When he sent the letter you’re about to watch in March of 2009, Michael Kinahan was the coach of a football team in Massachusetts consisting of seven-year-old girls. Sadly for him, many of the letter’s recipients—the girls’ parents—failed to see the funny side of his “playful” letter and complained to league officials. Kinahan resigned from the role days later.
Damian Lewis joined us to read Michael’s letter at a Letters Live show on March 6th, in the week of International Women’s Day, at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
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Where can I buy the Green Death gear?
So many conflicting statements in this speech!
Wow, way to remove nearly all of the fun from the game!
I think we need more of these people, the kind who tell it as they see it.
If I was one of those parents who got the letter, I would have loved it- it's clearly satire. Poor coach got done dirty for a harmless prank.
💙
"Hello. The loo".
This guy is just wonderful as an actor and a person.
Brilliant and what's sad is that this man knows not where in the universe he's situated…
A good coach
A bad human
A brilliant actor
nobody coulda clued Damian in on how to pronounce "Scituate"? c'mon…
Great letter! While I have nothing against Damian Lewis and his American accent is great, a Bostonian actor would have given a more accurate flavor for this – Jonathan Krasinski or Chris Evans probably would have been great, too! I'm sure Affleck would have done it too.
I would have loved this writer as my coach!
I saw him and his band last week in Norwich.
Best dad/coach ever 😂
Listening to that is a tonic 😂.
SIT-yoo-it.
He ain't wrong tho.
this just shows the coach actually cared about his team, them parents are stupid and i guarantee their coach that replaced this coach nowhere near as actually caring and interested in the best for his team
Funny or not reality is painful for the majority of millennials, the truth hurts and when you ask yourself why is the world I live in so pathetic and shallow, devoid of character and soulless, remember this speech can only be viewed as comedy today, where as not that long ago people knew it to be the truth.
This letter has very big Roy Kent Energy and I am here for it!
I see why he failed: he went public about wanting to raise a generation of women with the ability and confidence to kick butt and take names.
Lewis: "Who's with me?!"
Audience full of Definitely Not Soccer Moms: erupts in mad approval.
Go, Green Death, indeed.
Major Winters moves to New Jersey and coaches his granddaughters soccer team.
Not surprising this letter didn't hit the mark with its recipients – it was just too confusing.
Plenty of laudable sentiment about strong girls. But mixed with some poisonous stuff about e.g. harrassing refs. And sure, we're supposed to "get the jokes", some of which were more obvious than others, like (presumably) the performance enhancing drugs.
The problem is that if you follow the history of sport for juniors in America (and elsewhere, just to be fair), there have been coaches who would absolutely have said, and meant, the poisonous parts completely unironically. Much to the damage of their protegees.
So yes, as an audience we can applaud the good parts and assume the bad parts are jokes.
But for the parent receiving this from their daughter's coach, it would have been very valid to be concerned. They'd have had to be very familiar with this coach to know which parts to take seriously, and to be sure he would do no harm.
Good reading, anyway.
Good letter, pity about the accent!
Just plain awesome!
I thought he was Irish
Hello,
Great video, but would it be possible to add some real subtitles ?
Thanks from France.
Where did he pull that voice from? Damn! Actors be actin’. 😄
Brilliant!
i fucking love that Sam Jackson bread advert
Although I spent much more time at Children's than I would have like with my daughter, I would have loved to have this guy as her coach. She would've thrived! haha!
I would have loved to been in that team. The coach sounded really passionate and funny.
Does Damian Lewis do anything badly?
Scituate, Mass., is a lovely little seaside town south of Boston, and for years, it was the home-port of my little sailboats. It is a genteel place with a splendid sidewalk cafe culture. The mouth of The North and Herring Rivers can be a bit tricky, especially when the weather blows from the east. This letter wel and amusingly read, is very out of sync with the vibe of the town, and I can see why it led to alternate choices for its writer.
This letter was my introduction to the wonders of Michael Kinahan. I was a youth coach in RI when this letter was written and the controversy hit the papers. I immediately knew I HAD to know him. Shortly after we were introduced to each other and he has been a friend ever since. I have no idea how this letter resurfaced all these years later, but it is the GREATEST thing I will see all year! #GreenDeath4Life 💚
Is there anything Damian can't do well?
Magnificent ❤
Was lucky enough to be there on the night to see DL read this absolutely brilliant…😂😂😂
I got to "110%" then stopped watching. Surely somebody in America understands how percentages work?
Now I'm just left wondering how old the players of team "Green Death" were. He mentioned school, so 18yo max? Would be hilarious of it would be under 14yo. 😂
Clearly the overweight, mocha latte half cafecino-drinking, participation-prize-winning parents in their LL Bean chairs all took this personally.
AN hilarious letter ffs!
Expected Damien, got Bobby.
This speech was so funny! Loved it!
I listened and laughed a lot because if you hold certain values , it is SO funny!
But imagine Donald Trump reading this..and his supporters taking it seriously, as they would, then it's a whole different ball game.
His use of pauses and careless delivery are what it makes so good.
Okay I’m going to go ahead and say it, and say it loudly! This is the best reading so far.
Yes! We pamper kids too much. Harsh but fair:) great actor