Stronger Page #9

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The worst part is, I...

I had to go to my son's

funeral on a stretcher.

I'm not proud of that, you know.

What about your other son?

Brian.

You remind me of Brian.

He took his own life.

It was too much for him.

You know, losing his brother,

and seeing me like that.

Sh*t, Carlos.

I can't tell you how much

I wish I had been there

for them when they needed me.

Hmm. But now I...

I travel the country,

talking to soldiers.

Mostly about PTSD

and depression.

I help a little.

And it keeps me going.

But the truth is...

I don't understand.

Mmm.

I was there that day

at the finish line

handing out American flags

for my boys.

When the first bomb went off,

I looked up,

and I saw a big ball of fire, and...

my body wanted to run.

But I thought,

"This is a moment," huh?

"Make a better choice."

So I ran to the fire,

and there you were.

Helping you...

made me feel...

like I had helped my son.

And for that, I am grateful.

You're grateful?

Yeah.

You help me

as much as I help you.

And I came here to say,

"Thank you."

Hmm.

Straight to voicemail, huh?

I don't blame ya.

Listen,

I've been thinking, um...

You know, our... our kid,

he or she

is, uh... gonna have legs.

You're gonna be, like,

a really good mom.

'Cause you been dealin' with

a big, dumb kid already.

Sittin' here, uh,

bein' without you, it's like

the worst f***in' thing

that's ever happened to me.

By a long shot.

There was this, like,

there was this time

in the hospital when, like, I...

I just wanna give up.

Y'know, like, where I...

just, like, didn't care if I...

- Come on. Come on.

- ...died or not. And...

now I just wanna...

Come on, man.

Come on, man.

Come on, man.

I just wanna walk.

Y'know, I just wanna stand up.

I wanna see the world

from higher up, y'know?

I just...

I just wanna be normal.

Big JEFF:

Conference on the mound.

You wanna just go

out there and just make

a fool outta yourself

in front of everybody?

You can't do it like this.

What, I got the catcher

walkin' out to the...

- Let's go, Coach.

- What?

Big JEFF:
I'm gonna put him in.

What are you talkin' about?

I threw one ball, guys.

It's your whole shoulder,

your whole body...

Aim for his balls.

He's wearin' a cup.

See, that's a little...

that's a little better.

Just... Now how about

you throw that over the plate?

Here we go.

Oh, Jesus Christ!

That's terrible.

Thirty-seven thousand fans

are gonna be booin' your ass.

You're all messed up, all right?

So listen to me.

Just listen. All right?

You're a bunch

of f***in' disasters.

Jesus.

You got that right.

But I wouldn't trade ya in

for anything.

So just do me a favor,

all right?

Help me out?

- All right?

- Let's go. Okay.

Big JEFF:
Come on, buddy,

muscle memory.

You know how to do this.

And now it's just about

healing, getting better,

and showin' the world

I'm fine and that, y'know,

I'm not gonna let this

hold me down, y'know,

'cause then

maybe if they see that,

then maybe they won't let

stuff hold them down, either.

And, y'know, there's always

gonna be pain, I think,

y'know, but, I dunno, I just

wanna, like...

...live.

...the Marathon tragedy,

was a man in a cowboy hat

rescuing a severely injured man.

The man in the cowboy hat

had lost one son...

How you feelin', Carlos?

A little nervous.

Yeah.

My hands are shakin'.

My boys would have loved this.

- Hey, Carlos.

- Yeah?

I'm gonna be a father.

That's wonderful.

It's time, Jeff.

- Ready?

- Yeah.

A hero and his hero,

right?

How are you?

- Good.

- I'm Jackie.

How are you, Jackie? Jeff.

Jeff, nice to meet you.

So nice to have you here.

Nice to meet you, Carlos.

Jackie:
All right,

so we're gonna walk you out

right in front of the mound and...

sound good?

- All right.

- All right, let's go.

Been practicing?

Yeah.

Go, Bauman!

Your boy's on the TV.

There he is, there he is.

Oh, wow.

Here comes the ball now.

That's a special ball.

Hi, I'm Pedro Martinez.

I think I know

who you are.

Oh, great.

- How you doing?

- I'm good.

You're very brave, you know?

We're all proud of you.

Thank you.

Here.

You gotta show me

how to do a circle changeup.

Well...

Go, Bauman!

Yeah! Whoo!

All right, you got any tips?

Well, aim high.

You're gonna be all right, kid.

All right.

How did you get so good?

Let's go!

He was good under pressure.

You've gotta give it to him.

All right?

You've gotta give it to him.

- He is under pressure.

- There's a lot...

a lot of people watching that.

Both Carlos and Jeff have gigantic smiles

from ear to ear on their faces.

What a... what a great moment.

See those guys coming out,

you know, everybody

cheering and clapping,

actually, you know,

I got goose bumps.

I got chills. So emotional.

The fans were on their feet.

Wonderful tribute

by the Red Sox.

- It was a nice pitch.

- It was on the corner.

Thanks...

Either way,

I'll still buy you a beer.

- I'll still get you a beer.

- No, it wasn't. It was on...

So I try and do

a circle changeup.

- How you doin', man?

- Did Pedro show it to you?

Way to go, Jeff.

That was awesome.

Hey, maybe

we should turn around.

Thank you.

All right, watch the shoulder.

That's his throwin' arm. Careful.

I know. Careful, I gotta

protect my throwin' arm.

Got a career ahead.

Hey, don't pat

the throwin' arm, man.

Hey! Hey!

Jeff! Sounds like you, Sull.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Whoa, stop.

Can I talk to you for a second, man?

- What's goin' on here?

- Kind of in a rush.

Just gimme a second here.

I just wanna talk to him for a second.

What can I help you with?

Uh...

my, um...

My kid brother, he, uh,

was in the Marines, uh...

you know, over in the war.

And about five years ago,

he got hit with an IED.

He's gone, man.

But, uh...

Sorry about that, man.

Yeah.

You know, I saw

your picture that morning.

You know, after the bomb?

All I could think about

was Thomas.

Just lyin' there in the dirt.

I... I get so f***in' angry,

y'know?

But seein' you out there today,

throwin' that f***in' pitch,

you showed the world that

they can't f***in' break us

no matter what the hell they do.

Y'know, it...

it gave me a little hope,

made me feel a little better,

and I just wanna say

f***in' thank you for that,

man, that's all.

What's your name?

Uh, my name's Larry, uh...

Can I shake your hand, Larry?

- You wanna shake my hand?

- Yeah.

It's gonna be all right.

Yeah?

I'm gonna be okay, right?

So you're gonna be okay.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- All right.

Hey, go Sox.

- Thank you.

- Go Sox.

- Go Sox.

- Go Sox.

Larry:
Let's go, Sox!

- Let's go get that beer.

- Mr. Bauman?

Hi. Um...

my daughter here actually

wrote a report on you

- for her third grade class.

- Oh, yeah?

What's your name?

Sophie. Do your legs hurt?

Uh, sometimes. Yeah.

What'd you get on your report?

I got an A-minus.

Just wanna

share this with you...

2009,

I ran the Boston Marathon...

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