WEBVTT - From Hangtime to Primetime 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:14.640 And we returned to our American stories. We consider the 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:19.560 National Basketball Association for the NBA to be a cultural icon, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.599 but it certainly didn't start off that way, and it 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.680 took the hiring of a man named Larry O'Brien to 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.720 get it on the path to being a serious organization. 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:31.680 Here with the story of the rise of the NBA 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:36.640 as a business is Pete Croado, author of From Hangtime 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:40.000 to Primetime. And we're telling this story because on this 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:44.640 day in history, in nineteen forty six, the NBA was formed. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:51.959 Let's get into the story. Take it away, Pete. 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.200 The NBA in its early days in the nineteen forties 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.400 nineteen fifties was really a regional league. It was a 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:01.760 league who teams were based in the Midwest and the 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:06.160 East coast the furthest team west was Sainton Louis. So 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.080 it really was a regional league, and it was a 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:13.160 league that really struggled for mainstream acceptance for years. It 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:17.319 had trouble getting a favorable national television contract for years. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.600 It played in arenas that really were antiquated or run down, 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.840 nowhere close to the entertainment meccas that we see today. 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:32.640 It really was a second tier. Professional league baseball had 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:36.480 always been America's game. Its roots were established for years 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.160 and years and years, and the NFL had gained a 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.560 foothold with television thanks to the nineteen fifty eight NFL 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.640 Championship Game, which was the league's first overtime game. The 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.600 NBA didn't have anything like that. It was really an 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.640 afterthought to college basketball, which was huge in the nineteen fifties, 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.520 and even to the hom Globe Trotters. In fact, NBA 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:01.080 games typically were the previews or the first act, so 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.320 to speak, to Harlem Globetrotter games, to college basketball games, 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:06.960 especially in New York City. And if you read player 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.840 autobiographies or player biographies from the nineteen fifties, nineteen sixties, 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.640 nineteen seventies, a lot of these players had second jobs, 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.840 you know, they had other business interests. They weren't making 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.639 exorbitant salaries. You know, now, if you sign a professional 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.440 contract as a highly titled rookie with any of the 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:29.799 four major sports, you're pretty much set for life. Back then, 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:34.239 that wasn't the case. So the NBA in the nineteen forties, fifties, 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.680 even into the nineteen sixties was a league that was 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.160 looking for relevance. It was looking for a foothold into 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.480 America's sporting culture. The NBA needed to make a leap 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:50.680 to become legitimate, and by putting le O'Brien in that position, 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:54.320 it is the first step towards saying, hey, we're a business, 0:02:55.040 --> 0:03:06.880 we mean business. Larry O'Brien was a major fixture in 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:12.240 Democratic national politics. He was somebody who as time goes on, 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.680 I think we've forgotten just what a political figure he 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.160 was in the nineteen fifties into the early nineteen seventies. 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.320 But Larry O'Brian was part of JFK's Irish mafia. He 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.120 basically helped JFK get to. 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:26.640 The White House. 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.080 He was on the plane coming back from Dallas after 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.640 JFK was assassinated. After that, he was a member of 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.040 Lynda by Johnson's comitty, who was Postmaster General, and then 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.480 after that he was the chairman of the Democratic National 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.200 Committee for two terms. He was on the cover of 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:47.200 Time magazine. So he was somebody who was a major, 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:52.280 major figure in national politics. But Larobryan, by the time 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.840 the mid nineteen seventies roll around, he had become a relic. 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.240 He's retired for the most part is somebody who is 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.520 really looking for something to do. And when Jay Walter 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.840 Kennedy decides that he's had enough being the NBA's commissioner, 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:11.280 he looks to Lyo Brian. He reaches out to Lyo 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.200 Brian specifically to ask him to take over, and Lyaro 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.960 Brian says no, because the thing. Here's the thing now, 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.120 when someone is elected to be the commissioner of a 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.279 sports league, that is a career pinnacle. For Roger Goodell 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.880 at the NFL, for Rob Manfred at Major League Baseball, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.039 Gary Bettman at the NHL, that is a pinnacle. When 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.800 you die, they lead your obituary with the fact that 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.240 you were the commissioner of the NHL or Major League Baseball. 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:45.880 For laro'brian, this was a step down. So the NBA 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.000 really courted him because for two reasons. First, they knew 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.360 that he was a basketball fan, because he was someone 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.440 who grew up watching the Celtics. He gets season tickets 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:56.520 to the Knicks. But larr Brin was also somebody who's 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.920 going to give the league instant credibility. And the NBA 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:08.960 ultimately won laro'brian over after numerous attempts because they convinced him, Look, 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.000 you'll have absolute power here. This isn't going to be 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:14.200 a real figurehead position. You'll actually be able to do 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.719 things here. You'll be able to make decisions and carry 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:22.040 out policy. You'll have impact. And his election as commissioner. 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:27.160 His hiring as commissioner was significant for two reasons. First, 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.880 he gives the NBA, as I mentioned before, instant credibility. 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.080 This is a league that was really struggling for national relevance. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:38.280 It was struggling to become a player, and laro'brien gave 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.320 the NBA cachet. It was headline news that he was 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.680 the NBA commissioner. It made people take notice. So there's that. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.040 And the second thing is is that he brings order 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.479 to the NBA. The heads of the NBA before lyo'brien, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.920 Maurice Podoloff and Jay Walter Kennedy, they came of age 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.680 of the NBA. They were ingrained in the NBA. They 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.960 didn't have outside influence and Laro brian came in and 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.200 he was not associated with the NBA, he didn't have allegiances. 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.440 He was somebody who just wanted what was best for 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:12.120 the MBA. So he came in with no biases. He 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.760 was his own man, and he also had the ability 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:21.160 the ability to manage. Larry O'Brien ran the best meetings. 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.320 And that may not sound like much, but you have 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.800 to understand that meetings before in this in the fifties 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.599 and sixties were contentious, bickering affairs, kind of like a 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:36.000 Thanksgiving dinner with different political opinions being bandied back and forth. 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.200 So Larry O'Brien coming in and just saying, look, this 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.480 is what we're doing. We're just going to get down. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:42.440 To brass tacks. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.440 It doesn't sound like much, but for a league that 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.480 couldn't get out of its own way, it was huge. 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:53.240 This really comes across in the NBA's absorption of the ABA, 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:58.080 the American Basketball Association, because Larry O'Brien, you know, just 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.560 wanted to get the deal done. When the two leagues 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.800 were meeting to try and figure out how to what 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:08.080 teams to absorb and what money should change hands, you know, 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.000 the meetings are going on and on in nineteen seventy six, 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:15.120 and in the closing days, Larry Brin just says to 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.960 the owners, look up or down, meaning we could stay 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.960 here and bicker about these contracts, or you can take 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.560 the money, get into a plane, cash your checks and 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:30.520 make make a small fortune before the day's ends. And 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.160 for the ABA, which had a lot of bankrupt owners 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.360 and financially struggling owners, laro brian was able to just 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.800 distill their problem into a simple question up or down, 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:42.800 and that's what the NBA needed. The NBA needed someone 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.600 to just get down to the brass tacks of running 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.200 a business. But one of his greatest gifts wasn't so 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.680 much policy he enacted or edicts that he handed down, 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.840 though he did his fair share. What Larry O'Brian did 0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:00.480 was he recognized talent and he could delegate. And one 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:05.120 thing that he did is that he hired a young 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:10.080 lawyer who was outside counsel for the NBA named David Stern, 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.360 and he bought him in as his second in command. 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.560 And David Stern later went on to become the na 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:21.000 Commissioner and in my mind is the most influential sports 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:25.760 commissioner of the last fifty years. So Larry O'Brian's ability 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.360 to recognize David Stern as somebody who could do the 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.760 dirty work, who could get to know the gms and 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:36.240 the keym owners and the union representatives. Having David Stern 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.480 clear a path and basically get a five year start 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.240 to become the commissioner of the NBA. That was Larry 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.480 O'Brien's greatest legacy, and I think that's why he is 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.560 one of the most overlooked figures in the rise of 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:52.040 the NBA. 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.080 And we're listening to Pete Croano telling the story of 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:01.360 the NBA. And what's so interesting about this take is 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.200 he's looking at it from a business angle. No business 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.960 of sports, no sports, no business of entertainment, no entertainment. 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.160 Capitalism in this way fuels so many of the pleasures 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:16.600 of our daily life in the forties and fifties, Well, 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.720 the league didn't extend past Saint Louis good luck with 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.920 a TV contract and in the old days, NBA players 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:27.319 had summer job. And then comes Larry O'Brien and then 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.880 comes David Stern, his second in command. When we come 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.880 back more of the remarkable story of the NBA with 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:39.760 Pete Croado, author of From Hangtime to Primetime, here on 0:09:39.920 --> 0:10:12.480 our American story, and we returned to our American stories 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.400 and the story of the NBA when we last left 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.160 off NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien had hired a young lawyer 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:21.840 by the name of David Stern to be his second 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:26.120 in command, and Stern himself would soon take over Larry's job, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.720 changing the NBA forever. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:37.040 Here again is Pete Croudo. Larry Baum was. 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.600 One of those bosses where he came in at nine o'clock, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.880 he went to his office, shut the door, and you 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:47.880 saw him at five o'clock. David Stern was everywhere. He 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:50.840 was at the arenas, he was talking to the gms, 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.400 he was talking to the press, he was talking to 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:57.000 the network that aired NBA games. So every week David 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.239 Steerer would go on a conference call with the broadcast 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.560 crew at USA Network, the cable station that aired NBA games, 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:09.320 And there's one meeting where David Stearns says, look, guys, 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:15.400 focus on the stars. Don't worry about the records, don't 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.640 worry about who's winning, who's losing. Focus on the stars. 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.040 If it's a terrible matchup, let's say the Clippers are 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.720 playing the Celtics, let's say focus on John Halchek, focus 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.079 on Dave Cowens. There are folks that people know, and 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.440 that to me was David Stearn's genius was that he 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.640 was able to recognize that to generate interest, he had 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.320 to identify ways for Joe and Jane public to watch 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:43.360 a basketball game beyond two minutes. And that 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 --> 0:11:49.840 Irving focus on them, and that star system is what 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.880 sustained the NBA and what sustains. 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:53.120 It to this day. 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.640 That is David Searn's baby, and it comes about in 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:04.439 a number of ways. First is the establishment of NBA Entertainment, 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.559 which is what David Stern creates. So NBA and him 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:13.640 becomes this sort of archive of game footage and player interviews, 0:12:14.400 --> 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 --> 0:12:30.199 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, 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.040 you have a Magic Johnson video cassette, you have a 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:45.280 Lary Bird video cassette. David Stern partners with the television station, 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.440 specifically with CBS, and comes up with a game plan. 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.240 Each game was going to have at least two players 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:57.040 Larry Bird, Kareem app Deli, Jabar Julia serving Magic Johnson 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.160 because that's who the casual fan wanted to see. They 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.280 wanted to see stars. So you have MBA Entertainment, you 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.720 have the television coverage, and you also have NBA properties, 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:14.960 which again is a David Stern led development, which focuses 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:20.040 on apparel that focuses on players, players faces, what they do. 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.480 So you know, it's not just getting a seventy six 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.000 ers T shirt, it's getting a Julius Irvin T shirt, 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.360 is getting a Charles Barkley T shirt, It's getting a 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:33.080 Magic Johnson hat or a Magic Johnson sweatshirt. So it 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:38.840 is a multi pronged attack that David Stern leads, and 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:43.160 it all comes down to the players because think of 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.240 it this way. Kids, I think get their sports tcens 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.040 from their parents, right or from their grandparents, or from 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.120 their family, or from allegiances in town. If you are 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.640 somebody who's getting into the NBA as a lone wolf 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.280 like I was, I had parents who were not particularly 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.600 not really sports fans. You know, my parents didn't know 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:05.920 what hand a baseball club went on. You're going to 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:10.000 gravitate for players, then code toward a team. And if 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.040 you know the players through commercials, if you highlight their 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:17.440 best attributes like Magic Johnson's smile or Larry Bird's competitiveness, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:22.280 you are going to win people over. And it also 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:25.479 helps if you work with a television network like CBS 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:29.560 and CBS Sports that knows how to frame the games 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:40.280 as television promise. When you have Magic versus Larry, you're 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.240 not just focusing on these two great players. You're focusing 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.320 on the two sterling franchises in the NBA, and the 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.240 Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. You're focusing on 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:54.359 East versus West, and you're turning all those components into 0:14:54.400 --> 0:15:02.479 a narrative that anybody can get behind. So the NBA Finals, 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.040 any NBA game, isn't just a sporting event that becomes 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.680 an episode of television. Where the same way that if 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.360 you watch a television pilot, you get the characters, you 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.240 get the storyline, and you get a happy ending or 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:19.479 an ending, the same thing happens with NBA games on CPS. 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.480 You get a beginning, middle, and end. You get a 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.720 flashy introduction. You're caught up the speed with where things are, 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.840 and then you get a game that is filmed almost 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.920 like a movie, with quick cuts and close ups and 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.840 reaction shots. You get personality into the game, and that 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:41.040 personality bleeds through every product. Whether it's a VHS tape, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:45.120 whether it's a T shirt, doesn't matter what it is, because, 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:49.480 as David Stern said, it's not what people think about you, 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.920 it's how they feel about you. That is the mantra 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.680 of the NBA. It is an emotional league, and that 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:03.800 is the lifeline for the NBA's story, for its success 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:16.600 over the past thirty five forty years. But Marvin Gaye's 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.200 national Anthem at the nineteen eighty three NBA All Starting 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:24.040 in Los Angeles, to me, is a pivotal point in 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.160 the NBA's history because that's when the NBA became the 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.840 world's cool sport. You have to remember that for the 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:35.440 longest time, the national anthem was performed in a very 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:40.120 straight ahead fashion. But Marvin Gaye's national anthem comes at 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.160 the right time. It's when hip hop is making its 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:47.680 ways into the American culture, and it's also a major 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.240 cultural figure in Marvin gay Who's motown and sexual healing 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.680 singing the song, and it's also the sign that the 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.120 NBA wasn't going to play by the rules of the 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.040 NFL of Major League Baseball. It was going to do 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:06.320 its own thing because here was an unabashedly African American 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.800 version of that song that reflected who was on the court. 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.399 You had a majority of African American players playing, but 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.520 it also represented what you saw on the court in 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.879 terms of style of play. That national anthem, if anyone 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:24.080 hasn't heard, it is a soulful, stirring rendition that incorporates 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.760 R and B gospel. He's singing it over a pre 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:32.000 recorded beat. It reflected what the NBA was and what 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.040 it could be. It was a cool sport. It wasn't 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.560 a sport for your mom and your dad and your 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.840 grandma and your grandpa. It was a sport that was 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:44.040 for the cool kids at the table, for the teenagers, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.199 for the young Americans who wanted something different, that wanted me, 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:52.560 that was hip that belonged to them. And that national 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.960 anthem set the stage for everything that happened afterward in 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:02.159 the NBA's cultural history because it was defiantly non traditional, 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:06.719 but in a way that was entertaining and fun and 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:12.080 exciting and different. And for any young sports fan who 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:17.080 growing up in that era and afterward, that's what the 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:19.679 NBA represented when you first saw a basketball team. It 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:23.399 represents something different. The players looked different, they carry themselves 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:26.240 in a different way. The game was filmed differently, the 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.760 players did things differently, they talked differently. That anthem also 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.280 changed the way the NBA organized its All Star games. 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:38.080 It became more than just East versus West, your best 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.920 versus my best. It also became what can we do 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:47.000 to give the audience the best time possible. So Marvin Gay, 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:52.480 in a lot of ways, launched a business revolution. 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.040 And you've been listening to Pete Croato tell a heck 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:00.280 of a story about the NBA, and we're huge hoops 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.240 in my house. Heck, when I was a kid, I 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.879 did Bobby Knight's camp, captain of my high school basketball 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:05.560 team twice. 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:07.720 And to hear this story told. 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.640 So well by someone like Pete, well, it brings back 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:11.520 a lot of memories. 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:13.400 When we come back more. 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.960 Of Pete Croato on the story of not only Larry O'Brien, 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:21.119 but how David Stern helped turn the NBA into the 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:38.760 cool game, the cool thing in American culture, and we 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.919 returned to our American stories and the final segment on 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.400 the rise of the National Basketball Association. 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:46.280 When we last left off. 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:50.800 Pete Croato, author of From Hangtime to Primetime, was telling 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.560 us about how David Stern Marvin Gay, the television drama 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.640 of the NBA and its superstar players, launched it into 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.480 the success it is today. The NBA was at a 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:03.720 high point and they were about to partner with a 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.720 growing cultural force that would take them even higher. Here 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:09.800 again is Pete Proudo. 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.439 The NBA really started to become a mainstream force in 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.280 nineteen seventy nine with the arrival of Magic Johnson and 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:25.080 Ladder Bird. Nineteen seventy nine is also the year that 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:32.920 Rapper's Delight hits the airwaves. Hip hop rapper and the 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.239 overall culture is a youth culture. It was especially a 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.320 youth culture in the nineteen eighties into the early nineteen nineties. 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:44.520 The NBA has always been about doing what's new, what's relevant. 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:47.800 The NBA's tradition is that it has no tradition, So 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.359 partnering hip hop with the NBA, or rather the NBA 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.360 partnering with hip hop was really a no brainer. Hip 0:20:55.400 --> 0:21:01.000 hop has a youthful audience that has money to spend 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:05.720 and want something that's new. Doesn't want the same old thing, 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:07.960 doesn't want They don't want to listen to Mick Jagger 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:09.760 their own stone. They don't want to hear a story 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.160 about Mickey Mantle and Jim Brown. They want what's new. 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:17.120 The NBA's partnership with hip hop was a match made 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:27.320 in heaven. It's also not surprising because hip hop really 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:33.560 started as a byproduct of city culture. Basketball is very 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:36.919 much a city game. It did take place in gymnasiums, obviously, 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.440 and it did take place in the suburbs, but basketball's 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.320 biggest influence is in the cities. You don't need much 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:44.879 room to put up a basketball court, you don't need 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.120 much room to put up even a hoop. The game 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.000 really was a way for city kids who assimilate into 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:54.960 American culture, especially Jews and African Americans. So it may 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.840 seem odd or unusual that the NBA would partner with 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.800 hip hop, but really it's as the NBA is becoming 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:07.399 a youthful hip league that's going mainstream thanks to stars 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:12.240 like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. Hip hop is enjoying 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:17.600 the same renaissance, and TV starts playing rap videos. Rap 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:22.760 starts to mimic pop songs with choruses and hooks and 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:26.879 also incorporate elements of rock music, for example, walk this way. 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:29.800 You've got to fight for your right to party. Those 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:36.119 songs have hooks that a young fan can get into 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:40.000 even if they don't like rap, and it's different. It's 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:43.320 the new rock and roll, and that's a pealing of kids. 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.960 And also you have artists that now are really more 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.960 like entertainers coming to the forefront. You have Will Smith, 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:53.040 you have MC hammer, you have God help us in 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:55.600 all Ice. They all kind of come into that era. 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:00.960 So as the NBA became mainstream, hip hop became the 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:04.640 instrument that also generates a line of culture. 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:06.680 And a line of. 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:14.480 Clothing that specifically sneakers that hooks not only a young 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:19.200 audience but the players. So it is a natural marriage 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:21.520 of the two. The two go hand in hand even 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:27.240 to this day. And all the forces aligned with Michael 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:31.120 Jordan and with Nike and with the market. And here's why. 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:37.880 For a number of years, the NBA stars were always 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:41.000 quote unquote model citizens, such as Julius Irving, that he 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:44.720 can packaged. His team oriented stars such as Magic Johnson 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:48.520 and Larry Bird part of a rivalry or they were 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:54.120 just born. So Michael Jordan comes along with a shoe 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:57.280 that is quote unquote banned by the NBA. It doesn't 0:23:57.280 --> 0:24:00.040 look like any shoe you've ever seen. It's got white 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:03.679 and black and red. It is completely foreign. And then 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:06.840 you have Michael Jordan, who embodies the spirit of that 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:12.400 shoe because he is a soloist. He is not part 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:15.600 of a team. He's not established, he is brand new. 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:20.040 He is marketed as a rebel by going over players, 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:22.800 by putting the ball in the hoop in ways that 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.800 many people have not seen. And he can play. He's 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:31.920 an extraordinary player. And he is somebody that looks good 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:37.520 on camera. He's extremely attractive, he's a manageable height at 0:24:37.600 --> 0:24:40.960 six foot six. He is a matinate idol for basketball. 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:45.520 So all those things come together and turn this shoe 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:50.520 into a cultural force. It's not just a shoe. You 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:55.040 are buying the nineteen eighties version of the leather jacket 0:24:55.359 --> 0:24:58.120 or the Davy Crockett haat. And when it's embraced by 0:24:58.640 --> 0:25:02.200 not only basketball fans, by hip hop artists, by city 0:25:02.280 --> 0:25:05.280 kids by whomever, and when clothing comes out to match 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:11.399 the shoes, the cat out of the band. So Michael 0:25:11.480 --> 0:25:20.520 Jordan really represents the beginning of the sneaker clothing fashion 0:25:20.560 --> 0:25:26.960 trend in popular culture. I think because he was somebody 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:31.760 who you could represent, who you could aspire to be, 0:25:32.600 --> 0:25:35.840 just by wearing his shoe. And if you're a teenager 0:25:37.240 --> 0:25:40.480 and you want to be rebellious, it's very easy to 0:25:40.560 --> 0:25:43.080 chalk up sixty five dollars or one hundred dollars one 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:46.200 hundred fifty dollars to become rebellious, to become part of 0:25:46.800 --> 0:25:51.000 a movement, especially when that movement is represented by somebody 0:25:51.359 --> 0:25:54.600 who is as magnetic, who's as brilliant a player as 0:25:54.600 --> 0:25:57.680 Michael Jordan is. It's a very easy association to make 0:25:58.040 --> 0:26:01.240 and it persists. So you want to be like Steph 0:26:01.359 --> 0:26:07.360 Curry or Kevin Durant or god forbid, Kyrie Irving. Buying 0:26:07.560 --> 0:26:10.840 their shoe, buying their pal is a way to get 0:26:10.880 --> 0:26:13.480 closer to them, and Michael Jordan is the start of that. 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:24.840 The NBA now is a global business. I mean it 0:26:25.280 --> 0:26:29.560 is worth billions and billions of dollars and it has 0:26:30.080 --> 0:26:33.840 thousands of employees, across the globe. It is constantly trying 0:26:33.880 --> 0:26:37.960 to so it's seeds of development in different areas of 0:26:38.000 --> 0:26:39.960 the world. I mean, I think Africa is now the 0:26:40.040 --> 0:26:44.840 latest continent to come under the NBA's purview. So it 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:50.120 is just now this behemoth and the NBA is part 0:26:50.160 --> 0:26:53.000 of our part of our life, whether we're online or 0:26:53.040 --> 0:26:55.720 watching it on TV. I mean, it's you know, I 0:26:55.760 --> 0:26:58.199 think most people know who Lebron James is, they know 0:26:58.200 --> 0:27:02.200 who Kevin Durant is. They're cultural institutions. I think we 0:27:02.320 --> 0:27:07.199