Original subtitles

[whooshing]

[monotonic tense music]

[Jon] Welcome to the Olympic Village, everybody.

I just want to say, let's get a fucking quick

round of applause for making it to Tokyo.

[all cheering and applauding]

[calming ambient music]

[Shlomo] We collectively,

are going to make

a documentary film.

I'm going to give out five cameras,

so one for each suite.

1401 Kelly and Gailen.

I'd like to really apologize

to anyone offended by this video.

[clicking]

[explosion]

[Nate] You got any words for the cameras?

No, I'll see you later. You can turn it off, though.

[all cheering]

Hell yeah!

[protestors] Long live Palestine!

Free, free Palestine!

Free, free Palestine!

[music continues]

[dramatic piano music]

[Eric] I don't know how much people have heard of this,

but this is, like, such a cool story.

[announcer] This is where it all begins.

The 2017 World Baseball Classic.

-[dramatic violin music] -[people cheering]

[Jon] The World Baseball classic.

Basically the baseball equivalent to the World Cup.

[Shlomo] We were a team that nobody expected to win.

[crowd gasps]

We beat a lot of teams that...

[cheering]

...were ranked way ahead of us.

[announcer] This magic carpet ride

continues for Israel.

There's actually a crew following them,

putting together a documentary.

[Shlomo] Heading Home was a massive success.

-[Shlomo] There were so many screenings... -[cheering]

...creating this kind of ripple effect...

...to get stuff that we wanted long term

for Israel baseball,

like fields, more players.

[newscaster] The 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Baseball is returning for the first time since 2008.

From a logical perspective,

the Olympics were the natural next step.

We've done it once. Why can't we do it again?

Uh, I feel like I'd say, "Hey, Israel!",

but, hey, Israeli baseball team,

you're badasses and I'm wishing you the best of luck.

Do it-- Do it for us.

You're chosen, for God's sakes.

[upbeat percussion music]

[Shlomo] There are only six teams

that could qualify for the Olympics.

There was going to be one team coming from Europe and Africa.

[muted]

[Shlomo] Our chances were very, very low.

[Eric] We got to Bulgaria, ended up 6-0.

We then went to Lithuania, beat them two games.

[all applauding]

[upbeat music continues]

[Eric] Then we go to Germany.

We were 4-0.

We had guaranteed fifth place.

[Peter] The top five teams fly to Italy for the Olympic qualifiers.

Get in here.

[laughing]

[man] Good choice.

[Ben] We had just won three games...

...and then we were coming up against South Africa.

[muted]

We were all a little nervous because

to compete at the Olympics...

...that was the must-win game.

[Jonathan] There's us and five other countries

that are playing for a berth to the Olympics.

That's the most high-stakes situation

I've ever been a part of.

[Tal] We had Shlomo coming in. We're like, "All right,

this is, you know, this is meant to be right now."

[soft dramatic music]

[Shlomo] For me, not even having

fantasized about playing in the Olympics,

it was pretty dramatic.

All of a sudden, you throw that last pitch.

[Tal] We had a fly ball to right field.

[announcer] And that's the out.

We just did a pretty amazing thing right here.

[cheering]

[Tal] We qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

[announcer] It's official.

Israel is going to the Olympic Games.

Everybody jumping up and celebrating, taking out the champagne.

And it was, uh... I was crying. It was an incredible feeling.

[muted]

[Shlomo] There were six teams going to the Olympics.

Japan...

...Korea...

...United States...

...Mexico...

...Dominican Republic

and Israel.

[Alex] We are the lowest-ranked team by far.

This is our special Olympic preview,

breaking down Olympic baseball action.

-Aah! -[laughing]

[Sam] Team Israel,

probably the biggest underdog here.

They have quite the collection of players.

They've got retired guys, they've got free agents.

They've got regular dudes.

They really don't deserve to be there.

And they'll probably get crushed every game they play.

[Eric] We were considered...

[camera shutters clicking]

...the Jamaican bobsled team of baseball.

That's just nonsense that they would even call us a ragtag baseball team.

We're not going to the Olympics because we're crap.

[Jon] DraftKings, FanDuel,

whoever's got those odds out there...

...we're gonna make some people surprised, to say the least.

We like being the underdogs.

And, and if that's what we are, that's what we are.

They can keep writing articles about how we're stepchildren.

I don't really care.

[Shlomo] Between circling your next goal...

...and having any realistic chance,

I think there was a massive gap. [scoffs]

[lighthearted music]

[Jonathan Sacks] It needs no courage,

just a certain naivety to be an optimist.

It needs a great deal of courage

to have hope.

No Jew, knowing what we do

about history and our own past

so often written in tears,

can be an optimist.

But no, Jew who is a true Jew,

can ever give up hope.

[Nate] Heading Home 2. Check, check, check.

-[laughter] -Give me a clap. Check this out.

Thank you, and we're rolling.

-You ready to roll? -[man] Ready to roll.

[Nate] Jamie Israel reporting live from Newark Airport.

[Peter] Baseball never made very much of an impression in Israel.

But the Olympics is something else.

The Olympics is a whole different story.

[music speeding up]

[Nate] That's hilarious.

We got team USA and Team República Dominicana

on the same flight.

This could get nasty.

[Peter] Getting into the Olympics,

that's what's going to get baseball popular in Israel.

[Peter] When we arrive to Japan...

[Nate] What's happening?

...we all had to sit

in this isolated area

and wait for the results to come back negative.

[indistinct chatter]

[Nate] We've been held at the airport here,

for five hours, with the Dominican team.

[Eric] We were quarantined together in Tokyo.

Off the field, everybody's friendly.

[chattering in Spanish]

On the field, you wanna kill each other.

[cameraman] We are here with Joey Bats.

Joey, where are we going?

I want to go to Mount Fuji.

I think we're going to the village.

-[cameraman] Are you sure about that? -I hope so.

[Jon] Welcome to the Olympic Village, everybody.

[indistinct chatter]

[Nate] I met a smoke show from Zambia.

[Ryan] We can stay safe and the other teams get COVID,

we might have an easier path to a medal.

So, like, seriously, no. Like, let's try to--

Like 90, 90 people here already got it.

So let's try to be safe, so...

[Peter] The Olympic Village...

...is not the Marriott or the Hilton Hotel.

[Nate] This is one of the suites. So we have six suites.

Holtzi, what's up? Sorry I'm filming.

Bedroom one, bedroom two,

the coaches offices.

[Peter] Two people to a room

and the beds are made from reprocessed boxes.

[Nate] We're turning our, uh, laundry racks into tables

for extra storage.

And then out to the balcony,

right across from it, looks like Team Turkey,

Team Tunisia.

[monotonic piano music]

[Peter] Every country puts the flags of the country

on the building where you end up being.

[announcer] Peter Jennings is inside the village. Peter?

[Peter Jennings] Jim, I am almost directly over the Israeli building.

It does appear to be confirmed

that these guerrillas are from

a group called Black September.

There were 11 hostages,

two were killed in their rooms.

Nine were killed

at the airport tonight.

They're all gone.

[piano music continues]

[whooshing]

[Eric] What is it to be Israeli?

This was actually the first Olympics since 1972

that Israel hung a flag outside of our building

so that people knew where we were.

Between 1972 and now,

Israel was kind of hidden

in all of the Olympic Games

because of what had happened in Munich.

[Ben] Because of what happened in Munich...

...getting all that gear with Israel's name all over it, was pretty amazing,

just knowing what kind of moment you were being a part of.

This ain't gonna work.

[laughing]

-[man 1] Go to the tailor. -[man 2] Where's the tailor?

-[man 3] At the village. -[man 4] At the main entrance, there is a big--

[Tal] The whole world is watching right now.

[man 5] We're going to the park, the village.

We're in the opening ceremony.

We can't have uniforms that don't fit.

[man 5] We're headed to get our pants hemmed.

[Tal] And then we heard there was a tailor

at the Olympic Village.

[soft music]

Hi, mom.

[Alon] "Hi, mom?"

[man] Hi.

[Tal] They said, "It might take a week."

I was like, "The opening ceremony is tomorrow.

Like, you better get this fixed today."

What do you think? Too, too tight?

How tight is too tight?

-[Jon] Nobody really knows. -Nobody knows.

She went a little tighter than I said.

-[man 1] Dude! -[man 2] Look at his biceps, dude.

[man 1] Dude, that's outrageous.

-How are you going to move? -[man 3] Yeah.

[Ben] I don't think Blake's was misfitted.

He wanted it exactly like that to show off the muscles.

Um, I had-- I think he had no problems with that.

[man 1] It looks like a Halloween costume.

-[man 2] Yeah. -[laughter]

Wow, bro. What a photo you just took.

[man] I don't think it needs much editing.

[soft suspenseful music]

[Tal] All the delegations are getting ready

for the opening ceremony.

Everyone's excited.

[cheers and applause]

[Shlomo] As a kid, I don't have a ton of memories

of baseball in the Olympics

because baseball was almost never in the Olympics.

But one thing that I knew...

...we would never hear anything about the Munich Olympics...

...during the Olympics opening ceremony.

[news reporter] The campaign to hold a moment of silence

during the opening ceremony of the Olympics is growing,

as is anger directed at the IOC's

continuing refusal to do so.

So shame on you

International Olympic Committee because...

[applause]

...you are discriminating against them

only because they're Israelis and Jews.

[applause]

[Shlomo] As an athlete,

you're arriving seven hours before the opening ceremony.

[indistinct chatter]

[Tal] We had the two flag bearers, uh,

Yakov Toumarkin and then Hanna Minenko.

Big time Israeli athletes.

[Shlomo] You're stuck in the tunnels,

waiting for hours and hours on end.

[clapping and chanting]

[Alex] That just builds up the hype.

[Shlomo] And then, all of a sudden,

you just have this kind of quietness.

[soft suspenseful music]

[male announcer] We, the Olympic community,

remember the members of the Israeli delegation

at the Olympic Games Munich 1972.

We invite you to stand

for this moment of silence.

That moment of remembrance

of the members of the Israeli Olympic team

murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group, Black September,

that has not happened at an opening ceremony before.

That, for me, was probably the most emotional that I got.

[applause]

[Ben] We were walking into a huge stadium.

Due to Covid, there was nobody in the stadium,

but millions of people were watching...

...thinking about, "Look how far this country has come."

[female announcer] Here comes Israel.

We, of course, saw that moving tribute earlier

to those lost in Munich.

[Ben] Representing Israel...

...was one of the greatest honors of my life.

[Alex] Every athlete in the Olympics

needs to have citizenship

for the country that they're representing.

Many guys on our team

are from the US.

It was pretty surreal...

...becoming a citizen of Israel.

[indistinct chatter]

[Peter] The guys were a little nervous.

They knew becoming a citizen of Israel was a little bit different.

The greatest thing, for me, is to have you guys making Aliyah

and being part of Israel.

Committing themselves to something that they weren't so sure about.

I'm going to be getting Israeli citizenship in five minutes.

You need to sign here and here.

[Peter] Supporting a country that, in many eyes,

is not the best country in the world.

-[melancholic music] -[cheers and applause]

[Peter] We're going to send you to Gaza now and, uh...

[stutters] fight the Hamas.

-Are you ready for that? -Uh, no, I got to--

-I got to warm up a little bit. -[Peter laughs]

[distant missiles whooshing]

[Peter] Earlier this morning,

missiles were sent by Hamas to Israel.

Um, one was sent to Beersheba, where it destroyed a house.

Um, there were four people there,

but they all went to the safe room.

By the way, this is the safe room over here.

Just be aware of where the safe rooms are

when you're in different places or walking in the street.

[Jonathan] All the rockets being sent to and from Israel,

I mean, I've never experienced anything like that.

[Gabe] For me, this was about a feeling and about Judaism,

and that's why I wanted to become an Israeli.

I'm from California and-- pretty liberal area,

and there was definitely a lot of people who were like,

"Wow, that's the dumbest thing you've ever done."

[all cheering]

[Peter] They were extremely concerned

about coming here,

about sacrificing their lives.

Is it possible to delay the visit?

That would be a big deal in LA if a, if a missile lands

ten miles off of Santa Monica pier.

That would be a...

...a red flag for us.

[Peter] I said, "Listen, you guys are Israelis now.

You're not scared Americans.

You're tough Israelis."

-[wind instrument] -[muted]

-Pretty much, yeah. -I know it's very hot.

I know.

It was terrible.

Going uphill right now.

Keep it up, keep it up.

-You know I'm a baseball player, right? -Yeah.

[exhales]

[indistinct chatter]

[music continues]

[Jon] We're with the Israeli baseball team.

We're playing in the Olympics in Tokyo,

and we brought him a shirt.

And so, when he's ready and he can wear it

and he'll be able to support our, the team

and, and, uh, our Olympic team, here in Israel.

And, uh, and...

I'll put this down, a little bracelet for him, as well.

-No, no? Yeah? Is that all right? -Yeah.

They brought this bracelet. You want to take it?

[Jon] Brought the bracelet for you.

And...

[woman] Wow.

There's only a few of these out there.

So we got you a Tokyo...

a shirt with our team logo on it

and, uh, and our flag and everything. So...

Yeah. Awesome.

You got a new fan.

[woman] Huh...

Can you guys just let him know that everyone on the team

wants to say hello and that--

-[woman] You can tell him. -[Judi] Just tell him.

Okay. Everyone on our team is,

is really excited, um...

...to have you as a fan.

We're pulling for you and we're with you.

[muted]

Really nice to meet you.

[emotional music]

[woman] Squeeze his hand. Squish!

-Not too hard. -[Judy] He's, he's a pitcher.

[Jon] I'm getting a squeeze. There it is.

-[nurse] Okay. -[Jon] All right.

All right, guys. Thank you.

[indistinct chatter]

Hello.

[applause]

Okay.

Yes.

[players laughing]

[Peter] I'm not so sure if getting citizenship...

...is, is-- it's not the final, stamp in their, in their

in their passport or in their career.

It's just the first stamp in a, in a longer journey.

Baseball team, be very serious. No smiling.

[muted]

Even though the government and the politics

haven't gone the way I, I hoped it would go,

uh, I still believe in Israel.

And I hope that that I'm able

to give over to the players as well.

[indistinct announcement on PA]

[announcer] ...Brandon Hicks.

[crowd cheering]

[Eric] In our training games leading up to Tokyo...

...we got the first taste of what it was really like to be Israeli.

[woman] Free Palestine!

[monotonic piano music]

This movement of Zionism that this team is representing

is a true embarrassment to our people, to the Jewish people,

and it's a desecration of our religion.

This occupation of Palestine,

of an entire indigenous people that live there,

is forbidden according to Judaism.

We are forbidden to kill...

-[camera shutter clicks] -...and oppress an entire people.

[Eric] It was just crazy.

Nobody was playing for a contract.

Nobody was playing for their next job.

They were playing for the country of Israel.

[announcer] Please rise.

[singing in Hebrew]

We watched them in the World Baseball Classic a couple of years ago,

and we really followed them really closely.

They were the Cinderella story

and made it to the, uh, semifinals, that tournament.

And... uh, it just--

we were just bursting with pride.

[Rich] Instead of normalizing a baseball game

with an Israeli team,

we're here to say that,

Israel is an apartheid state,

it's a racist state, it's a genocidal state.

We kind of are like, the most hated team.

We got protesters at...

...every game.

[Shlomo] There's so much passion about Israeli politics.

[singing in Hebrew continues]

[crowd boos]

[Shlomo] Players that are new to Israeli politics

were interested to know why is this happening.

[monotonic piano music]

We use it as an opportunity

to create a real dialog within the team.

We can have this Jewish state

where only Jews can come back to Israel.

But then, also, we got to include the Arabs and the Palestinians.

So how do you balance both? I don't know.

[Shlomo] That's what you get when you put a group of Jews in one bus.

You start talking about stuff

that's maybe beyond the normal dialogue

on a baseball team.

[protestors] Intifada! Intifada!

[woman] Long live the Intifada!

Long live the Intifada!

Long live Palestine!

Long live Palestine!

Free, free Palestine!

-Free, free Palestine! -Free, free...

-[Ryan] Am I recording? -[Mitch] No, you have to press the red button.

[Ryan] Yeah, there you go.

Talk to me about the security here.

How do you get-- How do we get to the 14th floor?

[Mitch] 14th floor.

Well, we're going down to 11th right now.

-[Ryan] Wait. Let's start over. -[Mitch] Okay.

Hey, it's Ryan Lavarnway and Mitch Glasser.

We are on the 14th floor,

and the security here is very tight.

Elevator only goes up to the 11th floor.

Then you got to go through facial recognition, security,

and walk up the final steps.

Now we're actually going down. So we'll show you the way.

[Eric] The elevator is locked at 11.

So we get off at 11.

[Mitch] 11th floor security barrier.

This is definitely gonna hold you up.

It was a pain in the ass 'cause we were walking up and down,

you know, flights of stairs like 15 times a day.

[Ryan] Security guards.

[beeping]

[gate opens]

Facial recognition.

Grab your GPS tracker. In case they need to find you.

[Ben] We had trackers on us at all times.

So we were all totally fine, just walking into the village.

But it is a thought that crosses your mind...

...'cause, historically speaking,

that wasn't always the case.

[uplifting music]

[trimmer buzzing]

[Nate] Blake's barbershop is what we're calling it.

Making sure that we look good.

How many guys have you cut their hair?

I think you're going to be 6 or 7.

[trimmer buzzing]

You're gonna shave my, uh, chest hair too?

That's extra.

I think you should leave it like that.

I can't tell.

[Nate] It's really coming together.

Is it?

[Nate] How do you feel about our chances?

I'm excited for our chances.

Honestly, I think we have, I think we have a good chance, uh...

...to move past our pool play.

Plus, he's holding a razor and he's cutting my neck right now.

[imitates choking]

I'm actually going to the Olympics.

-No way! -I know.

-Like, to watch? -No, we're gonna play.

-Who's "we"? -Uh, Team Israel.

Wait.

I know.

You're Israeli?

I am Israeli now.

[Nate] Have you guys explored Olympic Village?

[uplifting music]

[Shlomo] As an Israeli who grew up in Israel...

...I'm very aware of the animosity

that exists out there in the world, towards us.

[Shlomo] And when you walk into the Olympic Village...

...some of the words to describe it is

fantasy camp...

...a utopia.

You know, we are the world with all the top athletes,

with very good-looking people

eating amazing food.

[cameraman] See that plate. What do you got there?

[Shlomo] I initially was in denial.

But there was definitely some kind of weirdness.

[man] Yes, please.

[woman] Everyone.

Pin trading is one of the most common things

to do in, in the Olympics.

[Scott] I got Russia, I got Poland.

[Shlomo] The tradition of exchanging pins goes back to Little League.

I've got USA tennis.

[Joey] Yeah, but did you get a Papua New Guinea, Scotty?

I got Saint Lucia, Germany, Fiji.

I bet you didn't get none of those.

[Alex] It's a good way to meet athletes from other countries.

[melancholic music]

[cameraman] Blake, did you get turned down today?

-[Blake] Yeah, I think it was Sweden. -[cameraman] Yeah?

They gave me a pin, but they,

they told me they didn't want ours.

[cameraman] Anybody give you any pins?

I got turned down a few times.

Uzbekistan didn't want anything to do with us.

We just say, "Hello"

and people wouldn't even look at us

because we're wearing Israel on our back.

-[Scott] Do you guys have pins? -[woman] No, sorry.

[Scott] No?

-[light chuckle] -Got denied.

[man] Scotty, I'm proud of you for at least initiating.

So of course, when we're walking down and up the elevator...

...no one's really saying hello to each other and no one knows what sport.

So...

Now you're starting to think,

"Oh, let me just hang out with Team Israel."

Look, what are they doing over there?

[man 1] That's what we need to be doing.

-[man 2] Do you see that tie? -[man 3] Uh, yeah.

There's no place to sit other than our beds in here.

[Ben] We had been hearing a lot about

how the beds in the Olympic Village

were made of cardboard and how sturdy they were.

[laughs]

I'm here at the Olympics and I'm going to test out the cardboard beds for you all,

doing various activities.

[Shlomo] Videos started surfacing on TikTok

of athletes jumping on the beds.

They're made out of cardboard, yes, but apparently,

they're meant to break at any sudden movements.

[laughter]

[woman] Michael Phelps, she's going.

Oh!

-[Ben] One of our rooms... -[cameraman] That bed was in that room.

...had a few extra beds in it.

[cameraman] What are we doing?

[Ben] The bed video...

...we really didn't think that there would be

much backlash from it, at the time.

But when your name is associated with Israel,

like, you have to really, really watch what you do.

[indistinct chatter]

-Where's your phone? -Um...

-Interesting. -Where is it?

-Oh, we'll go one by one? -[cameraman] What're you guys doing?

-Filming a TikTok. -So we're only adding one extra person each time.

[cameraman] Sorry, documentary. You're gonna have to watch this on TikTok.

So, today we're gonna check and see how many Israelis

it takes to break one of these cardboard beds.

-["Bad Habits" by Ed Sheeran] -[TikTok narrator] One.

-♪ Conversations with a stranger I barely know ♪ -Two.

-Three. Four. -♪ Swearin' this will be the last but it probably won't ♪

-Five. Almost. -♪ I got nothin' left to lose or use, or do ♪

-Six. Seven. -♪ My bad habits lead to wide eyes stare into space ♪

♪ And I know I'll lose control ♪

♪ Of the things that I say Yeah ♪

-♪ I was lookin' for a way out Now I can't escape ♪ -Eight.

[Ben] The bed ended up holding nine people.

-Grand finale nine! -♪ My bad habits lead to you ♪

[Ben] A lot of people received the video.

The way it was intended,

we were just having some fun as a team.

[gentle piano music]

[Shlomo] And then, you had the folks who said,

"This is a disgrace.

They need to send back the, send back the players,

uh, send back the team."

[piano music continues]

And then, the media turned on us.

-Say "Hi" to my sister, Blake. -Hi.

Hi! Are you gonna break another bed or what, guys?

Our, our delegation is not very happy about it.

-[laughs] -Yeah, I can imagine.

That is exaggerating, a little bit.

Yeah, I've been getting a lot of hate.

-Anti-Semitic and the-- -Really?

-In person? Because you're-- -Yeah, personally.

I got hundreds of DMs insulting who I was,

insulting the country that I was representing,

um, some death threats.

There is an odd controversy

at the Olympic Village right now.

[male news reporter] Israel's Olympic baseball team uploaded a TikTok video

of players jumping on a bed.

[female news reporter] The Israeli Olympic Committee

condemned the team members involved.

-[muted] -[dramatic music]

[cameraman] On our way to the first practice. How do you feel?

-[man] Great. Ready to go. -[cameraman] Yeah?

[cameraman] So what's your first impression of this place?

[Peter] But it's in the back of your mind all the time,

with what happened, with the beds.

You're at shortstop or whatever,

and, you know, a sniper can come and shoot you

because you're Israeli.

[dramatic music continues]

[cameraman] The fuck is going on here? Is this a drill?

Is this a fucking exercise?

Or is this real?

[indistinct chatter]

[cameraman] Everyone okay?

[cameraman] Everyone's okay?

-They're just doing a test? -[man] Yes.

[cameraman] Got you.

-[Jordy] I can't take it in. -[Jon scoffs]

No, I'm serious. It's like, it's too much.

It's silliness.

[Ben] We decided, as a group, to put out some kind of an apology.

-I'm just adding a few things. -[Jon] Added a quick edit.

Yeah, you're getting good film on this?

[Jon] Yeah, I, I guess so.

I guess this is becoming part of it now.

Many of you may have seen the video I posted

of some of my teammates and me

jumping on one of the cardboard beds.

I'd like to really apologize

to anyone offended by this video.

We meant no disrespect

and just wanted to show off

how effective and sturdy the beds are

in the Olympic Village.

We actually enjoy sleeping on these beds

and think they are great and a sustainable option

for future Olympics.

We apologize again to anyone offended by this video.

My teammates and I have had

nothing short of a great experience

so far in Japan.

Thank you.

[Jordy] You're okay.

[Jon] You've got a future in politics.

[soft piano music]

[man on phone] What's going on?

Other than destroying beds, not much.

Oh, yes, we are getting ready for baseball Olympics.

That's, that's true.

[man 1] All right, let's do this thing.

-[clears throat] -[man 2] Is Shlo filming?

-[Shlomo] Can we just squeeze in here? -[man 3] Absolutely.

The last thing that I wanted was to be a distraction

from what we were trying to do.

[team member] We wanted to give you a brief overview of South Korea.

Now, for hitters,

if you just want to look at kind of their defensive stuff,

defense up here, their base running.

[Ryan] We're gonna win if we don't walk people,

where you challenge them, stay in the strike zone,

make them swing the bat.

We're going to score some runs so we don't need to,

we don't need to throw a shutout,

but we keep it within reason,

we're going to win.

[man 1] All right, let's do it, boys.

[man 2] All right. So excited.

[indistinct chatter]

[soft tense music]

[announcer] The Israeli baseball team

is 24th in the international rankings,

one of only six teams to reach Tokyo 2020.

[newscaster] South Korea's baseball team,

the defending Olympic champions,

begin their quest to defend the title this evening.

They face Jon Moscot, a former major leaguer.

[news reporter] Fans of Team Israel could not make it

to Tokyo for the Olympics.

No fans allowed in the stadium,

but they're here instead

here in New York City

for the opening round game against Korea.

We're celebrating Israel making its--

God willing, right?

Getting the gold, hopefully,

you know, for the Olympics.

So what do you think?

[announcer] Moscot on the mound.

Ready to make his Olympic debut.

S-- strike one from Moscot.

[Nate] Jon Moscot,

are you ready to start game one

of the Olympics tomorrow?

And that's what makes Jon great,

-delusional confidence. -[laughter]

[music continues]

[announcer 1] There's a bouncer back to the mound

and they have the runner caught.

Moscot will run right at him...

...and will fake a throw

and dives and he got him.

That's a nice play by Moscot.

[announcer 2] I'm not so sure it's good from the look of pain

-in his face. -[announcer 1] You're right.

[Ben] He got out there and threw his first eight or so pitches.

[Shlomo] Then,

he immediately clutches his arm.

-[melancholic music] -[heartbeats]

[muted]

[announcer] Conference out on the mound here.

[Ben] He threw one more pitch and then...

...he felt a pop in his elbow.

[Shlomo] You could tell his arm was completely disconnected.

[Tal] I personally have never seen that type of injury

by a pitcher in a game my whole life.

[Eric] He tore his UCL.

It was just unbelievably crucial for us to lose,

arguably, our number one guy right there.

[announcer] Israel starts the Olympic baseball performance.

It's not going swimmingly at this stage.

[Tal] We really need him to start this game.

We really need him in the tournament

and first inning comes and there goes your plans

you just did for two years.

[Eric] I turned to my coaching staff,

"I guess we're going with plan B."

Plan B had guys doing things that they weren't ready for,

to throw two innings or three innings.

[announcer] Out of the bullpen, Alex Katz, 26 years of age.

[Alex] I was the first pitcher to come out on the bullpen cart.

Hopefully they bring those bullpen carts here to the US.

[Adrienne] Yeah, come on! That's my boy!

Come on, Alex!

[woman] Oh, my God.

I'm his number one fan.

We've been doing this since he's five.

Yeah! Yeah!

You better call that a strike!

[Alex] I remember a few years ago, I was pitching.

She had the flash on her camera on by accident.

She didn't know, she didn't know how to use her camera

and every time I threw a pitch,

like, a bright flash went in my face,

so I said, "Mom, you know, to play it safe,

just pick f-- first base or third base.

Uh, don't, don't, don't go directly behind home plate."

He's fooling him with that.

[people exclaiming]

Oh, no! Did he hit him?

Yeah, he did.

[announcer] That may well be all for Katz.

[Alex] I pitched a scoreless inning, so I kept the team in the game.

Honestly, it was kind of weird.

There's millions of people watching back home,

but there's nobody in the stands.

My mom said,

"Could you imagine, my son was in the Olympics

and his family couldn't even go watch?"

[applause]

[soft suspenseful piano music]

-[cheering] -[announcer] His pitches hits

deep left-center field back to the wall and gone.

-[Adrienne] Yeah! -[all cheering]

Yeah! Yeah!

[man] Uh-oh.

Oh, shoot.

[announcer] The Koreans have taken the lead.

[crowd cheering]

[announcer] Ryan Lavarnway's second home run of the game.

Israel is all tied up with the Republic of Korea.

It's 5-5.

[announcer] Israel and the heavily favored Koreans

going to extra innings.

[Jeremy] I, I haven't played since 2019.

[announcer] Well, what we're seeing from Bleich,

just he's dropping down.

I'm starting to get my heart rate in a place where I can control it

and, you know, deal with adversity.

'Cause there will be adversity within games.

There always is.

[announcer] In the bottom of the tenth.

What can Bleich do now?

[Eric] Jeremy hit the batter.

[announcer] Bases loaded.

Winning run could score.

[Eric] The second guy's jersey was untucked.

I was mad at myself for not calling time-out

and asking the umpire to have him tuck in his shirt.

What are the odds of Jeremy hitting the second guy's jersey?

[announcer] That hits Yang Eui-ji to end the game.

[cheering]

[Eric] He hits the batter.

They walk off and beat us 5-6.

[announcer] Dramatic finish,

but such a sad one for Jeremy Bleich.

[Adrienne] Damn!

No, no, that's not a good way to lose.

They have to, to brush off and get ready for tomorrow

and face Team USA and win.

Thank you for coming. We'll win tomorrow.

[Eric] There's nothing that you tell Jeremy.

Give him a hug and tell him you love him

and, "I'm going to give you the ball tomorrow."

You also know that there's zero chance

that Jeremy is going to be sleeping to-- tonight.

[Nate] Hey, kid.

You got any words for the cameras?

[Jeremy] Not right now, but you can put it away,

and I'll, uh...

-I'll, I'll just talk to you later. -[Nate] Off camera?

No, I'll see you later. You can turn it off, though.

[bright music]

Well, thanks guys. [sighs] I appreciate it.

-[man 1] Thank you. -[man 2] Thank you, Jon.

[Shlomo] Jon Moscot, to top it all off,

he could be called any minute

because he's expecting a ch-- a, a child.

His wife is giving birth.

You wanna go home early?

I, I told my wife, I said,

"Hey, what do you, what do you, what do you think?"

Gave her the option and, and...

[all laughing]

[indistinct chatter, laughter]

The Israeli baseball team has finally made its Olympic debut

against South Korea.

Tomorrow against the Americans.

Jeremy Wolf, who would you say

that Team Israel's biggest competition is,

at the Olympics?

[sighs] Uh, ourselves.

[soft tense music]

[Eric] The next game was Team USA.

-[cameraman] What are we gonna do today? -[Eric] We're gonna work hard.

[cameraman] Anything more specific?

[laughter]

[sighs] Honestly,

it was the only game that I felt we had no shot.

The reason was having to use

so many pitchers against Korea.

We just didn't have enough guns left.

[Alex] We were on the same flight as Team USA

and Team Dominican Republic.

[Ben] These teams were the top in the world.

[indistinct chatter]

What up, Joey?

[Ben] Some of the guys that you even watch on TV.

[man] They're pretty excited that they won.

[upbeat music playing]

[soft suspenseful music]

[Ben] Going up against Team USA made me a little nervous.

[Nate] Okay.

[announcer] Such a big moment for Israeli baseball.

Qualifying for the Olympic Games.

They're in for a battle tonight.

[announcer] That ball was lifted into the outfield.

Into the gap.

Oh, no! Misplayed.

Gailen with the error.

I don't really get rattled on the mound, ever,

but that game was really tough.

[Eric] We were in for some shit that day.

But seeing the blue and white

against the top teams in the world

gave everybody in Israel an incredible sense of pride.

We're a baseball family from Ra'anana.

Uh, these boys were born and bred in Israel.

[Aviad] Coming back like the Maccabim did,

learning from defeat

and eventually overcoming it

is what brings us all together

as a, as a nation and as a people.

Oh, here's Shlomo.

-Shlomo was born in Israel. -[man] Oh, my God.

[gentle piano music]

[announcer] Glasser grounds it, lines it.

Well, bobbled.

Called out.

That was a good play. Kind of, not really.

Wasn't pretty, but they got it, they got it done. [chuckles]

[announcer] Alon Leichman in now for Israel.

[man 1] He's Israeli. He grew up in Kibbutz Gezer,

he played on the national team with my son.

[man 2] It's the second native born Israeli in a row.

Strike! His first pitch is a strike. All right.

-[cheering] -Hey!

[kids chattering]

[Tal] Playing baseball in Israel...

...the struggles and the complications

of getting to practices.

The base was gone 'cause the dog chewed it and just ran away with it.

Do Israelis even know the difference

between a strike out and a stolen base?

Uh, no. To be honest,

they don't even know what baseball is.

[announcer] Tal Erel pinch hitting for Israel.

That's Tal. That's Tal.

Tal's up. Yeah.

He grew up in Tel Aviv.

He played baseball all the time.

[Tal] When I was in elementary school,

my PE teacher would ask, like,

"Okay, can you pick a real sport?"

[announcer] Swing and a miss. He struck him out.

[all exclaiming]

"Hey, you know, I play in the Olympics

while you can-- you know, you're still a PE teacher."

This is definitely a building block for Israeli baseball, right?

We got a-- it's a, it's a step forward.

[announcer] Team USA with an 8-1 victory.

Tough night at the office for Team Israel.

The only way we can win is when we're the underdogs.

-That makes sense. There we go. -That's right. We wanna be

-the underest underdog. -We wanna be the--

-The underest of underdogs. -The least likely to win.

-That's right. We wanna come from behind. -And then we'll win.

-And then we'll take, we'll take a medal. -That's it, that's it.

We got to wander in the desert before we kind of get

-to the promised land. -Exactly.

So many people, all over the country,

like, then all over the world

like, that reached out to us after that.

Like, the appreciation that we felt after that was amazing.

The official shirt of the Israel baseball team in the Olympics.

[man] Woo-hoo!

[applause]

[Jonathan] I think that's when things

really hit hard.

[water lapping]

[cameraman] How's it going?

"How's it going?" [scoffs]

-[chuckles] Um... -[muffled laugh]

It's just the truth.

We're a fucking mess.

We're a fucking mess.

[Danny] You know who sucks?

Everyone on our team. Uh...

-Wait. Are you recording? -[laughter]

[lighthearted music]

[announcer] No female gymnast in history

has ever taken this event on like Simone Biles.

[Jonathan Sacks] The single most important distinction

is between the urgent

and the important.

[crowd cheering]

-[female announcer] And-- -[male announcer] Wow.

[female announcer] It looks like she got

almost lost in the air.

[Jonathan Sacks] Very often, we fail to take time out...

[Jonathan Sacks] ...for the things that are important,

but not urgent.

I didn't want to risk the team a medal

for, uh, kind of, my screw ups,

because they've worked way too hard for that.

So I just decided that tho-- those girls need to go in

and do the rest of the competition.

And to deal with that,

Judaism created

the most powerful

time management tool

in civilization.

It is called "Shabbat."

As always, uh, it's an incredible privilege to spend Shabbat with you guys.

We'll start with candles.

[all] Amen.

[Shlomo] Things like life tend to speed up.

You're not really focusing on the moment.

[singing in Hebrew]

[all] Amen.

[Tal] We're all here as one family,

regardless of results.

Play ball, boys!

-[man] Hey! -[all clapping]

Once it was done, you refocus and you're, you're back playing

in the, in the Olympics.

[upbeat music]

[Alex] The format of the Olympics was still in our favor.

[bell chimes]

[Shlomo] Because there were only six teams,

it gave us a chance to win a medal

even though we lost our first two games.

[soft tense music]

[Alex] We still had a chance to even win the whole thing.

[elevator beeping]

[indistinct chatter]

[announcer] Welcome to judo here at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

[indistinct chatter]

[applause]

The judo athletes trained next door,

next to where you work out.

So you know them personally and then you see their success.

[all cheering and applauding]

[Tal] So why can't we be successful?

[cheering]

[applause]

[Eric] Judo was a nothing sport in Israel

until Yael Arad won her first medal,

Israel's first medal.

[Ian] The Olympians that have had success in the Olympics,

that sport has taken off in the country.

To be able to do that for the sport of baseball

would be, would be great.

[Shlomo] We entered the elimination round.

-[cameraman] Let's go, man. Israel v Mexico. -Let's go.

-Israel v Mexico. Right now. -[cameraman] Let's get it.

We're losing this, we're eliminated.

[Nate] We are versus Team Mexico in the elimination game.

So, win today, we get guaranteed two more games.

A loss today, and they kick our bitch asses

out of the Olympic Village.

[announcer] This has turned out to be an excellent baseball game, you know?

6-0, it was, for Israel, at one point.

Mexico so very nearly taking the lead.

It's 6-5 now, in this game.

[Eric] Coach Gill goes out

and I got a big kick out of this.

But they bring in Ali Perez.

Now I'm a, you know, born and raised Yankee fan.

They bring in an Ex-Met.

And we just tattoo this guy.

I mean, it was bad.

[dramatic epic music]

[announcer] And it's hit through the hole

in the right field for the base hit.

Israel 7, Mexico 5 now, the score.

-[grunts] -[thud]

One run is in.

Throw comes on the slide...

And it's 9-5 for Team Israel.

[cheering]

[announcer] Two-RBI single as well for Penprase.

It's 11-5.

Line drive, base hits.

12-5.

[Alex] I was in the bullpen.

All the pitchers were screaming.

I was taking after my mom, but...

...not at the same craziness.

[all cheering]

[Ben] I was called on to close out

the first win of the tournament for Israel.

[announcer] One strike to go.

This will be a big deal back in Israel,

as not so many sports that Israel can

legitimately compete for medals at.

[Ben] That's what we had set out to do,

win games in the Olympics.

We, we weren't there just to,

just to be there.

[announcer] That ball is skied to left field.

Paller stepping in, making the catch.

[applause]

[Tal] We beat Mexico.

Which is the first win ever for Israel,

in a team sport in the Olympics.

[song in Hebrew]

[all cheering]

Hell, yeah!

-Fuck, yeah! -Woo-hoo!

[Eric] It was just a tremendous up for Israel.

-Let's fucking go! -[man] Let's go.

Let's go.

Proving to the world that we kind of, we belong here.

Peter's fucking paying for dinner.

[all cheering]

[Alex] For the first time, it felt like

we were representing something bigger than ourselves.

[Mitch] Israel means my family.

I get the goosebumps now, thinking about it.

And, uh...

And so if I can show that love

and represent it across my chest...

...maybe Israel can have

a positive connotation around the world.

[men cheering]

I run a company called Stadium Custom Kicks.

It's a little side business I have,

besides playing baseball.

[man] Looks like Penprase is up first.

[Alex] Why not have the Star of David

or Israel colors on our cleats

rather than just wearing plain cleats?

[indistinct chatter]

-[man] Bring it in. -[clapping]

[Alex] Some players put their grandparents' names on it,

that were in the Holocaust.

[song in Hebrew continues]

[Alex] Every player got to really choose something

that had meaning to them.

[Jon] I'm gonna, uh, flip the camera here, real quick.

I've been waiting five years for this fucking moment.

So we're ready to go, boys, all right?

Let's do this thing.

[upbeat electronic music playing]

[Jon] We're gonna light it up.

[Eric] Emotions are high after a win.

[bass drops]

[Jon] Oh, there goes Mitch. Get it, baby.

[Eric] The problem is, in a short tournament...

[Jon] Kick some ass.

...you really can't take a day off.

[music continues playing]

The next game was our second with Korea.

We absolutely just took a shit in that game.

It felt like we were playing on a little league field.

We couldn't get them out.

[announcer] That's in the center field, that's gonna fall for a hit.

Coming in to score, Kim Hyun-soo.

[Eric] It was just one of those days.

We've all had them in baseball.

[announcer] The mercy rule kicking in, ending this game.

[indistinct announcement on PA]

[Eric] You just couldn't get off the field quick enough

and get ready for tomorrow.

In Olympic baseball, South Korea thrashed Israel this afternoon,

11 to 1, to advance to the semifinals.

The game was called in the seventh inning

due to the ten-run mercy rule.

-Hi. How are you? -[cameraman] Where are we?

We're walking to the bus.

It's confusing, but we're here.

[Eric] After all of the controversy.

Good games, bad games,

politics and hate...

...we were still there.

[cameraman] I'm making sure that everyone's face is on camera,

so they get in the movie.

[man] What if they don't use your B-roll?

[cameraman] There's no excuse. They will have the footage.

[Ben] We're like, "All right.

We really need to beat the Dominican Republic.

We need to shock the Olympics...

...and the world."

[upbeat music playing]

[cameraman] Fish, what do you think? What's going to happen there?

We get a dub, baby. We're gonna win 9-7.

-[cameraman] Cool. All right, man. -Let's get it. Yeah.

[music continues playing]

[Eric] Whoever lost his game was out

and whoever went on to win this game

was gonna have an opportunity for the bronze medal.

We're gonna go out there and we're gonna fight our asses off today.

-[cameraman] Who are you talking to? -I'm talking to my son Yoni.

We got to get a W today.

-[Jordy] Gotta get a W. -[cameraman] All right. All right, man.

-Words of advice. Great advice. Thank you, Yoni. -[laughing]

That's gonna be in Heading Home 2, by the way.

[soft tense music]

[Eric] The Dominican game was a game I'll never forget.

[inaudible chatter]

[Ben] The first batter of the game...

...bunted over the head of our third baseman.

[people shouting, applauding]

[announcer] That's going to be an error

that sees Bonifacio wind up all the way at third base.

[Eric] You had the Dominicans cheering in Spanish

and screaming and yelling.

[shouting in Spanish]

I think the Dominicans say, "Oh, Israel, they're the lowest-ranked team.

Maybe we'll start our third or fourth pitcher against them.

We'll save our starting pitcher for Team USA or Team Japan."

[Ben] Seeing a team disrespecting you,

you get a little extra juice in your system.

[dramatic music]

[announcer] That's down the right field line

and fair into the corner.

That's definitely gonna score at least one run.

Throw will come home and in, safely sliding,

to tie this game up at two ones apiece.

-[applause] -[muted]

-[all cheering] -[announcer] Muscles in the right field for a base hit.

[cheers and applause]

[announcer] Play at the plate.

Safe!

[all cheering]

[Ben] It was late in the game and we were down by one run

and our best hitter comes up, Danny Valencia.

[indistinct shouting]

[all cheering]

[Ben] That was probably the most excited

I've ever been on the baseball field.

[all cheering]

[announcer] Danny Valencia,

atop the home run charts

his third dinger of the tournament.

[applause]

[all cheering]

[Ben] How excited Danny got.

[man] Play ball, boys.

-[laughing] -[Ben] It was the moment when you think,

"Everything's gonna work out and we're gonna win this game."

[Ben] The next inning,

they come and hit a home run of their own.

[chattering in Spanish]

[announcer] How about this situation?

Here he is, a chance to win this game

for the Dominican Republic.

It's Joey Bats himself.

[Alex] Jose Bautista, also known as Joey Bats,

we actually met for the first time

on that plane, going to Japan.

[cameraman] Uh, Joey, where are we going?

I want to go to Mount Fuji.

[Alex] Bumped into him a, a bunch of times in the Olympic Village.

[man] What up, Joey?

[Alex] Some of the top...

[announcer] Bautista with the...

...talent out there.

[crowd cheering]

[whooshing]

[Eric] I think Jose Bautista was struck out...

[announcer] Breaking ball just missing.

...on a curve ball that fooled the umpire.

[melancholic music]

[Eric] He goes on next pitch to hit a single.

They walk off and beat us.

[Tal] Team Dominican Republic

didn't have high expectations for us,

going into the game.

[Shlomo] They didn't feel that we belong on the field.

[Tal] Then we almost beat them.

[applause]

And that earned us a lot of respect from them.

[music continues]

[Shlomo] We really hadn't had

any physical interaction with the players.

[Eric] We weren't supposed to touch each other because of Covid.

[Alex] People didn't give Israel

the respect that we should have had.

[Ben] Jews are discriminated against all around the world.

I was first-hand witness to that.

It just proves to people that we can compete with anyone.

[Eric] If we are taught

that it's okay to love somebody that's different

and we can do it through baseball,

man, then, then, then there's nothing better.

[pensive piano music]

[muted]

[Ben] Going into the locker room after the game,

we were pretty stunned. It was like, "Wow!

We're out. That's it."

[whooshing]

[indistinct chatter]

[man] That's it, from me.

That's it.

[Eric] It was go backpack and we got to leave

as soon as they can get us flights

out of the village because of Covid.

They wanted us out, literally, the next day.

[Nate] Hey, man, where is everybody?

Everyone's gone.

[Eric] As a coach, there's always next game,

next season,

next something.

[Nate] The village is fucking empty, man.

[Eric] There is no next Olympics for this team.

[Nate] Anybody?

Jesus, man.

Hello?

The place is a fucking wreck.

France decided to replace baseball

with Olympic breakdancing in 2024.

How are you guys doing so far?

[Peter] Getting through it.

[Eric] The next possibility would be 2028.

And this entire team will be retired

and I could be dead. So, you know...

You just don't know.

This is also on camera? Too bad we didn't win.

It would have been a much better movie.

[chuckles]

[Nate] I think it'll be good.

We all, in our own ways, were

pretty caught off-guard and pretty scared.

I hope our families and friends

will accept us back into the country

after returning without a medal.

Both in Israel and the US.

My depression, uh, you know,

um, just realizing I didn't really make it

to the peak state,

the peak level of the Olympics.

-I'm not gonna make it. -[Nate] Unreal.

-You're not gonna survive this thing? -I'm not gonna make it.

[Nate] You're gonna be fine.

You just need one thing to look forward to

in your life and you're good to go.

We're really gonna find out, after the Olympics, how, how it affects our lives.

I just can't get enough of any of this

and I don't wanna go.

I'm thinking about just landing in Newark

and then, just hopping on another flight back.

-[man] Back to Tokyo? -[Nate] Never heading home.

[all laughing]

No. Dude, we played our hearts out

and now we're packing our hearts out.

[Nate] Yeah.

[gentle piano music]

[Jonathan Sacks] When you lose...

...that's tough.

Judaism doesn't seek to minimize that fact.

The truth is...

...that years later,

we look back at in retrospect

and say, "You know,

those were the times when I learned most of all."

[indistinct chatter]

[applause]

[cameraman] Thank you, guys.

[men] Thank you.

[Jonathan Sacks] Those were the times

when I suddenly discovered what I'm really about.

What really matters.

[applause continues]

What my meaning in life really is now.

It's hard to see that at the time.

-[man] Thank you. -[applause]

[cameraman] Thank you, guys.

[Jonathan Sacks] But when you look back...

...you realize

that moment of loss

was a moment of truth

and the beginning of a new life.

[silence]

[monotonic piano music]

[Jon] Israelis don't necessarily

embrace baseball the way that they embrace soccer,

the way that they embrace basketball.

You guys are a select few.

I want to see who can ride the leg the longest.

Yeah! Give me a high five.

Who wants to go first?

Come on. You ready?

Nice.

[music turns gentle]

We didn't come home with a medal, but

the Olympics was still super meaningful to me.

All of us are Jewish.

We're the most elite athletes in the world.

-Good arm. -[Alex] What's better than being on the world stage...

...representing who you are?

I'll try to explain this.

If I was a ten-year-old kid...

...and Israel would have qualified for the Olympics...

...my motivation would have been off the charts.

When you throw it, try to flip your wrist.

[Tal] Some kid growing up in Israel

is gonna make it big and gonna make it far,

and is gonna make Israel baseball proud,

just like we did.

[Mitch] Looking back on my career, my career is coming to an end.

This Olympics is going to be the end of it for me.

and I look at you guys and I see like, myself and I'm like,

"Man, what I would do to be in your position right now

to be able to do it all over again."

Better, better.

[Ben] Jon, right after the Olympics...

...really brought some perspective back

about what really matters.

Hey, everybody.

Uh, sitting here in the hospital,

I wanna highlight how special of a moment this is.

As I was able to make it back from Tokyo

to be here with my son.

We waited as a surprise and found out

that we were having a boy this morning at 7:30 a.m.

Um, here's my beautiful wife who did an awesome job in labor.

Babe, you want to say anything? [chuckles]

Happy to have you home in time.

-Happy you made it on time. -Yeah. Oh, my goodness, she was a trooper.

I got back with four days left,

to basically see my son be born.

Beautiful baby.

[Jonathan Sacks] No Jew...

...who is a true Jew...

...can never give up hope.

[music continues]

[music fades away]

[upbeat acoustic music]

[song in Hebrew]

[song continues]

[music fades away]

[whooshing]