Running It Back

Tarlin and Mike are back to kick off 2021 with a dive into the history and relevance of the "Rooney Rule" which was established in 2003 to ensure that diverse candidates got interviews for open Head Coaching positions. We refer to the research of CC Dubois from the 2017 MIT Sloan Conference where she established a 19-21% positive impact on the diversity of NFL Coaching hires due to the Rooney Rule...

Mike and Tarlin look back on the year that was 2020 in this special wrap-up edition of Running It Back. We look back at our Origin Story of launching the show amid the tumult of the first wave of the pandemic in the US before diving into a rundown of the most downloaded shows since we launched in the Fall. What's our most downloaded show so far and what have will we take with us into 2021 and beyo...

Tarlin and Mike dive back into the NFL this episode by examining the QB situations heading into the 2021 NFL Playoffs. Did Aaron Rodgers need the motivation of a potential QB Controversy to lead the Packers in what may be an MVP season? How does the QB controversy between Tua Tagovailoa and Ryan Fitzpatrick remind us of famous QB1 vs QB1A controversies from back in the day? We talk about all of th...

We talk about the "Sweet Science" of boxing comebacks triggered by the recent Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr. match. How does Tyson's comeback hearken back to George Foreman's reinvention and brief reascension to claim the heavyweight title in the 1990s? In what ways are Tyson and Foreman similar? How does this tie to The Greatest of All Time, Muhammad Ali? And are there lessons we can learn from all...

Tarlin and Mike connect to talk about The Masters in November, Klay Thompson's achilles injury, and the NBA Draft/Free Agency period that is almost too 24/7 News cycle for any of us to take. Tarlin touts the Lake Show while Mike is cautiously optimistic about the progress of the New York Knickerbockers and Obi Toppin.

Tarlin and Mike show some range on this episode, expanding beyond basketball to run it back through World Series and baseball seasons past as we celebrate the Los Angeles Dodgers' historic run to the championship in this very strange Major League Baseball season. And while it was oddly fitting that their celebration was marred by the on-field appearance of Justin Turner who had recently tested pos...

In the final installment of our miniseries about The Last Dance miniseries, Tarlin and Mike break down the final two episodes of The Last Dance for lessons learned as well as a few healthy doses of 1990s nostalgia. Here we recap the Michael Jordan-led 1990s Bulls' final two NBA Championship runs versus Reggie Miller's Indiana Pacers and the Stockton-Malone Utah Jazz. We get into Jordan's dubious p...

We run it back again to our roots in the Spring of 2020 when Tarlin and Mike were regrouping after the premiere of each episode of The Last Dance to break it down and look for lessons learned from each episode. We also indulged in some serious 90s nostalgia along the way. In today's show, we talk through Jordan's stint at baseball, his return to Scottie's Bulls, and the beginning of their second T...

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 emergence as the alpha among alphas on The...

Learn how Running It Back got started in this special episode which includes the original recording of our takes on the ESPN Docuseries, The Last Dance that launched in the Spring of 2020. Many of us, including Mike and Tarlin, were transfixed by this series that launched at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus before live sports returned to us. Tarlin and Mike reminisce about Michael,...

Now that we've had a little time to let the 2020 NBA Season settle in, we thought it would be a great time to talk about who is the G.O.A.T Basketball player. There's been a lot of hubbub around Michael versus LeBron so we weigh in with our takes there. We also bring Bill Russell and Kareem into the conversation about the greatest of all time. And along the way, Tarlin makes his pitch to modernize...

For this episode, based on the Quibi docuseries, Blackballed, we run it back to 2014 when Donald Sterling, then the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, was caught on tape engaging in offensive, racially charged speech. Once the tapes got out, there was outrage across the NBA and more broadly in the nation that ultimately led the newly appointed commissioner, Adam Silver, to impose a lifetime ban on...

Join us as we run it back through a few crazy months of NBA Bubble 2020. Tarlin and Mike reflect back on the amazing run the NBA had through the Bubble in Orlando. In addition to highlighting the stories we'll remember along the way, we conclude by assessing the bona fides of the Laker and Heat squads. While we might not come to agreement on Jimmy Buckets, we can't deny that the NBA Bubble season...

Tarlin and Mike got together just before the tipoff of the 2020 NBA Finals to talk through the David versus Goliath matchup between Jimmy Buckets and a crew of role players versus LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and an interesting supporting cast. How many championships are represented on each squad? Who deserves credit for assembling the crews that have made it the Finals? And will this Championship...

Tarlin and Mike run through the four possible matchups for the NBA Finals. In all likelihood, it will be Lakers-Heat which has all sorts of angles to run it back to, but we do some scenario-based thinking about Lakers-Celtics, Nuggz-Heat, and Nuggz-Celtics before wrapping up this quick-hitter before we actually break down the NBA Finals once we know for sure what's going to happen. Listen in and e...

Tarlin and Mike reflect on the opening of the NFL season with a mix of excitement, confusion, and frustration just after the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans began the 2020 NFL season in front of 17,000 live fans at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The fractured approach to protesting the anthem, with the Texans opting to remain in the locker room before joining the Chiefs for a moment of un...

Tarlin and Mike run it all the way back to 1999 to cover the season that was shortened due to a work stoppage. Through a series of fortuitous events, the New York Knicks get hot and tear through the early rounds of the playoffs before overcoming the loss of The Big Fella, Patrick Ewing, in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Despite losing their Captain, the Knicks go on to b...

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...

Tarlin and Mike bring us back to the story of Allen Iverson which in many ways culminated in the notorious press conference in which he said the word "practice" 22 times. We explore what brought AI to that point and how in many ways it has marginalized his impact on the game and the lessons we can learn from his career. We run it all the way back to his incredible high school career at Bethel and...

We begin by reflecting on the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, aka Black Panther, before diving into the history of the other legend who passed recently, Georgetown Coach John Thompson. Coach Thompson was a towering figure who established a program whose legacy we're still experiencing to this day. We explore his impact on college basketball by focusing on getting young black men access to educati...

This week we run it back to the story of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf to glean lessons about the protests we're seeing in 2020. Mahmoud began his life as Chris Jackson, a poor kid from Louisiana who battled Tourette's Syndrome to become a tremendous college basketball player at LSU in the early 1990s. We chronicle the challenges he faced finding his way as he eventually found solace and spiritual direction...