WEBVTT - A Magic Act Like No Other 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.120 This is the Dream Team Tapes, a Diversion Podcasts original 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:09.760 series in association with I Heart Radio. This is the 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:13.000 story of the United States Olympic basketball team that won 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:24.800 gold in Barcelona in known worldwide as the Dream Team. 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.520 First of all, let me say get after late afternoon, Um, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:34.800 because of HIV virus that I have attained, I will 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.879 have to retire from the Lakers today. Many of us 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.760 still remember where we were when we heard the announcement. Now, 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.639 I'm not going to compare to the assassination of a president. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.720 Of course, I remember exactly where I was on November 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.880 Mrs Harris's freshman English class at Okrest High School, when 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.120 John Kennedy was shot in Dallas, or the day that 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:03.600 planes flew to the World Trade Center. Even I was 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.720 in my living room organizing a charity golf event for 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:12.960 the day. But this was November seven. Around one o'clock 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.000 that day, I had gotten a call from somebody in 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.880 the NBA saying that Magic Johnson was going to retire 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:23.760 from basketball due to a medical reason. What the hell, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.160 You'll have to come into the office to write a story. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.679 Sports Illustrators Basketball editor Sandy Padway told me, Now, what 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.280 you have to understand, and what many younger listeners will 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.320 find it hard to understand was that we weren't concentrating 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.160 on the retirement part, or what it's going to do 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.880 to the Lakers, or what it means to the n 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:47.640 b A, or what it means to the dream team. 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.120 What people of my age we're thinking was we're gonna 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:58.240 watch him die. Irvan Johnson called Magic was to our 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:03.680 collective mind, a dead man walking. Roy Johnson, who was 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.560 an editor at s I in a book collaborator with Magic, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.360 flew to l A that day to shepherd through a 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.760 first person story with Magic. That was the power of 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:17.359 s I. Back then we got Magic's voice into the magazine. Now. 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:19.880 The story I wrote for that week's magazine carried the 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:24.480 single cover building Magic. The photo was Magic taking what 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.639 he called his junior junior skyhook. No other writing than 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:33.200 that single word magic. In the story, I conjured up 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.960 all that was special about Magic and ended with this 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:40.360 quote from San Antonio Spurs veteran forward Terry Cummings, the 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.519 Lakers will never be the same team and the NBA 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.440 will never be the same league. It bore the single 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:52.080 word headline, unforgettable. Man. It sure looked and read like 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:56.880 we were talking about a dead person. Hi, and welcome 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.680 to episode four of the Dream Team Tapes, Tom Jack 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.760 mc alum. Today we're gonna talk about several things. The 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.000 organization of the Dream Team once they got together, the 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.840 shocking while some thought so, defeat of the Dream Team 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.080 in a scrimmage to a college all star team, the 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:15.880 division of leadership within the Dream Team, and the singular 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.560 what should I call it bravery hutzpah, a combination of 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.120 the two that led a man who most of us 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.200 thought was going to die to the pinnacle of the 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:29.560 basketball world in Barcelona. We'll return to that, but let's 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.160 figure out where we are now. The team has picked. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.880 They've arrived for the first practice session at you see 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:41.000 San Diego. In a word, it's a zoo, hundreds and 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:45.520 hundreds of reporters working outside. To a non journalist, maybe 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.920 even to a young journalist, this is exciting now. Two 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:52.240 hard bitten veterans like myself. That was my eight year 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.640 covering the league, and I was about to turn forty three. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.800 It was a nightmare. And here's what I wrote about 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.480 that scene in Dream Team. There we were the Nations 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.080 and some of the world's sporting press, maybe five hundred 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.000 of us on the steps of the University of California, 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:12.320 San Diego, shuffling around with equal parts anticipation and exasperation, 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.080 waiting for the doors of the Holy Temple to open, 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.960 at which point we would prostrate ourselves at the feet 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.000 of the Dream Team and grovel like face down chickens 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.320 pecking in a field for any casually tossed out nuggets 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:28.320 they might deign to cast our way. Okay, that's off 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.640 my chest. Now. We were eventually allowed access to the 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:34.960 Holy Temple, and there was the first sight of them together. 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:38.520 It was, I grant you exciting or it was certainly 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.920 at least interesting in its own way, But what had 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.360 already happened would have been more interesting to see or 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.840 listened to. I had to reconstruct all this later. The 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.160 night before there had been a team meeting, and before 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.359 that a couple of side meetings involving the head coach, 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:58.080 Chuck Daily. The first one was between Daily and his 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:03.480 assistants Mike Saski and p J. Carlesimo. Coach K describes it. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:07.040 In the first meeting, Duck said, the very first thing 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.960 I want you guys to do, and you have whatever 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:15.760 is worn to ignore. He said, we have a def 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.240 players in the world, and you guys and p J, 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:22.240 you two are going to look at every little thing 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:23.919 which you'd have to do in your own world, but 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.560 in our world most of it it's not that important. 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:33.040 Learned to ignore. It's one of my favorite anecdotes from 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.679 the book, these two eager to please college coaches coming 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.640 in and Chuck saying, okay, let's chill a little bit. Fellas. 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.000 Another meeting Daily had was with Magic and Jordan's he 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:57.720 sets us down, like when I was like, uh, you 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:02.640 guys going to be and the leaders of the team, 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:07.520 and Michael before had been Michael's that Magic and he 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.960 deferred to me. Now, Bird, who had every bit as 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:14.279 big a claim to be ceremonial captain as Magic, had 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.560 no problem with Magic being the front man. They were 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.440 in fact named co captains, as Bird remembers it, but 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.920 most of the captainish duties went to Magic. We had 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:28.480 a meeting egos luring Magic's captain, but yet Magic sort 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.640 of took more of the big Magic. He sort of 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.920 took more of the role, no question, That's how he is. 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:36.880 And I understand that there wasn't no eagle thing with me. 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:38.960 If you want to carry the flag out there, carre 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.920 the flag. Now there are appointed captains and there are 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.760 actual captains, and there is no doubt who the real 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:51.039 leader of the Dream Team was. Here's Patrick Ewing. You know, 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.880 Michael was the leader, even though Magic, you know he 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:58.240 said all the things. I mean, Michael, Michael, Michael. There 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.040 was an edge to the Jordan Magic relationship. It really 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.599 surfaces during the mystical the Greatest Game that nobody ever saw, 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.480 Scrimmage and Monte Carlo, that is the subject of the 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.120 sixth podcast in this series, and Bird figures into it. 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.160 I had a theory that Jordan was a little bit 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.880 jealous of the dual relationship that Magic and Bird had. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.040 Jordan's didn't have a co revolutionary, an immortal buddy, as 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.000 it were, to march off into history and proclaim we 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.440 saved the league together. It was always Magic and Bird 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.880 as the eternal Alphonse and Gaston, the joint subjects of 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.560 Jackie McMullen's great book when the Game was ours, But 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:41.160 it was Michael alone, the eternal solitary man. I'm a 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.840 one man guy in the morning, same in the afternoon, 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.119 one man guy. When the sun goes down, I wiss 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.400 me one man to whom what you'd prefer. I went 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.160 for Neil Diamond, solitary man instead of the great Rufus 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:01.680 Wayne Wrights one man guy. But Mike was is a 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:06.760 true one man guy, and he never liked magics. Sometimes subtle, 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.920 sometimes overt claims that the Dream Team belonged to him 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.520 and Larry. But but as much as a guy sometimes 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.720 didn't buy into the magic, I'm in charge here thing. 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:23.640 There is no one anywhere that could deny the fortitude, courage, 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:29.280 and yes, leadership that magic showed in combating HIV. He 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:33.840 announced that he had the virus on November seven, and 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:40.640 this happened on February nine, almost exactly three months later, 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:49.200 show time in Orlando. The final seconds, you're not getting 0:08:50.080 --> 0:09:13.880 yes he is six ladies and gentlemen, it's just Tid 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:23.280 Orchid get deliver three bread trades for Johnson at the 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:26.040 end of the game one and falling away and as 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.760 mother and father Urban Senior from Lansing, Michigan there to 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.240 leave this year. That was the voice of Dick Enbergh 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.760 calling down the final seconds of the All Star Game 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:40.160 in Orlando, which ends with magic guarded, okay, kind of 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:45.120 guarded by Isaiah making a three point shot. Magic played 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:49.840 more minutes than anyone except Jordan's, scored more points than anyone, 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.400 and handed out more assist than anyone nine and of 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:59.120 course won the MVP Award. Only ninety four days had 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.160 passed since the announcement that we thought was an announcement 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:08.160 of slow deaths, and here he is not just not dying, 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:11.600 but apparently getting better, starring in the All Star Game. 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:15.480 And to answer everyone's question, yes, God damn it, I 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.720 will be going to Barcelona. In those three months, Magic 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:23.240 had resumed working out, started to eat healthy, started to 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.480 talk about HIV, reaching out in his own magic way 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:31.320 to others with HIV aids literally around the world. Now 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.760 did he have missteps? Of course, he helped form a 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.360 commission that managed to have no one with HIV or 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:39.920 any gay mail on it, which at that time was 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.000 a community suffering from the plague more than anyone. But 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.400 Magic forged a head. Now there was backlash, such as 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.040 the comment by Dr Brian Sando, the senior medical director 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:54.440 of the Australian Olympic Federation's basketball program, quote to be 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:58.160 read by my Australian producer Mark, I would certainly recommend 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.959 that our basketball let's not come pete with a team 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:04.440 in which Magic Johnson was a member. That risk. You 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:09.160 cannot absolutely say it's navigating the care basketballers. Come on, dude, 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.240 But look Sando was not some fringe guy. He was 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.880 a well known doctor whose death in two thousand twelve 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.280 was mourned throughout the Australian sports world. So his was 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.600 not an out their opinion, and it was shared by 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.640 probably millions, including some people close to Magic. In fact, 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:30.319 behind the scenes there was conversation in USA basketball circles 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.439 about well, should we welcome Magic back with open arms? 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.840 Is it safe? Is it okay? This is Rod Thorne, 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.280 a key committee member. It was a death sentence. Um, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.920 you know what happens if he gets to open cut 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.520 close risk. It was always an issue written about a lot, 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.120 so Thorne said. There was much consulting with medical people 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:58.080 and eventually the decision was made that Magic would be safe. 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.400 But according to Clyde Drexe, it was never far from 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.880 anyone's mind. In other words, there were times, according to Drexler, 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:07.600 when people took it easy on Magic. Now that was 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:09.760 certainly true in the All Star game. But you know, 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.000 defense is not the watchword of that day anyway, and 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.000 I doubt it was true by the time the Dream 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.400 Team was assembled. And it should be noticed that Clyde, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.679 who sometimes says things that he later regrets, was one 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.960 of the staunchest defenders of Magic when he decided to 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:30.320 return to basketball. If the doctors say it's safe, that's 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.040 okay with me, Drexler said at the time. Now later, 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.280 much later, after the Dream Team got back to the 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.600 States with the gold medal, one member of the Dream Team, 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.920 Carl Malone, had lots of worries about Magic playing. We'll 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.680 talk about that in the final episode. But all in all, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.160 I firmly believe that when the history of the NBA 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.400 has written, somewhere near the first page will be its 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:56.920 contributions to HIV AIDS. Understanding the result of the resolute 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.200 stand taken by Commissioner David Stern that we will be 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:04.360 cowed by fear combined with the undying determination of Magic 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.160 to keep on plan. Look, Magic didn't become the first 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.920 famous person to live and thrive with the disease purely 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.360 because of his will. Let's not go full out, Dr 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.920 phil On this Magic had one of the great AIDS 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:21.160 researchers in the world, Dr David Hoe, working with him 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.040 and a dedicated personal physician in Michael Melman, and doing 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.360 large part to Magic's efforts. Research grew by leaps and 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:32.960 bounds in the months following Magic's alling himself. But it's 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:36.120 just the fact that having a positive attitude approaching any 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:40.160 disease is a good thing, and Magic was the ultimate 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:53.320 and positive attitude. So let's get back to San Diego 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.800 and the early days of practice for the Dream Team. 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.439 The captain ship is pretty much figured out, but still 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.800 think act roles are being determined, who leads on the court, 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:07.400 who shoots, who screens, who passes, Who's in charge. Chuck 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.480 Daily wanted to get them an action right away, which 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.720 is what you do with pros. So USA Basketball organized 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.600 for a first class college all star team, the kind 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.360 of team maybe literally the team plus Christian Lightner that 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:23.360 would have been our Olympic team had competition not been 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:26.840 opened up to include NBA players. So on the third 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.800 day of practice, when the mass has made our Daily 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.640 heard of Buffalo troop into practice, we could tell something 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:37.560 was wrong. Remember, we could not watch what happened. Practices 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.840 were closed we spent our post practice interview time trying 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.880 to reconstruct what had happened, which usually wasn't much. But 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:49.520 on this day June, something had happened. Some of these 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.680 college players we've just got through playing against should be 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:56.360 on this team. But that was Larry Bird's way of saying, 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.840 we got beat by the kids. So, as it turns out, 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.400 the Dream Team had a loss in the first game 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.560 it played. Okay, not an official loss. There was no 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:11.320 box score, no official wrap up, but the College All 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.960 Stars beat the Dream teamers by a score of sixty 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:17.800 two to fifty four. At least that's the most accurate 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.480 score I've been able to piece together. Accounts very widely, 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.760 as does the significance of the event. Bird, as I recall, 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.320 seemed piste off. Jordan was piste off that day too, 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.200 though for a different reason. Daily didn't play him in 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.480 the scrimmage very much. And here's how two players, first 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:41.200 Chris Mullen and then Charles Barkley evaluated that scrimmage years later, 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.240 and I think I think it was more like the 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.880 scrimmage for us in a World Challenge family. There were 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.200 First it was early on, which was actually masked by 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.520 and I worked out that way. It was perfect probably, 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.040 and I do really After that an Badge was like, well, 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.880 ship together, we're gonna be here, you know. And then 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:03.560 from then on were better. We were kind of like 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.080 just going through the motions and they were feeling like 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:14.040 he was gay seven and they beat us. So we 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.520 got together that night and the next day would beat 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.000 him by let we see it would beat them. Feel 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:25.080 like we've beat about third part point. We just started 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.800 kicking and we wouldn't score anything where we just killed 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:35.000 well maybe, but there was lingering concern, which was the 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.400 way that the Collegians, particularly Bobby Hurley, the Duke point guard, 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.920 who would have no doubt started on the non Dream 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:46.720 team Olympic team, penetrated the Dream team defense well, to 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.520 be specific, how easily he got past Magic, who was 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:53.520 never the best one on one defender even in his 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.760 salad days. It was after that scrimmage of Daily and 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.560 the coaches decided any speedy guards in the Empics would 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.440 be defended by either Jordan or Pippen in the next 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.560 scrimmage with the Collegians. In fact, Daily put Jordan on 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.200 Hurley and as Grant Hill told me, he could barely 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:12.359 get the ball pass mid court. Then that was a 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.680 harbinger of what Jordan would do to Tony Ku coach 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.359 and Sharrunus Marchalonis in the Olympics. Those stories are coming 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.520 up now at the front of the line of those 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.320 who firmly believed there was nothing to worry about after 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:28.119 the scrimmage loss was Mike seki U just wanted for 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:32.080 one day the orchestrate. Whether we lost it or not, 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:36.399 it was only a short twenty minute spring and to 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:42.320 let that our guys know that you could look okay 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.120 and how it was officiated and hardly said a word 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:53.360 there in that scrimmage. Chuck was So everyone left San 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.240 Diego and fairly good spirits on route to Portland for 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.719 the Tournament of the Americas. The United States Sea had 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:02.800 to qualify for the Olympics due to its third place 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.800 finish in Like most of the reporters following this crazy circus, 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.920 I was looking forward to Portland's great city, nice bars, 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.200 good restaurants, and we would at last get to see 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.320 this team in action. And we're the dream team members 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.040 that excited. Well for them, it would be nice to 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:25.000 actually start playing. But Portland's also proved to be the 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.200 first time when we really saw how much business and 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.159 marketing and the pursuit of the dollar had to do 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.560 with this whole thing, and Michael Jordan's for one, would 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.680 not be happy. Thanks for listening and I'll see you 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:50.439 for episode five. If you enjoyed The Dream Team Tapes, 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:54.359 please follow, rate, and review wherever you get your podcasts. 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:59.040 The Dream Team Tapes is written and hosted by Jack mckellum. 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:05.360 It executive producers Mark Francis and Scott Waxman, Executive producer 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:09.399 for I Heart Media, is shown to Turne. The Dream 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.840 Team Tapes is a Diversion Podcasts original series in association 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:18.320 with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:23.119 visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:24.919 you listen to your favorite shows.