The pro­logue of “The Boys of River­side” begins with an email from the Cal­i­for­nia Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion, cel­e­brat­ing the first-time play­off jour­ney of the Cal­i­for­nia School for the Deaf, River­side. This high school foot­ball team had nev­er won a cham­pi­onship in its sev­en-decade his­to­ry, prompt­ing the email to seek sup­port for facil­i­ty upgrades. The author, serv­ing as the San Fran­cis­co bureau chief for *The New York Times*, typ­i­cal­ly cov­ers seri­ous top­ics such as wild­fires, home­less­ness, and mass shoot­ings. How­ev­er, the sto­ry of the River­side Cubs unex­pect­ed­ly cap­ti­vat­ed him.

Despite being sev­en hours away from his home, the author trav­eled to River­side to meet the play­ers just before a play­off game. He was impressed by the team’s com­mu­ni­ca­tion and skills, con­trast­ing this expe­ri­ence with his pre­vi­ous chal­leng­ing report­ing endeav­ors. The River­side Cubs were part of California’s eight-man foot­ball divi­sion, which suit­ed small­er schools strug­gling to form full eleven-play­er teams. This small­er scale did not dimin­ish the ath­let­ic tal­ent in this league, which has pro­duced notable play­ers such as Josh Allen and Rashaan Salaam.

The author dis­cov­ered that the team rep­re­sent­ed a blend of cul­tures and back­grounds, with many play­ers fac­ing per­son­al chal­lenges off the field. For exam­ple, Phillip Cas­tane­da, a tal­ent­ed run­ning back, dealt with home­less­ness yet remained ded­i­cat­ed to foot­ball. The sports pro­gram had faced stig­ma and pres­sure, with oppo­nents his­tor­i­cal­ly view­ing them as easy tar­gets. How­ev­er, with­in the team, the play­ers shared a sense of cama­raderie and pur­pose.

The author chose to tem­porar­i­ly step back from his bureau chief role to fol­low the Cubs through their sea­son, immers­ing him­self in Deaf Cul­ture and the intri­ca­cies of sign lan­guage. He rec­og­nized the sig­nif­i­cance of this sto­ry, rich in themes of belong­ing and aspi­ra­tion, espe­cial­ly dur­ing a peri­od marked by social unrest and the ongo­ing pan­dem­ic. The River­side Cubs aimed to show­case that deaf­ness was not a bar­ri­er to excel­lence in sports, but rather a unique advan­tage as they pur­sued their cham­pi­onship dreams.