Introduction

Human societies are built on stories, and there are few domains of public life as ripe with storytelling potential as sports. Now, often the kinds of stories we tell around sports involve heroes, conquest, getting to the mountaintop and seeing the promised land. It’s much rarer to tell stories about striving mightily before accepting defeat, and learning to live with and grow from failure. So that’s why Ari brought on Sport Illustrated’s Chris Herring to talk about the most famous teams ever…that didn’t make it: the 1990s New York Knicks. Along the way they talk about resilience, the spiritual value of sports fandom, the importance of tradition, Chris’s own spiritual journey, the reason why NBA players seem so disproportionately faith-inclined, the trajectory of hip hop in Chicago, and much more! You can order a copy of Chris’s new book today: Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks

Good Faith Effort is a production of Bnai Zion and SoulShop.