Munetaka Murakami’s Playoffs Celebration Is the Best Thing You’ll See Today

The Chicago White Sox are going to the playoffs, and the best part of the celebration was a two-word answer, followed by a three-word one.

Rich had to make sure the room had seen it. "Have you seen this one, TJ?" he asked. "This guy's incredible."

The clip: Munetaka Murakami in the middle of his first clubhouse celebration, champagne everywhere, fielding questions from a reporter.

Rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. How's it going so far?

"100."

How many champagne bottles have you opened so far?

"100."

What does it mean to be able to celebrate this with this team?

"I'm Japanese."

The studio lost it. "I watched that like 10 times last night," Rich said. The response from across the room: "Wait, you only watched it 10 times?"

"It gets funnier every time you see it," Rich said.

It didn't take long for Murakami's answer to become a sound drop, and the crew immediately put it to work. When we're telling the truth, we're keeping it... "100." How many yards did Bijan have by halftime? "100." One voice in studio declared him the "drop king now." Another made sure to shout out the interpreter.

Then the Pope got in on it.

Pope Leo, who as the crew recalled was at the White Sox World Series years ago, was asked on the papal plane about the White Sox making the playoffs. The question was a good one. Two years ago, Chicago had the worst record in baseball history. Some people call this a miracle. Did the Holy Father have anything to do with that?

"No comment."

Rich gave kudos to the reporter for asking. And then he issued a request. "Hey, listen. Everybody back off the Pope because we may be calling upon him when the lockout hits," he said. "With all due respect to the White Sox, okay? We might need his intervention at that point in time."

The champagne talk turned into a trip down memory lane for Suzy, who worked those postseason runs with the Lakers and the Angels. The story goes that Darin Erstad emptied an entire bottle of Veuve Clicquot, and the first time she was in that clubhouse, she wore a white suit. Bad news. The next time it happened, she came fully prepared, because the dry cleaning on that suit was no joke.

But the day belonged to Murakami. A team that lost as many games as the White Sox did over the last two years, now in the postseason, and the man at the center of the party giving the most honest answers a clubhouse interview has ever produced.

Asked to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, he went to 100. Somehow, that still feels about right.