Feb 2, 2021
“The narrative of the NBA’s rise to become arguably the world’s
second-most popular sport is frequently summed up as a rapid-fire
afterthought: BirdMagicMichaelStern,” author
Pete Croatto writes in his stellar new book From Hang Time
to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment and the Birth of the
Modern-Day NBA.
He’s talking about superstar players Magic Johnson, Larry Bird,
and Michael Jordan, and the late David Stern, the NBA’s
attorney-turned commissioner, who, as a foursome, are often
credited as the forces behind the NBA’s evolution as the pro league
that reigns as high in American pop culture as it does in American
sports.
And while BirdMagicMichaelStern most
definitely deserve every bit of credit heaped upon them, as Croatto
shares in this brilliantly written and researched history (he
interviewed more than 300 people for the book!), there are plenty
of other reasons for the NBA’s ascension, including the civil
rights movement, fashion, television, what are among the most
clever marketing campaigns of all time, and a performance of the
national anthem that will still inspire goosebumps.
Pete talks with us about all that and more in this episode,
including his thoughts about the future of the NBA and its sister
league, the WNBA.
Read more about it:
Other great sports books we
love
- The Breaks of the Game by David
Halberstam
- The Jordan Rules by Sam Smith
- A Season on the Brink by John Feinstein
- When the Game Was Ours by Larry Bird and Magic
Johnson, with Jackie MacMullan
- Coach Wooden and Me Our 50 Year Friendship On
and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby