The Redeem Team

The Redeem Team

Tarlin and Mike are back to break down the recent Netflix documentary, The Redeem Team. What lessons can be learned about leadership, storytelling, and redemption? How does this connect back to the history of US Mens Basketball, the Dream Team, and even the origins of Running It Back? We explore all of this while showcasing one of the most compelling offensive fouls in basketball history.

Are there lessons to be learned from Kobe’s leadership? Or from Coach K’s coaching tactics? And how do even the greatest players in the world have to relearn the game and how they can contribute to the team in new ways to win?

Listen in to find out! Subscribe to Running It Back wherever you get your podcasts. Visit us at RunningItBack.fm for more amazing lessons learned from sports.

The Dream Team, Toni Kukoc, and Scottie’s Sitout

Once again, we run it back to Spring of 2020 in the midst of the first wave of COVID-19 when Mike and Tarlin began this crazy ride by analyzing episodes of The Last Dance for 1990s nostalgia along with some lessons learned for today’s day and age.

This episode covers episodes 5 and 6 of the 10 part docuseries called The Last Dance. We talk about Michael’s emergency as the alpha among alphas on The Dream Team, explore the Toni Kukoc narratives, and try to make sense of Scottie Pippen’s memorable choice to sit out the final 1.8 seconds of a pivotal playoff game between the Bulls and the Knicks in 1994.

There’s a lot to dig into and we hope you enjoy a glimpse into how Running It Back came into being. Thanks as always for listening.

Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV

Tarlin and Mike run it back to November 7th, 1991 when Magic Johnson held an emergency press conference to announce that he had the HIV virus and that he’d be retiring from the NBA immediately. The news shocked the world and we reflect back on where we were when this flashbulb moment in sports history occurred.

Magic went on to have a storied career after the announcement – playing in the NBA All Star Game and on The Dream Team in 1992. The league responds by establishing the “Blood Rule” and working through the fears and objections of other players like Byron Scott and Karl Malone to demonstrate that even in the early 1990s, the NBA was up to the challenge of managing the medical risks of virus spread. Perhaps more importantly, it was our first experience with the confusion and misinformation of dealing with an epidemic and there are many parallels we draw between this story and much of what we’re seeing in the NBA in 2020.