A Fun, Fascinating Tale of Basketball, Marketing, and Politics

We're joined by Mark Jacob, former editor for both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. His most recent book is "Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein shook up the world of sports. "

It's a remarkable story about how a 5-3 Jewish immigrant became one of the most important figures in American sports history. Abe Saperstein founded the Harlem Globetrotters. His drive, determination, and creativity led to, among other things, the integration of basketball, the three-point line, and breaking baseball's color line. He even had a hand at American diplomacy in the 1950s and sixties.

We also had to talk politics at the end, and discuss how the media is falling into the MAGA trap in even subtler ways these days.

00:22 The Story of Abe Saperstein 03:10 Saperstein's Impact on Basketball and Baseball 05:33 The Jewish Experience and Racism 13:33 Saperstein's Role in Diplomacy 16:38 The Globetrotters and Minstrelsy 22:13 Connecting Sports and Media 24:10 Pro-Democracy Journalism 29:03 Subtle Media Manipulation 35:24 The Democrat Party Tactic 41:19 Entertainment as Propaganda 47:44 Respecting Different Views 50:14 Concluding Thoughts