BIZARRE: On the day before the world series - What They Never Told You

As I sat down to write today’s newsletter, I couldn’t help but think of the title of an episode of The West Wing, “On the Day Before.” Today, of course, is the day before the World Series, so I naturally wanted to make “On the Day Before” the title and subject line of this newsletter. The idea was also to find a thread to tie together the plot of the episode and our anticipation for the baseball ahead. Yet, as I remembered the episode, it became clear there was nothing in common between that and the World Series, other than the whole day before thing.

In the episode, President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his staff learn about a suicide bombing at a cafe in Jerusalem that killed 10 people, including two brothers, who were targeted because they were Jews from the United States. The title is pulled from a line of dialogue Bartlet says in a conversation with his senior staff toward the end of the episode. “This guy at the dinner, he told me something I didn’t know,” he says. “On Yom Kippur, you ask forgiveness for sins against God, but on the day before, you ask forgiveness for sins against people.”