This is the only Drive & Kick that should have Outkast playing low in the background. SLAM stalwart Russ Bengtson joins the podcast to relive the glory days of the publication.
SLAM Dunk: Remembering the beginning of one of basketball’s iconic publications
Before the basketball internet took shape, there was SLAM magazine. Bold, unapologetic and willing to tell stories that weren’t being told, SLAM was a cultural force that shaped basketball coverage for the next generation.
Lou Capozzola/NBA
Among the topics discussed:
- “You guys have to be insane. You started a basketball magazine after Michael Jordan retired.” Why Stephon Marbury was the ultimate Slam player.
- The Allen Iverson cover and other iconic moments.
- The time Russ spent the day at Kevin Garnett’s house and had to wake him up the next morning for an interview.
- Working with Scoop Jackson and what the imitators failed to pick up about his style.
- The. Ricky Davis. Story.
- The generational shift from MJ to Kobe to LeBron. The infamous Rasheed Wallace post-game interview when Sheed would only answer questions from Lang Whitaker.
- “You got stuff like The Starters on NBATV. That’s like if you took the conversations in the Slam office and put it on TV.”
Russ talks about the state of the media game and SLAM legacy. “It was the forefather of a lot of this stuff. It was the idea of watching games with your friends.”
Popular Basketball Internet Radio with SB Nation NBA podcast on BlogTalkRadio
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