lasso · The Third Thing

Organizations: Chicago Bulls · EFL League One · EFL League Two · The New York Times · United States Congress · YouTube

Terms: doobly-doo

Concepts: Development aid · fan ownership · infectious disease · labyrinthitis · love · Marriage · tuberculosis · vomiting

Places: London · New Zealand · Peru

Events: FIFA World Cup

Only in the description or credits: Jonathan Vogler · Rosianna Halse Rojas · The Last Dance

Also centred on association football: THE BEST DAY

Also centred on third thing: That's the way.

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