WEBVTT - From Hangtime to Primetime 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.800 And we returned to our American stories. Founded in nineteen 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:20.920 forty six, we consider the National Basketball Association for the 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.760 NBA to be a cultural icon, but it certainly didn't 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.319 start off that way, and it took the hiring of 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.000 a man named Larry O'Brien to get it on the 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:34.080 path to being a serious organization. Here with the story 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:37.239 of the rise of the NBA as a business is 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:42.120 Pete Croudo, author of From Hang Time to Primetime. Take 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:47.120 it Away, Pete. 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.320 The NBA in its early days in the nineteen forties 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:54.520 nineteen fifties was really a regional league. It was a 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:56.880 league whose teams were based in the Midwest and the 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:01.279 East Coast. The furthest team west was Saint Lewis. So 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:03.200 it really was a regional league, and it was a 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:08.280 league that really struggled for mainstream acceptance for years. It 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:12.440 had trouble getting a favorable national television contract for years. 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.680 It played in arenas that really were antiquated or rundown, 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.960 nowhere close to the entertainment meccas that we see today. 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:26.640 It really was a second tier professional league. 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:28.920 Baseball had always been America's game. 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.440 Its roots were established for years and years and years, 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.200 and the NFL had gained a foothold with television thanks 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.000 to the nineteen fifty eight NFL Championship Game, which was 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.360 the league's first overtime game. 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:44.280 The NBA didn't have anything like that. 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.400 It was really an afterthought to college basketball, which was 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.880 huge in the nineteen fifties, and even to the Hollom Globetrotters. 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.320 In fact, NBA games typically were the previews or the 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.240 first act, so to speak, to Hallom Globe Trotter games, 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.120 to college basketball games, especially. 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:00.600 In York City. 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:05.320 And if you read player autobiographies or player biographies from 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:08.520 the nineteen fifties, nineteen sixties, nineteen seventies, a lot of 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.119 these players had second jobs, you know, they had other 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:16.160 business interests. They weren't making exorbitant salaries. You know, Now, 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.799 if you sign a professional contract as a highly titled 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.440 rookie with any of the four major sports, you're pretty 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:25.800 much set for life. Back then, that wasn't the case. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.919 So the NBA in the nineteen forties, fifties, even into 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.960 the nineteen sixties, was a league that was looking for relevance. 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:38.080 It was looking for a foothold into America's sporting culture. 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.120 The NBA needed to make a leap to become legitimate, 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:47.000 and by putting lario'brien in that position, it is the 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.200 first step towards saying, hey, we're a business, we mean business. 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:00.440 Larryo O'Brien was a. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:05.760 Major fixture in Democratic national politics. He was somebody who 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.520 as time goes on, I think we've forgotten just what 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.959 a political figure he was in the nineteen fifties into 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.400 the early nineteen seventies. But Larry O'Brian was part of 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.280 JFK's Irish mafia. He basically helped JFK get to the 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.000 White House. He was on the plane coming back from 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:28.280 Dallas after JFK was assassinated. After that he was a 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.520 member of Lynda by Johnson's comitty, who was Postmaster General, 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.519 and then after that he was the chairman of the 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.960 Democratic National Committee for two terms. He was on the 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.360 cover of Time magazine. So he was somebody who was 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:47.160 a major, major figure in national politics. But Larobryan, by 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.200 the time the mid nineteen seventies roll around, he had 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:55.000 become a relic. He's retired for the most part. He 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.000 is somebody who is really looking for something to do. 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.600 And when Jay Walter Kennedy decides that he's had enough 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.960 being the NBA's commissioner. He looks to Lyobrian. He reaches 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.280 out to Lyo Brian specifically to ask him to take over, 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.560 and Laro Brian says no, because the thing. Here's the 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.440 thing now, when someone is elected to be the commissioner 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.760 of a sports league, that is a career pinnacle. For 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.279 Roger Goodell at the NFL, for rob Manfred at Major 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.760 League Baseball, Gary Bettman at the NHL, that is a pinnacle. 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.800 When you died, they lead your obituary with the fact 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:32.600 that you were the commissioner of the NHL or Major 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:39.960 League Baseball. For laro'brian, this was a step down. So 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.159 the NBA really courted him because for two reasons. First, 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.200 they knew that he was a basketball fan, because he 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:48.920 was someone who grew up watching the Celtics, he had 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.120 season tickets to the Knicks. But larr Brin was also 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.480 somebody who's going to give the league instant credibility. And 0:04:54.520 --> 0:05:01.000 the NBA ultimately won Lyobrian over after numerous attempts because 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.520 they convinced him, look, you'll have absolute power here. This 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.640 isn't going to be a real figurehead position. You'll actually 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:10.000 be able to do things here. 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.560 You'll be able to make decisions and carry out policy. 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.760 You'll have impact and his election as commissioner. His hiring 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:23.119 as commissioner was significant for two reasons. First, he gives 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.440 the NBA, as I mentioned before, instant credibility. This is 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.320 a league that was really struggling for national relevance. It 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.400 was struggling to become a player. And Larry O'Brien gave 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.880 the NBA cachet. It was headline news that he was 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.800 the NBA commissioner. It made people take notice. So there's that. 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.160 And the second thing is is that he brings order 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.599 to the NBA. The heads of the NBA before laro'brien, 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:52.040 Maurice Podoloff and Jay Walter Kennedy, they came of age 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.839 of the NBA. They were ingrained in the NBA. They 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.080 didn't have outside influence. And Laro brian came in and 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.320 he was not associated with the NBA, he didn't have allegiances. 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.560 He was somebody who just wanted what was best for 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:07.240 the MBA. So he came in with no biases. He 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.920 was his own man, and he also had the ability 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:16.280 the ability to manage. Larry O'Brien ran the best meetings, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.440 and that may now sound like much, but you have 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.000 to understand that meetings before this in the fifties and 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:27.360 sixties were contentious, bickering affairs, kind of like a Thanksgiving 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.120 dinner with different political opinions being bandied back and forth. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:34.320 So Larry O'Brien coming in and just saying, look, this 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:36.440 is what we're doing. We're just going to get down 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.960 to brass tacks. It doesn't sound like much, but for 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.200 a league that couldn't get out of its own way, 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.839 it was huge. This really comes across in the NBA's 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:51.000 absorption of the abaight the American Basketball Association, because Larry O'Brien, 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.839 you just wanted to get the deal done. And when 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.080 the two leagues were meeting to try and figure out 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.799 how to what teams to absorb and what money should 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.640 change hands, you know, the meetings are going on and 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.840 on in nineteen seventy six, and in the closing days, 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.920 Larry Brin just says to the owners, look up or down, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.920 meaning we could stay here and bicker about these contracts, 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.720 or you can take the money, get into a plane, 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:24.040 cash your checks and make make a small fortune before 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.080 the day's ends. And for the ABA, which had a 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.800 lot of bankrupt owners and financially struggling owners, laro brian 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.680 was able to just distill their problem into a simple 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.760 question up or down, and that's what the NBA needed. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.720 The NBA needed someone to just get down to the 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.360 brass tacks of running a business. But one of his 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:46.880 greatest gifts wasn't so much policy he enacted or edicts 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:48.640 that he handed down, though he did. 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:49.239 His fair share. 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.080 What Larry O'Brian did was he recognized talent and he 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:57.680 could delegate. And one thing that he did is that 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.960 he hired a young lawyer who is outside counsel for 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.960 the NBA named David Stern, and he bought him in 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:07.600 as his. 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:08.440 Second in command. 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.680 And David Stern later went on to become the NA 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.400 Commissioner and in my mind is the most influential sports. 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.160 Commissioner of the last fifty years. 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:24.040 So larro'brian's ability to recognize David Stern as somebody who 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.080 could do the dirty work, who could get to know 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.480 the gms and the keym owners and the union representatives. 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:34.240 Having David Stern clear a path and basically get a 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.240 five year start to become the commissioner of the NBA. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.880 That was Larry O'Brien's greatest legacy, and I think that's 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:46.200 why he is one of the most overlooked figures in 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.240 the rise of the NBA. 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.520 And we're listening to Pete Croano telling the story of 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:55.800 the NBA. And what's so interesting about this take is 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.640 he's looking at it from a business angle. No business 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:03.760 of sports, sports, no business of entertainment. No entertainment in 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:07.040 the forties and fifties, Well, the league didn't extend past 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.319 Saint Louis good luck with a TV contract. In the 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.400 old days, NBA players had summer job. And then comes 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:19.120 Larry O'Brien and then comes David Stern, his second in command. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.560 When we come back more of the remarkable story of 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:27.880 the NBA with Pete Croado, author of From Hangtime to Primetime, 0:09:28.320 --> 0:10:11.200 Here on our American story, and we returned to our 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.760 American stories and the story of the NBA. When we 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.560 last left off, NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien had hired a 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.200 young lawyer by the name of David Stern to be 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.000 his second in command, and Stern himself would soon take 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:30.280 over Larry's job changing the NBA forever. Here again is 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:31.400 Pete Croudo. 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.760 Larry Bonum was one of those bosses where he came 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.319 in at nine o'clock, he went to his office, shut 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.920 the door, and you saw him at five o'clock. David 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.640 Stern was everywhere. He was at the arenas, he was 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.199 talking to the gms, he was talking to the press, 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.440 he was talking to the network that aired NBA games. 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.400 So every week David Stoner would go on a conference 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.960 call with the broadcast a crew at USA Network, the 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:06.680 cable station that aired NBA games. And there's one meeting 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:13.839 where David Stearns says, look, guys, focus on the stars. 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.400 Don't worry about the records, don't worry about who's winning, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.160 who's losing. Focus on the stars. If it's a terrible matchup, 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.559 let's say the Clippers are playing the Celtics, let's say 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.920 focus on John Halchek, focus on Dave Cowens. There are 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.319 folks that people know, and that, to me, was David 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:33.040 Stearns's genius was that he was able to recognize that 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:37.520 to generate interest, he had to identify ways for Joe 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:42.120 and Jane Public to watch a basketball game beyond two minutes, 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:42.640 and that. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:43.360 Was with stars. 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.440 That was with Magic Johnson and Larry Byrd and Julius 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.880 Irving focus on them, and that star system is what 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.960 sustained the NBA and what sustains. 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:53.160 It to this day. 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.679 That is David Searn's baby, and it comes about in 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:04.480 a number of ways. First is the establishment of NBA Entertainment, 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.560 which is what David Stern creates. So NBA and him 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:13.640 becomes this sort of archive of game footage and player interviews, 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.480 and all this material gets called into halftime features and 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:22.240 advertisements that extol the best and broadest of the NBA. 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.120 Later on, NBA Entertainment takes all this footage that they've 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:30.200 stored from games and whatnot, and they turn that into 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:36.200 videos highlighting players. So you have a Michael Jordan video cassette, 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.079 you have a Magic Johnson video cassette, you have a 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:45.319 Larry Bird video cassette. David Stern partners with the television station, 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.480 specifically with CBS, and comes up with a game plan. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.280 Each game was going to have at least two players 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:57.000 Larry Bird, Kareem App, Del Jabbar, Julia serving Magic Johnson 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.240 because that's who the casual fan wanted to see. They 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.360 wanted to see stars. So you have MBA Entertainment, you 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.720 have the television coverage, and you also have NBA properties, 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:15.000 which again is a David Stern led development, which focuses 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:20.080 on apparel that focuses on players, players faces, what they do. 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.520 So you know, it's not just getting a seventy six 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.040 ers T shirt. It's getting a Julius Irvin T shirt, 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:28.400 is getting a Charles Barkley T shirt. It's getting a 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:33.120 Magic Johnson hat or a Magic Johnson sweatshirt. So it 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:38.880 is a multi pronged attack that David Stern leads, and 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:43.160 it all comes down to the players because think of 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:47.280 it this way. Kids I think get their sports teams 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.079 from their parents, right or from their grandparents, or from 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.160 their family, or from allegiances in town. If you are 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.040 somebody who's getting into the NBA. 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:58.720 As a lone wolf like I was, I. 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.240 Had parents who were not particuar really not really sports fans. 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.640 You know, my parents didn't know what hand of baseball 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.280 club went on. You're going to gravitate toward players, then 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.920 code toward a team, and if you know the players 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.439 through commercials, if you highlight their best attributes like Magic 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:19.080 Johnson's smile or Larry Bird's competitiveness. You are going to 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:23.480 win people over. And it also helps if you work 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.760 with a television network likes and CBS Sports that knows 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:38.040 how to frame the games as television promise. When you 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.400 have Magic versus Larry, you're not just focusing on these 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.600 two great players. You're focusing on the two sterling franchises 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.400 of the NBA and the Boston Celtics and the Los 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:51.680 Angeles Lakers. You're focusing on East versus West, and you're 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:57.720 turning all those components into a narrative that anybody can 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:04.080 get behind. So the NBA Finals, any NBA game isn't 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.440 just a sporting event that becomes an episode of television. 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.880 Where the same way that if you watch a television pilot, 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.800 you get the characters, you get the storyline, and you 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.160 get a happy ending or an ending, the same thing 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.520 happens with NBA games on CBS. 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:21.920 You get a beginning, middle, and end. 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.840 You get a flashy introduction, you're caught up the speed 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.480 with where things are, and then you get a game 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.440 that is filmed almost like a movie, with quick cuts 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:36.080 and close ups and reaction shots. You get personality into 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.840 the game, and that personality bleeds through every product. Whether 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.040 it's a VHS tape, whether it's a T shirt, doesn't 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:47.520 matter what it is, because, as David Stern said, it's 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.640 not what people think about you, it's how they feel 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:55.000 about you. That is the mantra of the NBA. It 0:15:55.080 --> 0:16:01.120 is an emotional league, and that is the lifeline for 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:05.680 the NBA's story, for its success over the past thirty 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:17.440 five forty years. But Marvin Gay's national Anthem at the 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.400 nineteen eighty three NBA All Starting in Los Angeles, to me, 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.440 is a pivotal point in the NBA's history because that's 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:26.720 when the NBA. 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.240 Became the world's cool sport. 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.360 You have to remember that for the longest time, the 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.880 national anthem was performed in a very straight ahead fashion. 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.000 But Marvin Gaye's national Anthem comes at the right time. 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:43.720 It's when hip hop is making its ways into the 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:48.920 American culture. And it's also a major cultural figure in 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:53.560 Marvin gay Who's motown and sexual healing singing the song. 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.440 And it's also the sign that the NBA wasn't gonna 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:01.440 play by the rules of the NFL of Major League Baseball. 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.960 It was going to do its own thing, because here. 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.879 Was an unabashedly African American version of that song that 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.600 reflected who was on the court. You had a majority 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.440 of African American players playing, but it also represented what 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:16.160 you saw on the court in terms of the style 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.600 of play. That national anthem, if anyone hasn't. 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:20.960 Heard, it is a. 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:26.680 Soulful, stirring rendition that incorporates R and B gospel. He's 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:30.440 singing it over a pre recorded beat. It reflected what 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.720 the NBA was and what it could be. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:34.440 It was a cool sport. 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.280 It wasn't a sport for your mom and your dad 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.960 and your grandma and your grandpa. It was the sport 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:42.680 that was for the cool kids at the table, for 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:47.639 the teenagers, for the young Americans who wanted something different, 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.920 that wanted to me, that was hip, that belonged to them. 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.159 And that national anthem set the stage for everything that 0:17:55.280 --> 0:18:00.439 happened afterward in the NBA's cultural history, because it was 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:05.280 defiantly non traditional, but in a way that was entertaining 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:06.800 and fun and. 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:07.960 Exciting and different. 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:13.280 And for any young sports fan who's growing up in 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:18.199 that era and afterward, that's what the NBA represented when 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.000 you first saw a basketball team. It represents something different. 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.280 The players looked different, they carry themselves in a different way. 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.800 The game was filmed differently, the players did things differently, 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.080 they talked differently. That anthem also changed the way the 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.320 NBA organized its All Star games. 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:35.280 It became more. 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:39.040 Than just East versus West, your best versus my best. 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:43.080 It also became what can we do to give the 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:48.320 audience the best time possible. So Marvin Gay, in a 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:52.520 lot of ways, launched a business revolution. 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.040 And you've been listening to Pete Croato tell a heck 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.320 of a story about the NBA, and we're huge hoops 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.280 in my house. Heck, when I was a kid, I 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.920 did Bobby Knight's camp captain of my high school basketball 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.159 team twice. And to hear this story told so well 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:10.960 by someone like Pete, well, it brings back a lot 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:11.520 of memories. 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:13.400 When we come back more. 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.960 Of Pete Croato on the story of not only Larry O'Brien, 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.159 but how David Stern helped turn the NBA into the 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:38.560 cool game, the cool thing in American culture. And we 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:41.679 returned to our American stories and the final segment on 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.320 the rise of the National Basketball Association. When we last 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.760 left off. Pete Croato, author of From Hangtime to Primetime, 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.280 was telling us about how David Stern Marvin Gay, the 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:57.760 television drama of the NBA and its superstar players, launched 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.040 it into the success it is today. The NBA was 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.200 at a high point and they were about to partner 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.800 with a growing cultural force that would take them even higher. 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.520 Here again is Pete Proudo. 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:17.200 The NBA really started to become a mainstream force in 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:20.000 nineteen seventy nine with the arrival of Magic Johnson and 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:24.879 Ladder Bird. Nineteen seventy nine is also the year that 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:32.680 Rapper's Delight hits the airwaves. Hip Hop, rapper and the 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:37.000 overall culture is a youth culture. It was especially a 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.080 youth culture in the nineteen eighties into the early nineteen nineties. 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:44.280 The NBA has always been about doing what's new, what's relevant. 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.560 The NBA's tradition is that it has no tradition, So 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.120 partnering hip hop with the NBA, or rather the NBA 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.120 partner with hip hop, was really a no brainer. Hip 0:20:55.160 --> 0:21:00.800 Hop has a youthful audience that has need to spend 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:05.480 and want something that's new, doesn't want the same old thing, 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:07.760 doesn't want They don't want to listen to Mick Jagger 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:09.520 their rolling Stone. They don't want to hear a story 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.920 about Mickey Mantle and Jim Brown. They want what's new. 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:16.920 The NBA's partnership with hip hop was a match made 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:27.080 in heaven. It's also not surprising because hip hop really 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:33.359 started as a byproduct of city culture. Basketball is very 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.720 much a city game. It did take place in gymnasiums, obviously, 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.200 and it did take place in the suburbs, but basketball's 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:42.080 biggest influence is in the cities. You don't need much 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:44.680 room to put up a basketball court, you don't need 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:46.600 much room to put up even a hoop. That the 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:49.600 game really was a way for city kids to assimilate 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:54.520 in American culture, especially Jews and African Americans. So it 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:58.520 may seem odd or unusual that the NBA would partner 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:01.399 with hip hop, but really it's not. As the NBA 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:06.119 is becoming a youthful hip league that's going mainstream thanks 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:11.359 to stars like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, hip hop 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:16.320 is enjoying the same renaissance. MTV starts playing rap videos, 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:22.160 rap starts to mimic pop songs with choruses and hooks, 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:26.000 and also incorporate elements of rock music. For example, walk 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:28.359 this way, You've got to fight for your right to party. 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:35.879 Those songs have hooks that a young fan get into, 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:39.800 even if they don't like rap, and it's different. It's 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:43.119 the new rock and roll, and that's appealing of kids. 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.720 And also you have artists that now are really more 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:50.760 like entertainers coming to the forefront. You have Will Smith, 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:52.800 you have MC Hammer, you have God help us in 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:55.359 all Ice. They all kind of come into that era. 0:22:55.800 --> 0:23:00.760 So as the NBA became mainstream, hip hop became the 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.320 instrum that also generates a line of culture. 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:06.520 And a line of. 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:14.240 Clothing that specifically sneakers that hooks not only a young 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:19.000 audience but the players. So it is a natural marriage 0:23:19.000 --> 0:23:21.280 of the two. The two go hand in hand even 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:27.040 to this day. And all the forces aligned with Michael 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:30.920 Jordan and with Nike and with the market. And here's why. 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:37.640 For a number of years, the NBA stars were always 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.840 quote unquote model citizens such as Julius Irving that Hen 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:44.880 packaged his team oriented stars such as Magic Johnson and 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:48.760 Larry Bird part of a rivalry, or they were just born. 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:54.320 So Michael Jordan comes along with a shoe that is 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:57.359 quote unquote banned by the NBA. It doesn't look like 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:00.560 any shoe you've ever seen. It's got white and black 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:01.240 and red. 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:03.119 It is completely foreign. 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.320 And then you have Michael Jordan, who embodies the spirit 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:10.080 of that shoe because he is a soloist. He is 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:14.480 not part of a team, he's not established, he is 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:18.719 brand new. He is marketed as a rebel by going 0:24:18.840 --> 0:24:21.960 over players, by putting the ball in the hoop in 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:26.320 ways that many people have not seen. And he can play. 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:31.440 He's an extraordinary player. And he is somebody that looks 0:24:31.440 --> 0:24:37.119 good on camera. He's extremely attractive, he's a manageable height 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:40.760 at six foot six. He is a matinee idol for basketball. 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:45.280 So all those things come together and turn this shoe 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:50.280 into a cultural force. It's not just a shoe. You 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:54.800 are buying the nineteen eighties version of the leather jacket 0:24:55.160 --> 0:24:58.560 or the Davy crockettat And when it's embraced by not 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:01.640 only basketball fans, but by by hip hop artists, by 0:25:01.720 --> 0:25:04.679 city kids, by whomever. And when clothing comes out to 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:10.840 match the shoes, the cats out of the band. So 0:25:10.880 --> 0:25:19.200 Michael Jordan really represents the beginning of the sneaker clothing 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:26.240 fashion trend in popular culture. I think because he was 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:31.520 somebody who you could represent, who you could aspire to be, 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:35.600 just by wearing his shoe. And if you're a teenager 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:40.240 and you want to be rebellious, it's very easy to 0:25:40.320 --> 0:25:42.879 chalk up sixty five dollars or one hundred dollars, one 0:25:42.920 --> 0:25:45.960 hundred and fifty dollars to become rebellious, to become part of 0:25:46.600 --> 0:25:50.760 a movement, especially when that movement is represented by somebody 0:25:51.119 --> 0:25:54.639 who is as magnetic, who's as brilliant player as Michael 0:25:54.680 --> 0:25:57.960 Jordan is. It's a very easy association to make and 0:25:58.200 --> 0:26:01.000 it persists. So if you want to be like Steph 0:26:01.119 --> 0:26:07.120 Curry or Kevin Durant or God Forrivid Kyrie Irving, buying 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:10.600 their shoe, buying their pal is a way to get 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:13.240 closer to them, and Michael Jordan is the start of that. 0:26:21.480 --> 0:26:25.200 The NBA now is a global business. I mean it is. 0:26:25.240 --> 0:26:29.040