WEBVTT - The Greatest Game Nobody Ever Saw 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.120 This is the Dream Team Tapes, a Diversion Podcasts original 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:09.959 series in association with I Heart Radio. This is the 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:12.720 story of the United States Olympic basketball team that won 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:26.480 gold in Barcelona, known worldwide as the Dream Team. No 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.560 section of my book Dream Team got as much attention 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.840 as the chapter I called the greatest game Nobody ever saw, 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.920 which is exactly what I'm calling this episode six of 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:40.640 the Dream Team Tapes. I'm Jack McCallum, and today I 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:43.400 tell you what happened in Monte Carlo the week before 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.720 the Dreamers went on to Barcelona for the Olympics. Some 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.599 recap the team had its initial training in San Diego, 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.080 went on to play the qualifying tournament in Portland. But 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.720 Chuck Daily and the folks at USA Basketball didn't want 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.360 to go to Barcelona cold, so they set up a 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:00.920 week of pre Olympic training at a place where everyone 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:06.160 goes when they want to train. Seriously, Monty Carlo. Yeah right, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.360 it was a brilliant move. Really. The players may not 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.240 have wanted to practice, but they knew the good times 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.280 they could have in Monte Carlo. It wasn't as sybaritic 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.479 as you might think. Most of them brought along their families. 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.360 The team was going directly for Monte Carlo to Barcelona, 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.720 and I remember looking at them when they checked into 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.959 the Low's Monte Carlo. It looked like a group family 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:33.960 vacation of millionaires, which is exactly what it was. Strollers, luggage, babysitters, 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:38.120 more luggage, more babysitters, more luggage. Charles Barkley was one 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.959 of the few who was batching it, so the mind 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.800 cannot begin to grasp what a great time he must 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:47.480 have had in that have been for gamblers, models and 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.320 folks with few money. The fact that they were there 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.120 at all was a testament to the compromises made for 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.040 the Dream Team, because in the early years of his 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.880 tenure as Commissioner, the late Great David Stern was fervent 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.240 the anti gambling, having grown up following the college basketball 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:07.720 point shaving scandals that wrecked hoops in New York City 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.480 for a long time. But he was also the leagu's guardian, 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:14.960 and he recognized that a training camp and say, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:17.800 was not the inducement he needed to get the players 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.600 to buy in. So he began talking to a tennis buddy, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.880 New York Giants owner Bob Tisch, who also owned the 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:30.119 Lowe's hotel, including a show piece property in Monaco. From there, 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:34.200 Russ Grant, Externs Consigliari at the NBA and Lowe's chairman 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:39.000 Robert Hausman negotiated the deal with the principality. Plus this 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.160 was only months removed from the revelations coming to light 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:46.120 about Michael Jordan's off court gambling debts and his association 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.960 with a convicted coke dealer slash money launderer with the 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:55.040 Elmore Leonardish name of James slim Boeller. The NBA investigated 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.320 and released a statement There appears to be no reason 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.680 for the NBA to take action again. Michael subtexts were 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.920 embarrassed by this and wish he would stop. But there 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.200 was Michael, along with many of the other Dreamers, gambling 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.480 the night away in the Lows Casino entirely legally. It 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.079 must be at it Magic. Johnson remembers one night watching 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.680 Michael play. So I was sitting at his table, but 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.880 not playing, just sitting it, and then he comes in. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:25.560 I said I was one. I'm wanted me a table 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.240 up for you. So he says to me, I'm gonna 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.880 be your most expensive Chiley that you've ever had in 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.640 you a lot. I'm gonna stand behind you, and cheered 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:40.120 gold Jordan go. So he played all what is the 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.520 end of five? Five? Five and five? N he was 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.760 playing them all. They wrote up this table for him 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.680 and he played all night. Now. Before the dream team arrived, 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:55.640 the lows legendary hotel manager Henrie Lorenzi. I was told 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.560 he was legendary. I don't really know how to rate 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:01.520 the legendary nous of hotel managers, but anyway, Henri was 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.760 complaining about what he perceived as the unnecessary level of 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:10.800 security insisted upon by USA Basketball, which had sent in 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:15.320 an advanced team of people. Lorenza's point was that millionaires 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.599 and movie stars, monarchs and models dined and drank and 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.240 gambled and gamboled in his hotel. So what was the 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:27.360 big deal about a dozen guys and sneakers? Why tennis 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.520 immortal Bjorn Borg is here right now, he told the 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:35.280 NBA's Kim Bihooney. Then when the team bus pulled up, 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.200 there was such a rush forward from the hotel guests 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:42.120 where it had gotten around that two unfortunates crashed through 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.240 the front doors of the entrance I see your point 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:50.200 on there, said to Bihooni, probably in a marvelous French accent. Now, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.320 the scariest moment occurred a couple of days later, when 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.320 the team was boarding a bus to go to practice. 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.240 A driver lost control of his car while gaping at 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.480 the Dream Team. And here was a scene described by 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:06.080 Pete Scurich, the Pistons team videographer whom Chuck Daly had 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:10.200 brought over to chronicle practices and Games. Were parked out 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.240 front of the hotel, getting ready to go to practice, 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.840 and this car that was parked up on the hill 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.240 kind of a parking brate went out and it came 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.280 down the hill and a crashing of the hotel had 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.479 penned us in. And for like a split time, I 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.320 thought this could be this could be terrorists. The Dream 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.880 Team's arrival gave a whole new dimension to the phrase 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:35.320 gap or delay, and the same thing would happen in Barcelona. Now, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:39.440 these trips to exotic locales always sound more bacchanalian than 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.760 they really are, particularly for journalists, at least for this journalist. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.360 I was married. Nobody wanted to comport with me, though 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:50.800 I did suffer the least sympathetic injury in sports writer history, 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.360 a sprain thumb from operating the uncooperative controls of a 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:57.799 jet ski that I had rented from a topless fender 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.080 by the Lovely Mediterranean. It really hurts, I said to 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.280 my wife, and a phone call shut up, she suggested. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.760 The most fun I had during this entire summer happened 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.640 when Newsday writer Jan Hubbard and I joined Barkley and 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.320 Drexeler for a round of golf at the Monte Carlo 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.960 Country Club, which was not as upscale as the name suggests, 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:21.520 though it did afford beautiful views. A golfing hierarchy had 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.640 been established by this time. At the top was Jordan 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.039 and Chuck Daily and whomever else was selected to play 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.880 with them, and below that was everybody else, especially journalist 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.240 Jan and Clyde, both with Texas roots, played against Charles 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.800 and I, both with Philly connections. At that point, Charles 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.520 had not suffered the bewildering sets of ticks and twitches 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.640 that have turned his game into a mind puzzle of 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.239 the first order, So I think it was a good match. 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.000 I mean, who really cares. But it really got interesting 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:56.000 when David Robinson joined us, thus creating an illegal Fivesome. 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:58.920 I wish somebody had filmed it. David was at that 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.359 time just getting comple with his Christian faith and trying 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.800 to figure out how it was supposed to work in 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.599 a pro sports atmosphere where locker room language was pretty 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.760 much everywhere. You know, it was something that was really 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.880 emerging in my life, and uh, and I was just 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.000 really understanding it for myself. And you know, in locker 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.600 room is not the place where everybody they don't want 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.080 to hear that stuff. You know that you go in 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.880 there and you know guys are like, look, number one, 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.440 Christian guys, they're soft. You know, they know they're not 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.040 gonna cut your throat out when it's time, and we 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:29.640 want somebody who's going to cut your throat that one 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:31.800 it's time. And so I think that that was part 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.400 of the kind of one of the first impressions that 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.320 people had. But then the other one that people just 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.640 didn't want to be around the guy and talking about faith. 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.360 So David joins us, and our original foursome is cussing 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:43.840 up a storm and David says something about toning it 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:46.880 down very nicely, and we go another hole or two. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.640 But then Charles says some form of m effort to somebody, 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.120 and David picks up his clubs and says he's going 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.440 back to the range. He did it very nicely. He 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.679 didn't get mad about it. He just as I wrote 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.800 in Dream Team, smiled beatifically, indicated that he would rather 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.240 not be around that kind of language, picked up his 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.400 clubs and walked away. It was a lesson to me. 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.760 He did it, his teammates accepted it, and that's the 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.840 way it was. And as soon as David walked away, 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.520 we began cussing again. Now on the way home, I 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.920 was apparently driving the rental car a bit too, shall 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.120 we say, haphazardly through the mountainous terrain of the rivieras 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:31.640 on the same road where in two Princess Grace of 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.480 Monico had suffered a stroke while driving, crashed her Rover 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:39.480 Piece six, and died of injuries. The next day, we 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:43.160 began speculating how the newspaper headlines would read if we 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.920 died in a crash. Barkley Drexler, two others die and crash. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:51.600 Hubbard said, they'll just leave us out. Jan I said, 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:56.760 Barkley Drexler die in Monte Carlo crash shit, said Barkley. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.360 They won't even care about Clyde Barkley did. That's all 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.280 it would say, Oh, yes, basketball. Now. The Dream Team 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.320 did practice, They did play an exhibition game against the 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:11.160 French national team, and it was really, really lousy, except 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.960 for the excited fans and the French coach whose name 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.360 was Francis Jourdan spelled j O r d a n E, 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.160 who figured that his name would give him special access 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.360 to Michael Terry Lyons, one of the NBA's great public 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.640 relations people, remembers that a group photo was taken and 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.280 as Terry says, sure enough, there is your Dan with 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:36.079 his arm around Jordan's. Now. Because the Dream Team's performance 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.959 was so lousy, and I say that despite a one 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:43.000 and eleven to seventy one margin of victory, Chuck Daily 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.600 again began having thoughts that the Dream Team could possibly 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.640 lose and he would be consigned to eternal damnation without 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.520 a trial. And so he told the team at practice 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:57.600 the day after the lousy game, We're gonna scrimmage. Stop 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.160 screwing around, no matter what time you got in from 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.920 drinking at Jimmy z S, a nightclub that opened at midnight. 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:09.280 The most surprised and disappointed. Of the players was one 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:12.400 l Bird remember that day because I came in there 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.959 and I was over a stationary bike and that's where 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:16.520 I were going to Steady, and all of a sudden, 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:23.800 they're looking over you gotta played. John Stockton, c was 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.360 still battling the injury he had suffered in Portland, and 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.440 Clyde Drexeler had a sore nee throughout the Dream Team summer. 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.240 In fact, Drexler had at Scope when he got back 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.640 from Barcelona, and to his credit, he rarely spoke about it. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.880 That left ten players for the scrimmage, and that meant 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.120 Bird had to play, and Daily divided up the teams. 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:47.800 On one squad Jordan's Malone, Pippen, Bird and Ewing, and 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:53.000 on the other Magic Barkley, Mullen, Robinson and Lightner. To 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.080 this day, Jordan refers to it as East versus West, 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.240 but Carl Malone, a Utah jazz man, is clear only 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:14.080 not an Easterner, dividing up Jordan's Magic to find what 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.640 happened next, As Dream Team assistant Mike Shaski put it 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:22.600 to me in a remarkably unappealing metaphor, separating those two 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.679 guys is what popped the pimple. But he's right now. 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.880 The background, the Dream Team is practicing in the Stade 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.960 Louis du and All Purpose Arena in Monte Carlo. There 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.120 are a few people inside. Remember, we journalists could not 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:40.840 watch practices, and on this day, Chuck Daly had kicked 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:44.199 out a few USA Basketball reps who were not happy 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.959 about it, and a few other assorted people. Chuck, one 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:52.720 of the audience, lean and mean assistant P J. Car Lesimo, 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.040 and a referee from Italy who had been hired by 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.400 USA Basketball. I'll be damned if I ever could find 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:02.640 out this guy's name, were handed whistles and daily told 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.160 his charges to play for real. They did, but we 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:08.640 the journalists, didn't know that until we showed up later 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.640 for the post practice quotes, and there seemed to be 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:16.560 tension in the air. Magic was clearly piste off about something. 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:21.160 Jordan was strutting around, being more jordan Esque than usual. 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.040 Gradually we found out that Jordan had beaten Magic's team 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.640 in a heated scrimmage, and there had been a lot 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.160 of trash talking, and over the years it became a 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.120 kind of urban legend because not many people had seen it, 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:39.280 and there was apparently no videotape. But when I started 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.840 researching the book Dream Team, I figured somebody had it 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.719 and I called up Pete Scorage, the Pistons videographer. I 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.320 mentioned a couple of minutes ago, Pete, did you film 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.679 every basketball minute from San Diego, Monte Carlo and Barcelona. 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.400 He said, I think so, and I invited myself to 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.880 his house, and after we watched c D after Seed, 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:04.480 we finally stumbled upon it. For me, it was like 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:08.200 the holy Grail. I was now about to see the 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:12.000 greatest game that nobody ever saw. This is me informing 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:13.719 Jordan that I had a tape of that game. We 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:18.240 want to be like that on tape. What comes through 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.120 in the tape is not the quality of play, though 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.160 a few interesting things happen. It's the quality of the 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.760 smack talk. And though it has come down through the 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.920 years that it was a mass smack talking jamboree, really 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:33.559 it was almost entirely Michael and Magic. This little bit 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.480 will give you a flavor. As the game starts to turn, 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:41.000 can we say inevitably towards Team Jordan's Magic begins complaining 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.640 that the refs, well, really the ref because p J. 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:51.679 Car Lesimo never blew his whistle is favoring Jordan's. That 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.760 is the only did and moved the bull stadium right here. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:14:02.240 That's all they did. In case you didn't get all that, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.240 that was Magic and then me asking Pippen what Magic 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.120 was saying him laughing about it, and then Magic clearly 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:12.720 stating his opinion they just moved Chicago Stadium to Monte Carlo. 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.040 What Jordan Magic were really doing was playing King of 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.760 the Hill. Magic did not want to give up a spot, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.040 and Jordan was telling him exactly what the deal was. 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.720 On more than one occasion he said, hey man, this 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.120 is the nineties. The eighties are over. It was more 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.480 than idle trash talk, and it was a moment in time, 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:34.520 and the subject of whose league it was came up 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:38.240 on several occasions. Now Magic backs off that a little 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.480 bit these days, but that was exactly what was going on. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.080 As Larry Bird remembers, the best player in our league 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.280 before that started, I had no problem. You know, we 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.240 had our run. You know I had my run. My 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.800 run was over. My run was over a couple of 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:58.040 years before that. I think Michael really handles something very 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.480 well over there. But is up there one night and 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:06.040 we're talking and your mind you're making still repeat at 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.160 this time. The conversation Bird is referring to took place 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.640 during a night in Barcelona, which we'll get to in 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.680 the next episode. But the idea of whose league it 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.880 was was the subplot of this scrimmage. What had happened, say, 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.120 was that Magic's team got off to an early lead 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.800 and Jordan's team came back to win. The final was 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.760 forty four to forty, but much of the blame has 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.360 to be put on Magic. He got suckered into playing 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.640 Jordan's game one on one, and later after it was over, 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.520 Pippin told me that Barkley was upset that Magic had 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.840 allowed himself to become a one on one player that 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.120 was not Magic's m O, and his desire to go 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.840 at Jordan's might have cost his blue team to win 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.880 over Jordan's White team, which should not have mattered because 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:54.280 what is blue and white? But really, watching Magic and 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.240 Jordan's square off against each other, and I watched that 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.640 tape dozens of times trying to pick out the best 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:05.160 parts for the book provided an excellent opportunity to reflect 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.840 on the arc of their careers. Now, don't get me wrong, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.960 Magic was a star from the first second of his 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.920 rookie year. He won a championship, he was the finals 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.680 m v P. The instant stardom that had been predicted 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:24.680 for him was exactly what happened. But strangely, he should 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.560 have been even bigger. He should have been the first 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:32.440 Jordan's and he was not. Here's David Falk's shoes because 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:36.520 they's a personality. And I thought that Michael had the style, 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.000 the electricity, the charisma. Whods how good he was and 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.480 he was to be very exciting to sell shoes. But 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.960 I think Magic didn't have to Invanair Jordan's. He was 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.480 Magic and College when he had the nickname, he was 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:50.240 in the best market in the country. He won a 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.080 championship as a rookie, back to back College in the pros. 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.800 I mean, Magic should have been enormous. The market, had 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.760 a great style. You know, he was flashy and and 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.760 anyone at you could have owned the world at Margarine, 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.520 and he had somebody, you know, confident representing him. There 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.760 was no doubt about how good Magic was going to be. 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.840 He was exactly as advertised. A six ft eight inch 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:16.120 point guard with over the top leadership skills. But there 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.840 were some doubts about Jordan's and let's remember that he 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:21.480 was the third pick of the draft, not the first. 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.920 Like Magic was a key. Malajawa went first in Kentucky 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.359 center Sam Bowie went second to the Trailblazers who passed 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.040 over Jordan because they already you know, had their Michael 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.919 Jordan's in Clyde Drexeler. People thought he'd be like Clyde 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:40.760 Dresher type, like a guy the uncle free flash. I mean, truthfully, Jackie, 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:42.920 if I went back out of my archives and took 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.959 out my notes in draft, people questioned whether Michael had 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.359 a good enough jump shot to shoot, whether he could 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.960 really handle ball enough. And they knew he could jump, 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.040 you know, they knew it could dunk. They had a 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:59.920 lot of questions about his skills. That was David Falk. Again, Look, 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.720 let's not shed any tears for Magic. He has turned 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:07.760 himself into quite possibly the most successful athlete turn businessman ever. 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.840 But as an endorser, he never got close to Jordan's 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.040 and he should have been the first superstar endorser, the 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:21.160 first true basketball crossover sensation. I also watched the tape 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.040 again and again to compare Barkley and Karl Malone to 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:26.840 an even greater degree than Michael Magic, who didn't play 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.399 the same position. The matchup of the Dream Team was 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:35.040 Barkley Malone both power forwards, so Charles was more the 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.760 height of a small forward or even a guard. Malone 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.080 didn't really want to get into the specifics of who 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.560 was better, but Charles did. We talked about it here 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.880 during my interview with Barkley for the Dream Team book 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:51.760 would have been called Malone, Hey, We'll more places and 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.160 quite more seasons. Wasn't a rebounder? You had more rebounding, 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.040 wasn't a path But I don't think he did better 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.800 score And that come down to farm. The law comes 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.960 across as cocky, of course, but that's Charles. He respected 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.480 the hell out of Malone, still does and they are 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:11.080 good friends. What it always comes down to with Malone 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.919 and Barkley is, Wow, what if Charles kept himself in 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:17.600 the same kind of shape and worked as hard as 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.040 the mailman did? How good would he have been? Then? 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:32.840 One of the most interesting aspects of the greatest game 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.200 nobody ever saw happened late, with the issue still in doubt, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.439 Bird who looks a hundred years old throughout most of 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:44.280 the game, makes a steal and begins dribbling full speed. Okay, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.520 full speed for Bird at thirty five and bad back 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:51.359 speed toward the basket with Barkley in hot pursuit. Okay, 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.159 Barkley in hot pursuit after a night of carousing speed. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.439 When he gets near the basket, Bird fakes a behind 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.440 the back past. He always had this knack of these 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.760 exaggerated fakes that were really deceptive, and Bartley bites and 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.000 Bird goes in for the layup. When I showed the 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.680 clip to Chris Mullen, he calls to his wife, Hey, Liz, 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.080 come here, watch Larry on this play. And when I 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:16.240 asked Jordan if he remembered the play, he said, hell, yeah, 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.400 I've referred to this before among his own Dream Team teammates. 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:24.600 There was this kind of reverence for Bird. Now, when 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:27.240 the scrimmage was over and we the press were allowed in, 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.000 we caught the sight of Jordan's singing be like Mike 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:35.280 from the Gatorade commercial and Magic moping, and we knew 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:38.520 something had gone on. And some of the better reporters, 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:42.120 like Jan Hubbard, pieced together bits and pieces of the scrimmage, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:44.720 but we never thought would be able to see it 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:47.400 in detail. So when I found the videotape and thank 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.960 God for Pete Scurage, I was ecstatic because it was 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:55.080 an archaeological discovery as much as anything, and what it 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.960 demonstrated was not a boy's to men moment, but rather 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.520 a men to boys moment. Just a bunch of superstar 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:06.000 athletes playing like kids and reacting like kids. Winners act 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:10.760 like Jerk's, losers act like spoil sports. So the greatest 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:13.879 game nobody ever saw capt off Monte Carlo. It was 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.080 on to Barcelona, where the world at large waited to 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:21.399 see these guys. The attention and adulation can't get any bigger, 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:24.720 I thought to myself, and boy was I wrong. See 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.080 you next time for episode seven, Viva Barcelona. I'm Jack 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:38.320 McCallum and thanks for listening. If you enjoyed The Dream 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.040 Team Tapes, please follow, rate, and review wherever you get 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:46.560 your podcasts. The Dream Team Tapes is written and hosted 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:51.920 by Jack McCallum. Executive producers Mark Francis and Scott Waxman, 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:56.240 executive producer for I Heart Media. Is shown to tone. 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.040 The Dream Team Tapes is a Diversion podcast original series 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:06.080 in association with I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:11.080 my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:13.480 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.