Think about the word “cheer.”

A happy word, capturing in its one bright syllable the warmth of fellowship, laughter, and that touch of Christmas it always carries.

And “cheer,” the verb, is what we do to support and encourage the athletes and teams we love. We cheer them on.

Now think of “crush.” That’s what happens when our teams lose. We are crushed. As a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, that’s word that expresses a very familiar feeling (though the Cubbies had a really nice year).

It’s the depth and intensity of those words that I’m after here. All that emotion—over some games. It’s strange, when you think about it. Some people detest the entire enterprise of sports, seeing it as frivolous, pointless, wasteful.

And yet some form of sporting competition has existed in virtually every society throughout human history. There are cave paintings from as far back as 15,000 years in France and Mongolia (both!) that depict sprinting and wrestling competitions. The Greeks, of course, had their Olympics—but they were far from the only ancient people who cheered on their champions or were crushed when they lost. The Chinese were playing cuju—basically soccer—two thousand years ago. MesoAmericans were playing ulama 3000 years ago; the game is currently undergoing a revival. Humans are the creatures who play sports.

And where there are sports, there are storytellers.

Joe Posnanski is one of our great storytellers—period. He happens to be a sportswriter, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Joe wrote one of the great books about baseball—really one of the great books about America: The Baseball 100.

For my latest podcast, I sat down with Joe for a conversation about his life and work. He’s traveled the world—six continents, ten Olympic Games, every sport you can imagine.

Joe sees and writes about so much more than the ins and outs of the game, though he does that as well as anyone. His subject is human nature itself, as it manifests in this deeply human practice of sports.

In our wide-ranging conversation, Joe reflects on the poetry of the game of baseball, the heartbreak of Cleveland, the joy of being a fan (his forthcoming book Big Fan, is about the phenomenon of fandom around the world), and the connection between generations that makes sports, baseball especially, timeless.

Along the way, this great storyteller tells me one of the great baseball stories, about Carlton Fisk, the great catcher for the Boston Red Sox, and his dad.

My son, Michael, joins us at the end to raise a challenge: Babe Ruth vs. Shohei Ohtani: Who is the greatest? It’s all just part of that endless conversation across the generations that sports makes possible.

I really loved talking with Joe Posnanski. Hope you enjoy the podcast, linked below.

Terry