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Speaker 1: Before we get started, we asked that you please rate

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Speaker 1: and review our show. It helps people find us. On

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Speaker 1: this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, you can get from

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Speaker 1: Havana to Miami in eighty minutes by plane. For many Cubans,

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Speaker 1: the promise of leaving an often repressive life on the

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Speaker 1: island for a new one in the United States is

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Speaker 1: too great to ignore. It's even more so for elite

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Speaker 1: baseball players like say Sar Prieto, who could go from

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Speaker 1: a bike to a bend's if he makes it to

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Speaker 1: the big leagues. To complete his journey, Prieto would need

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Speaker 1: some help, though, and that's where the extractors come in. Today,

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Speaker 1: s I Senior writer Greg Bishop introduces the unforgettable Joe

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Speaker 1: Hastings and Billie Henderson and takes you inside of a

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Speaker 1: defection as it happens. I'm your host, John Gonzalez from

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Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. This is Sports Illustrated Weekly.

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Speaker 1: You gotta ask yourself how many times you're gonna roll

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Speaker 1: the dice before the dice roll on the wrong side.

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Speaker 1: Billy Henderson circling the Miami International Airport. This little mission

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Speaker 1: red here and make everything else today ever dumb look

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Speaker 1: like Mickey Mouse targeting a baseball player. They referred to

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Speaker 1: him by the code name of Baby Jay. The initial

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Speaker 1: plan is to grab him at the airport. It's about

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Speaker 1: twelve seventeen um. They should be at any moment now.

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Speaker 1: Five minutes of every mission determine success or failure. It

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Speaker 1: is the bus. The target is over there, the green bus.

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Speaker 1: That is it. Minute four. I also got my nine

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Speaker 1: millimeter came that were down to three minutes. It's a

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Speaker 1: very dirty business, and it's a scary business. Two minutes left.

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Speaker 1: Now we're gone, one minute left. Jesus, how did that happen?

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Speaker 1: When I've seen with me eye contact. He already knew here,

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Speaker 1: he already knew what time it was. My name is

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Speaker 1: Greg Bishop, and I'm a senior writer with Sports Illustrated,

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Speaker 1: and a few years ago I was introduced to a

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Speaker 1: group of people whose job is to help athletes defect

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Speaker 1: from Cuba. First, I should give you a little background

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Speaker 1: on the characters. Let's start with Joe Hastings. She is

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Speaker 1: the mastermind of the operation Eastern Airline spight attendant. Then

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Speaker 1: I moved over to American Airlines for twenty seven years,

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Speaker 1: I flip houses. I opened up a restaurant. It's delicious

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Speaker 1: Habana Cafe and Gulfport Cream cheese flawing recipe that will

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Speaker 1: blow your mind. And if a kid calls me from Cuba,

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Speaker 1: I'll try to help them as much as I can.

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Speaker 1: All right, forgot, I'm a published author too. I've had

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Speaker 1: an interesting life and I wouldn't change anything. Joe's family

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Speaker 1: immigrated from Cuba when she was very young. I was

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Speaker 1: four years old when my parents brought me over, and

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Speaker 1: I thank God every day that they took the difficult decision.

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Speaker 1: I wonder what would have been of my life. You

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Speaker 1: see these kids, and the only way out is a

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Speaker 1: fast boat to either Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican, or a defection.

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Speaker 1: They're trapped. We're in the century. Those people are sixty

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Speaker 1: two years behind times. They're stuck. It's desperation. There's no

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Speaker 1: hope there, there's no future there. At the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, their future is here, and that's not even

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Speaker 1: for sure. My cousin was a photographer for the Pittsburgh

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Speaker 1: Pirates and there was a kid on that team that

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Speaker 1: was Cuban, and so my cousin brought them to the

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Speaker 1: restaurant and we struck up a friendship. He knew other

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Speaker 1: players that needed you know, people and what they call investors,

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Speaker 1: and that's how I fell into it. Joe gets the

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Speaker 1: idea in her head that she can help athletes defect

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Speaker 1: from Cuba in ways that are safer, that aren't throwing

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Speaker 1: somebody on a speedboat in the middle of the nights,

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Speaker 1: that don't have people eating passports, that don't involve fake documents,

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Speaker 1: and all the usual methods that are used in this

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Speaker 1: type of extracting. The person that can help her the

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Speaker 1: most is the main character of this story. We call

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Speaker 1: him the extractor, Billy Henderson. Man. I do a whole

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Speaker 1: lot of stuff, personal training, security, babysitting, extraction. Well, I

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Speaker 1: come from a single parent household. Uh mom and dad

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Speaker 1: divorce when I was a baby. Baby life then was

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Speaker 1: was was tough. I grew up you know, fairly poor.

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Speaker 1: Um it was it was every day was a struggle.

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Speaker 1: You know, my mom trying to do the best she

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Speaker 1: can to take care of me and my brother, two

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Speaker 1: or three jobs and make sure you eat. I watch

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Speaker 1: my mom worked really hard. Kind of I thought, while

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Speaker 1: they do something to you, you know, saying her crying

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Speaker 1: to night, maybe because she came Bill bill, are we

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Speaker 1: sitting in the dark or we don't got food? You

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Speaker 1: know that kind of affect you a little bit. So

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Speaker 1: I remember, you know, I'm just saying, you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna do something to try to help my mom.

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Speaker 1: I was young. I think I was thirteen and going

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Speaker 1: on fourteen, but I was like, I have to do something.

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Speaker 1: So we went and probably like at least seven to

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Speaker 1: ten places at least. Then finally we came to the

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Speaker 1: harbanded cafe and he was on a bike and he

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Speaker 1: came in and he asked if I was looking, you know,

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Speaker 1: for help, and I could. He he was little, I

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Speaker 1: mean you see him now. He was this little guy

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Speaker 1: with this big head, and I'm like, son, how old

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Speaker 1: are you? He goes, I'm fourteen. I'm willing to do anything.

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Speaker 1: And then she was like, okay, kid, listen. You can't

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Speaker 1: say anything to anybody about your age, but you're hired.

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Speaker 1: She was like, come back to night at eight o'clock.

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Speaker 1: And I was like, I couldn't. I remember being so

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Speaker 1: extat static. I just I didn't know what to do. Man.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't stop thinking like, oh man, I got a

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Speaker 1: job to make money. I'm going to help my mom.

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Speaker 1: I can't wait. He has been with us ever since.

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Speaker 1: He is loyal, kind, caring. I've known him twenty five years.

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Speaker 1: Billy was a football star who ended up going to

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Speaker 1: South Florida on a football scholarship. He played running back

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Speaker 1: there and was climbing up the depth chart until he

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Speaker 1: injured his knee, and from there he went into the services.

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Speaker 1: He was in the Navy. He got placed in the Marines.

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Speaker 1: He worked as a combat medic. He came back to

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Speaker 1: Tampa eventually, where he was a police officer. He was

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Speaker 1: a beat cop, among other jobs, until he became a

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Speaker 1: private detective. He was part of groups that would hunt

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Speaker 1: what he calls the baddest of the baddest criminals. You're

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Speaker 1: talking murders, rapists, arsonists, you know, people that have done

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Speaker 1: really serious crimes. He worked undercover in that job. He

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Speaker 1: saw a lot of crimes, he was shot at, and

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Speaker 1: ultimately he was looking for something else to do. When

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Speaker 1: Joe sat him down one day, you know, about eight

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Speaker 1: years ago, to talk to him about her idea that

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Speaker 1: there had to be a better way to find athletes

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Speaker 1: and help take them out of Cuba. Now, Billy Audily

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Speaker 1: had the perfect skill set to help Joe with this endeavor.

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Speaker 1: And at first, when Joe brings in this idea that

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Speaker 1: they can help athletes affect from Cuba, he reacts the

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Speaker 1: way I think any normal person would react, and he says, what,

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Speaker 1: that's not gonna happen, man, It's not just like that,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean? You just can't go down

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Speaker 1: and get somebody. And I was like, what you want

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Speaker 1: me to do? Get a helicopter, throwing out a letter

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Speaker 1: and and and try to get the boy, and she

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Speaker 1: was like yeah. Maybe. I was thinking like, okay, hey, listen,

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Speaker 1: what if I get caught, or what if you know,

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Speaker 1: I get hurt? Or what if a bunch of different

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Speaker 1: what is? But then I started to think. I said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, and sometimes in life you gotta take

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Speaker 1: a chance, and for me, like taking the chance to

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Speaker 1: actually like living life, because I feel like if you're

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Speaker 1: not taking the chance, you're not you're not living. You're

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Speaker 1: living in the box. And I was like, you know it,

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Speaker 1: why not, let's let's do it. Let's roll the dice,

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Speaker 1: you know, this little mission ready here and make everything

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Speaker 1: else today ever dumb? Look like Mickey Mouse. You know

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Speaker 1: what I'm saying, It's not gonna be easy. It's gonna

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Speaker 1: be really challenging. We got a plan. Stick to the plan,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean, and that's how we're gonna

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Speaker 1: get through. They set up a plan with the athlete

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Speaker 1: in question. They have pictures sent from that athlete of travel, documents, visa,

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Speaker 1: you know, all the pertinent information. And then they look

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Speaker 1: for a country that's generally friendlier in extradition laws in Mexico, a, Guatemala,

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Speaker 1: and Ecuador, and they tried to take the athlete there.

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Speaker 1: Then they can live there temporarily, help them get the

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Speaker 1: necessary paperwork to enter the United States, and then bring

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Speaker 1: them in legally. What was different this time is that

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Speaker 1: they were targeting a baseball player. They referred to him

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Speaker 1: by the code name of Baby Jay. They tried to

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Speaker 1: get Baby j and Mexico, and ultimately it came to

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Speaker 1: look like they were gonna end up taking him in Florida,

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Speaker 1: which is unusual. I asked them for something else. I

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Speaker 1: wanted them to film the mission with a GoPro camera

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Speaker 1: and we would not only be able to hear them

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Speaker 1: recap what it's like to help someone defect from Cuba,

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Speaker 1: but we will be able to see it and hear

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Speaker 1: it with our own eyes and ears. All Right, we're

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Speaker 1: the airport. It's about twelve seventeen. Um, they should be

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Speaker 1: at any moment now, um, so we here, so now now,

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Speaker 1: I was just a waiting game. Billy Henderson circling the

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Speaker 1: Miami International Airport. This is after Billy and Joe had

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Speaker 1: gone to Mexico to try to get Baby J, their

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Speaker 1: code name for the baseball player they wanted to help

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Speaker 1: defect from Cuba. They know that he's in the air

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Speaker 1: and that he's gonna land soon, and that he's on

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Speaker 1: his way from Cuba to Miami, and the initial plan

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Speaker 1: is to grab him at the airport, you know, so

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Speaker 1: that he can walk away from the team, run away

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Speaker 1: from the team, whatever he must do to get away

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Speaker 1: from the team. So Billy's driving around the airport, he's

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Speaker 1: thinking about Baby J. They've been planning this mission, which

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Speaker 1: is what he calls it, for weeks and months, and

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Speaker 1: he just hopes that everything goes as planned. But there

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Speaker 1: is one problem. Nothing ever goes as plan in these

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Speaker 1: there's always some sort of thing that happens. They're always

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Speaker 1: gonna have to react in the moment, and they're always

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Speaker 1: gonna have to look for the five minutes of every

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Speaker 1: mission that will determine success or failure. Now, Billy doesn't

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Speaker 1: know when those five minutes are, he doesn't know when

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be. But that's where his training as a

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Speaker 1: private detective, undercover agent, all of these things come into play.

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Speaker 1: And so that's when the plane starts to come down

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Speaker 1: in Miami, and here we go, another caper is beginning.

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Speaker 1: Billy's circling in a dark suv. Joe is inside and

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Speaker 1: she's waiting with a group of Cuban fans who are

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Speaker 1: downstairs at Baggage Claim, and essentially they're there because the

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Speaker 1: Cuban team is arriving and they want to cheer them on,

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Speaker 1: and so they're already thinking this could be problematic, the

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Speaker 1: huge crowd that would see if Caesar Prieto ran away

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Speaker 1: from the team, if he'd affected right in that moment,

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Speaker 1: and so they're starting to grow concerned. It gets even

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Speaker 1: worse when the Cuban team does not come out in

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Speaker 1: Baggage Claim, but in the arrivals area, and someone happens

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Speaker 1: to notice this, and all of a sudden, we hear

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Speaker 1: this yelling, the Cuban team is up here. The Cuban

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Speaker 1: team is up here. There's some screaming and shouting, and

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, this entire crowd of reporters and

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Speaker 1: TV cameras and Cuban baseball fans and Joe Hastings, who's

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Speaker 1: hiding in a wig and flip flops all disguised, has

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Speaker 1: to run upstairs because that's where the Cuban team is.

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Speaker 1: So already this looks like it's not going according to plan. Man,

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Speaker 1: they're good, community. That is the bus. The target is

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Speaker 1: over there, the green bus. That is it. So the

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Speaker 1: GoPro cameras on and the terminals packed, and Billy makes

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Speaker 1: a split decision right in that instant. We can't do

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Speaker 1: this at the airport. We're gonna have to do it

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Speaker 1: at the hotel. We're good a minute, Altaire, But Laddy,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm getting the closer. Now. The

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Speaker 1: Cuban national team was staying in West Palm Beach, so

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Speaker 1: they start following the bus with the Cuban national team,

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Speaker 1: and at one point Billy notices and Joe notices another

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Speaker 1: agent that regularly signs Cuban players was doing the same

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Speaker 1: drive they were, so they know they're gonna have company.

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Speaker 1: Timy trust that's after Baby, that's Timie get behind him,

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Speaker 1: and they know they need to get to this hotel

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Speaker 1: and get him that day, or else they might lose

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Speaker 1: out on all the work they've done to get him

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Speaker 1: over here. And so they decided that they're going to

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Speaker 1: go to the hotel, and what they needed was for

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Speaker 1: someone to block the exit. There's only one way in

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Speaker 1: and there's only one way out. So Billy makes a

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Speaker 1: couple of really critical decisions right in that minute. The

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Speaker 1: first is that they're gonna take baby j They're gonna

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Speaker 1: help him defect right that day at that hotel. He

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Speaker 1: figures that they'll be at their most vulnerable right when

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Speaker 1: they arrived. They want to call one of Joe's friends

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Speaker 1: from her flight attendant days, and this person another form

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Speaker 1: of flight attendant they need a favor from. They want

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Speaker 1: the friend to block the exit of the alleyway so

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Speaker 1: that they can go out the end. Prints Billy has

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Speaker 1: decided it's going to be easier to point his car

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Speaker 1: toward the entrance because people won't be expecting him to

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Speaker 1: go that way and the bus itself won't be blocking

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Speaker 1: the alleyway. So once they've decided that, they settled in

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Speaker 1: front of the hotel, and they know they have to

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Speaker 1: think quickly and act. Ultimately, Joe's friend does as they asked,

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Speaker 1: pulls up to the hotel, gets to the alleyway, parks

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Speaker 1: between the lobby and the parking garage, and now there's

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Speaker 1: only one way out. When the bus pulls in with

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Speaker 1: Joe and Billy driving in behind them, the exit is

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Speaker 1: now blocked. That means the bus doesn't park in the

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Speaker 1: alleyway instead of parks on the street off to the side. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: nobody notices that the SUV that have been following the

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Speaker 1: bus does pull in the alleyway, but it pulls around

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Speaker 1: and points the wrong way. Billy knows, hey, I have

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Speaker 1: got to get this guy now. So remember the five

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Speaker 1: minutes that are critical to every mission. He knows that

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Speaker 1: that clock starts right then, So here's how the five

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Speaker 1: minutes go chose In the car, She's worried that they're

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Speaker 1: pointed the wrong direction. She thinks it will be obvious.

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Speaker 1: She yells at Billy and says, Billy, this is a

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Speaker 1: one way street. How obvious is that this is minute five?

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Speaker 1: Roughly minute four? Billy ignores her and he opens his

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Speaker 1: car door and he says, hey, you got to climb

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Speaker 1: in the driver's seat. I'm gonna go get Baby J.

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Speaker 1: He walks to the bus as she gets around and

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Speaker 1: gets Inky. Now we're down to three minutes. Baby J

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Speaker 1: is getting off the bus at this point, as is

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Speaker 1: all his friends from the Cuban national team. He hugged

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Speaker 1: one of them, and I thought this was really kind

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Speaker 1: of a poetic anecdote. The one guy, he turned around

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Speaker 1: to him and he said goodbye to him, and he said, hey,

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Speaker 1: he took out like a hundred Cuban pacos, and he goes,

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Speaker 1: I won't be needing this anymore. He says, I want

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Speaker 1: you to have it. He looked at him and he said, go,

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Speaker 1: I wish I would have done what you are about

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Speaker 1: to do. I wish I would have done it when

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Speaker 1: I had the opportunity. They all know, they all know it.

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Speaker 1: So it's about two minutes left now. Baby J is

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Speaker 1: lingering on the fringe of the group of Cuban baseball players.

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Speaker 1: He's sort of near the lobby and sort of near

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Speaker 1: the alleyway, and Billy makes sure to make eye contact

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Speaker 1: with him. He wants a quick and stern look so

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Speaker 1: that they're clear. I'm Billy, I'm Baby J. This is

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Speaker 1: about to happen. It gotta be not That's what I

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Speaker 1: kept thinking. Let's go. There's goal time, man, Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: what I like. Right here, come on, brand get Baby

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Speaker 1: Jay nods at him, He nods back, and it's really, really,

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Speaker 1: really about go time. One minute left. Baby J is sprinting.

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Speaker 1: He's running away from his teammates and towards Billy. In fact,

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Speaker 1: he ran so fast that he ran into Billy's back

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Speaker 1: on the way to the car. A matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: was so scared and nervous man, because I had I

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Speaker 1: had just a little bit of head starting on, and

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Speaker 1: he ran me down and pushed me into back. But

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Speaker 1: that little run, man, was a representation of for everything

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Speaker 1: that he could have won it. So I couldn't imagine

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Speaker 1: what he was thinking. You know, he probably thinking, man,

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Speaker 1: and I'm running for my life, for my freedom, for

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Speaker 1: my future and everything else. In that moment, all that

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Speaker 1: came together in that moment, just that little ten second window,

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Speaker 1: just that changed his whole future. Eventually they separate, they

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Speaker 1: make it to the car and they both climb in.

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Speaker 1: And it happened so quickly and so early into the

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Speaker 1: journey of the Cuban national team that basically people in

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Speaker 1: Cuba couldn't believe it. They were like, this is the

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Speaker 1: fastest defection in the history of Cuban athletes defecting. No

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Speaker 1: do do do? Do do? Billy looks in the back

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Speaker 1: seat as Joe screams, we're gone, and Billy turns and

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Speaker 1: looks at him and he sees Baby Jay smiling. He's

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Speaker 1: free and says, our Prieto is now ready to begin

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Speaker 1: a baseball career in the United States. Jesus, how did

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Speaker 1: that happen? When I've seen with me eye contact, he

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Speaker 1: already knew he are, He already knew what time it was.

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Speaker 1: After the adrenaline and everything wears off from these incredible missions.

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Speaker 1: Now they have a Cuban athlete to take care of,

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Speaker 1: and while the Hastings take care of the expenses in

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Speaker 1: the paperwork, Billy becomes something of a minder. He's a chef,

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Speaker 1: he's a trainer, he's a chauffeur. And this is where

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Speaker 1: Billy's existential crisis comes in. He knows that he's taking

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Speaker 1: a lot of risk. Joe knows that she's spending a

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Speaker 1: lot of money, and so far they haven't quite had

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Speaker 1: a guy that reached the level of stardom that all wanted,

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Speaker 1: but there is something always that brings them back. It's

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Speaker 1: really just an interesting story to me because it sort

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Speaker 1: of looks at the duality of being a real life superhero,

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Speaker 1: because on one hand, you're doing something that a few

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Speaker 1: human beings in the world could ever do. Your life

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Speaker 1: is exciting, there's adrenaline, there's impact, and yet at the

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Speaker 1: same time, I think it's kind of sad because you're

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Speaker 1: taking all this risk and you're making all this change,

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Speaker 1: and yet your own life, Billy's own specific life isn't

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Speaker 1: exactly what he wants to me, that there's a gap

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Speaker 1: there that he must close. I've talked to him in

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Speaker 1: the weeks since says a crushed it in high a

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Speaker 1: ball for the Orioles. He ended up getting promoted to

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Speaker 1: Double A, where he's playing for the Bowie Bass Socks.

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Speaker 1: Billy is living with him, Joe is running a restaurant.

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Speaker 1: Billy insists that he's done, that this is it, that

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Speaker 1: he's not going to do it again. But I do

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Speaker 1: wonder if there's not a future for him and Caesar,

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Speaker 1: if Caesar doesn't make him some sort of manager security guard.

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Speaker 1: Uh YouTube filmer, because the two seem to have a

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Speaker 1: really strong bond and they're still together many months after

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Speaker 1: says Are was able to defect from Cuba and begin

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Speaker 1: his career as a professional baseball player in the United States.

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Speaker 1: So I think what what connects these two guys is humanity,

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Speaker 1: you know, um, being able to help people and help

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Speaker 1: each other under really difficult conditions, Being able to see

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Speaker 1: in someone who's not like you at all, some things

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Speaker 1: that you see in yourself. And to me, that's kind

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Speaker 1: of the core of it. This um superhero who can

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Speaker 1: be sad and can be happy, and this baseball player

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Speaker 1: who's about to embark on a life that looks like

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Speaker 1: he could be pretty bountiful. And what they share is

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Speaker 1: a humanity and a faith in each other that I

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Speaker 1: think overshadows all the concerns and all all the risk

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Speaker 1: and everything else that they've done and taken. I think

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Speaker 1: it's human beings. We get so stuck on me me ah,

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Speaker 1: you know, sometimes we gotta get outside of that and

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Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta help somebody, you know. That's that's

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Speaker 1: pretty much what I've been doing all my life. You know.

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Speaker 1: Part of my professional careers is help people military police source.

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Speaker 1: Being on the team, you know playing football, you know

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Speaker 1: you assist you, you help your team, MASA. The number

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Speaker 1: one thing is help help somebody. Greg Bishop is a

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Speaker 1: senior writer for s I. You can read his article

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Speaker 1: about the Cuban extraction caper on SI dot com. Will

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Speaker 1: post a link in our show notes. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and a reminder to please rate and review our show

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Speaker 1: that helps people find us. Sports Illustrated Weekly is a

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Speaker 1: production of Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. For more

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Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. And

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Speaker 1: for more of Sports Illustrated It's best stories and podcasts,

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Speaker 1: visit SI dot com. This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly

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Speaker 1: was produced by Jessica Armoski, Jordan Rizzieri, and Isaac Lee,

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Speaker 1: who was also our sound engineer. Our senior producer is

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Speaker 1: Dan Bloom. Our acting senior producer is Harry sward Out.

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Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Scott Brody and me John Gonzalez.

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Speaker 1: Our theme song is by Nolan Schneider. And if you've

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Speaker 1: stuck around this long, we leave you with this. I

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Speaker 1: had changed my clothes in the car and I had

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Speaker 1: put a wig on, and it was so fast. Before

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Speaker 1: I knew it, Billy was pounding on the car, go

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Speaker 1: go go, and I went like this, I looked like

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Speaker 1: cousin it. The wigs smashed, and my shoe, my little

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Speaker 1: flip flop, fell. I left it there