2020-07-29
30 分钟You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Before LeBron, and before MJ—before Magic, Bird, and even Bill Russell, basketball was defined by one name. Globetrotters. The Harlem Globetrotters would go on to change the world. But in the beginning, the squad faced an uphill battle. They were an upstart touring team, trying to become a profitable sports organization. Yet few Americans considered basketball a sport worth watching. And the Globetrotters struggled to gain a footing amid a national crisis: the Great Depression. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
It's 1952.
A breeze carries through the windows of an italian palace.
Inside a grand hall, five towering basketball players and their tiny coach wait for the luminary who invited them.
The coach grows impatient.
He's got places to go, a game to prepare for.
Finally, a man enters.
Your holiness, may I present to you the Haarlem Globetrotters.
Then Pope Pius XII glides in.
The coach of the Globetrotters, Abe Saperstein, who also owns the team, is awestruck by the popes gallant appearance, brilliant white robes, a procession of servants, a golden scepter.
Abe's gotta hand it to the Roman Catholic Church.
They certainly know how to make an entrance.
Abe steps forward and hands God's representative on earth an autographed basketball his Holiness raised.
A soccer fan, apparently doesn't know what to do with a ball other than to kick it.
He leans over and asks his servant a question.
In Italian, the servant translates to Abe, could you show him basketball?
Abe grins, takes the ball and tosses it to his superstar player, goose tatum, and begins clapping.
A syncopated rhythm.
Then Abe starts to whistle.
The Globetrotters launch into their signature warm up routine.
Its called the Magic Circle.