Director's Notes: Episode 216 - The Ball Is Where The Win Is

This episode was written by request.

We needed an episode that didn't have Cecil in it, because Cecil was going to be away for quite awhile in Europe, and we just didn't have time to write and record enough episodes to cover that period before he left. So I had vague plans to write an episode for Steve Carlsberg, because Hal is always a delight to write for. But I didn't have much of a clear idea what that episode was going to be.

Then the answer came from our sister show, Good Morning Night Vale (you're listening to Good Morning Night Vale, right?). In it, they were talking about Steve's time as coach of the wheelchair basketball league, and Hal said something to the effect of: "man, I'd love to hear one of his locker room talks." Well, sure, I could write that.

The structure of this episode owes a huge debt to the play Our Last Game by Ed Schmidt, which I had the pleasure to see in the East Village back in 2015. It was performed in an actual locker room of a high school gym, and it was a series of locker room speeches made by a coach given in reverse chronological order, starting with his last game, and ending with his first. It's a fascinating way to tell a story, and an exciting one to try out. 

One issue with writing a sports episode, for me, is that I know almost nothing about any sport. Almost all of the sports jokes in Night Vale are written by Jeffrey. So in this case I just left some blanks in the script for him, with something like "[fill in with real sports thing here]". Jeffrey also added the running joke about quotes from famous basketball coaches, as I could not name a single basketball coach if my life depended on it. 

The title card giving the year of each speech is, I believe, the first time Disparition's voice has appeared in the show. If you want more of it, he wrote and performed his own fiction podcast, In A Walled City, that I highly recommend. It is weird and beautiful and so entirely unlike what anyone else has done with the form. 

Last, but not least, the title of the episode came from me trying to figure out Steve's version of Clear Eyes Full Hearts Can't Lose. The very first thing that came to me was The Ball Is Where The Win Is. It is rare that your first idea is the best one, but it does happen.

Ok, everyone in. One, two, three. The Ball Is Where The Win Is. You're all doing so well. You're all making me so proud.

-Joseph Fink