What If You Could Never Miss? — Transcript

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1. 0:03You're on the couch with your friends.
2. 0:05You finish a soda and toss the empty can
3. 0:07over your shoulder without looking. It
4. 0:09drops straight into a tiny bin 20 ft
5. 0:12away. Nobody says a word.
6. 0:15They think it's luck. Then, a fly buzzes
7. 0:18near the ceiling. You flick a toothpick
8. 0:20at it. It skewers the fly mid-flight and
9. 0:23pins it to the door frame.
10. 0:25>> Dude, did you just pin a fly with a
11. 0:27toothpick?
12. 0:28>> So, you test it. You toss four peanuts
13. 0:31into the air and flick a fifth one at
14. 0:33them. It clips all four in midair and
15. 0:36each one drops into a different empty
16. 0:38bottle on the window sill. Nini pulls
17. 0:41out her phone and points it at you.
18. 0:43>> Do that again. Right now.
19. 0:45>> It isn't luck. Overnight, you've lost
20. 0:48the ability to miss. Nini posts the
21. 0:51video. 100 million views in 1 week. That
22. 0:55video is going to make you rich. It's
23. 0:58going to make you famous. And one day,
24. 1:01it's going to put you in front of
25. 1:02100,000 people with a choice nobody else
26. 1:05can see.
27. 1:06But first, you try everything just to
28. 1:09see if you can fail. You beat the
29. 1:11national ping pong champion holding a
30. 1:13metal spoon and hit the edge of the
31. 1:15table 20 times in a row. You go bowling
32. 1:18blindfolded and roll two balls down two
33. 1:20lanes at once. Two perfect games. 24
34. 1:24strikes. [music]
35. 1:25You sit in the top row of the bleachers
36. 1:27and sink full court shots with one hand.
37. 1:30Then, Nike calls. $2 million to star in
38. 1:33the ad for their brand new boots, the
39. 1:35Phantom Vortex. From 50 yd out, you kick
40. 1:39five balls in five [music] seconds. Each
41. 1:41one knocks a water bottle off the
42. 1:43crossbar without touching the net. The
43. 1:46ad goes viral worldwide. After that,
44. 1:49every other sport feels too easy. Only
45. 1:52football has the passion, the roar of
46. 1:55100,000 fans. You start small at a local
47. 1:59club. You score 15 goals straight from
48. 2:01kickoff. You take 15 corners and all 15
49. 2:05curl into the net.
50. 2:07Two months later, your phone rings and
51. 2:10guess who's calling? The biggest club in
52. 2:12the world. 15 Champions League titles.
53. 2:16Real Madrid. You pull on the famous
54. 2:19white shirt, lace up the Phantom Vortex
55. 2:22and score from everywhere. Headers,
56. 2:25volleys, bicycle kicks from outside the
57. 2:27box. By the end of the season, you've
58. 2:29taken 114 shots and scored 114
59. 2:34goals. The night before the Champions
60. 2:36League final [music] against Man City,
61. 2:38the news breaks. Ballon d'Or voting
62. 2:41closes the moment the final ends and
63. 2:43you're leading the race ahead of Harry
64. 2:46Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal
65. 2:48[music] and Rodri. One more big night
66. 2:51and history is yours. Then, Nike calls
67. 2:54again. Phantom Vortex boots are selling
68. 2:57out everywhere because of you and Nike
69. 2:59wants to prove their boots never miss on
70. 3:01the biggest stage. The offer? $100
71. 3:05million if you wear them in the final
72. 3:07and score every shot you take. Miss even
73. 3:10once and the deal is dead. And with the
74. 3:13votes closing at the final whistle, one
75. 3:15miss could cost you the Ballon d'Or,
76. 3:17too. Final night. Real Madrid against
77. 3:21Man City. 100,000 fans. 94th minute. One
78. 3:26all. You get fouled 25 yards out. Free
79. 3:29kick. The last chance before extra time.
80. 3:32Score it and you win the final, the
81. 3:34Ballon d'Or and $100 million.
82. 3:38You place the ball and look up. Past the
83. 3:40wall, past the goal, into the dark
84. 3:43stadium roof 120 feet up. And you see
85. 3:47it. The last rusty bolt holding a
86. 3:49speaker the size of a fridge is shearing
87. 3:52loose. Right below it, in row 14, a
88. 3:55mother is holding her sleeping
89. 3:566-year-old son. That speaker will fall
90. 3:59in 3 seconds. Nobody will hear you over
91. 4:02this crowd, but 30 ft to the left, up in
92. 4:05the dark, hangs a tiny 4-in lever that
93. 4:08drops a safety cable. Right beside it, a
94. 4:10small red maintenance camera blinks. The
95. 4:13referee blows his whistle. The Ballon
96. 4:16d'Or and a hundred million dollars or a
97. 4:19little boy's life. You have to choose.
98. 4:22You run up, twist your whole body, and
99. 4:25blast the ball high over the goal, up
100. 4:27into the dark. Something rips in the
101. 4:29back of your thigh as you strike it.
102. 4:32Up there, where no TV camera is looking,
103. 4:35the ball smacks the 4-in lever. The
104. 4:38safety cable whips loose and catches the
105. 4:40speaker at the exact second the bolt
106. 4:42snaps. It swings to a stop just above
107. 4:45row 14. The boy sleeps right through it,
108. 4:49and the little red camera records every
109. 4:51second.
110. 4:53The ball drops back onto the grass. So
111. 4:55do you, clutching your leg. They
112. 4:57stretcher you off. Madrid hold on into
113. 5:00extra time without you, and Man City
114. 5:02score in the 116th minute to win the
115. 5:05Champions League. A hundred thousand
116. 5:08fans boo.
117. 5:09Every sports channel on Earth replays
118. 5:12your kick in slow motion. The man who
119. 5:14never misses blasting the ball into the
120. 5:17roof, then going down holding his leg.
121. 5:20They say you choked. They say you faked
122. 5:22the injury. Your perfect record is gone,
123. 5:26and nobody saw what happened up in the
124. 5:27dark. Only you know. Two weeks later,
125. 5:31you're in London for the Ballon d'Or.
126. 5:33The votes closed at the final whistle,
127. 5:35and that one kick cost you everything.
128. 5:39Rodri is fifth. Yamal is fourth. Mbappé
129. 5:43is third.
130. 5:45Then, they call your name. Second,
131. 5:49the room goes quiet. You lost the Ballon
132. 5:51d'Or by a handful of votes to Harry
133. 5:54Kane. He walks up and lifts the trophy.
134. 5:57[music]
135. 5:59Then, the UEFA president walks on stage.
136. 6:02Behind him is a stadium engineer holding
137. 6:05your match ball from the final. There's
138. 6:07a black smear of grease across one
139. 6:09panel.
140. 6:10>> The votes are final. The result stands.
141. 6:13But, the world deserves to know where
142. 6:15that shot really went.
143. 6:17>> The big screen lights up with footage
144. 6:19from the little red camera in the roof.
145. 6:22The bolt shearing, the speaker dropping
146. 6:24toward row 14,
147. 6:26>> [sighs]
148. 6:27>> and your ball flying out of the dark to
149. 6:29hit a lever the size [music] of a credit
150. 6:31card. The whole room gasps. Harry Kane
151. 6:35puts his trophy down and starts to clap.
152. 6:38Then, everyone in the building is on
153. 6:40their feet. Nini wipes her eyes and
154. 6:42squeezes your hand. Somewhere, a
155. 6:456-year-old boy [music] is asleep in his
156. 6:47own bed with no idea how close it came.
157. 6:516 weeks later, your leg heals. You walk
158. 6:53back onto the pitch, and you never miss
159. 6:56again. The record books will always say
160. 6:58you missed once, but you know the truth.
161. 7:01You hit exactly what you aimed at.
162. 7:06>> [music]