The Last Dance

[Hibee87]

Really enjoying this. Just started the 4th episode. Not a huge knowledge of basketball, but enjoy playing it in school, everyone knew MJ in the 90's I had my fair share of bulls kit growing up. Great doc so far

[wpj]

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What was your grandfathers name?
There are 3 athletes in the famous photograph.
Tommie and John gave eulogies and were pallbearers at the third athlete Peter Norman's funeral in Australia in 2006.
I met Tommie Smith in Jedburgh in 1972 and as far as I know he hadn't been to Scotland before.

Apparantly Peter Norman was blanked by Australian sports after that but wow, what a courageous man as were Tommie and John. Iconic statement, shame things haven't changed that much for African Americans

[Steve-O]

I don’t like basketball AT ALL but have been enjoying this show I must admit.

[McD]

Babe Ruth changed how athletes/sports men were viewed, as well as dominating a sport

Ali dominated his sport and showed that athletes could change how situations are viewed politically, and gave athletes a platform to express their views

jordan dominated a sport and paved the way for endorsements, multimedia domination, marketing, fundamentally changed how basketball was played and assessed by its fans/commentators/owners, and became the first black athlete to break the glass ceiling to majority ownership, after becoming arguably the first player to dramatically extend his business dealing beyond the sport whilst still competing and dominating that sport


the way the world is now, with social media, 24 hour news, internet access readily available, I think it will be hard for another athlete to have the impact that these three had. Pele has a somewhat similar impact on the world of international football, but not really club football.

i think the only way an athlete joins these 3, is to dominate a sport (probably has to be a different sport from these 3 in order to not simply be described as the next xyz or accused of riding their coattails), and then either become some kind of global humanitarian (Bill gates esque possibly), or to rise to the very top of politics (White House level) and be seen as a force for tremendous good

just my thoughts lol

[Itsnoteasy]

A young Jordan approached Adidas as he wanted to wear their merchandise. They passed on this one & the rest is history.

Maybe he seen the iconic Hibs strip back in the day & thought this is the brand for me.

[jacomo]

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Senna.

Closer to home, Jim Clark.

A sheep farmer from the Borders with supreme natural ability, humility and work ethic.

Even Fangio rated him the best.

[Keith_M]

OJ Simpson is a US sports star that will be long remembered.

[bingo70]

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A young Jordan approached Adidas as he wanted to wear their merchandise. They passed on this one & the rest is history.

Maybe he seen the iconic Hibs strip back in the day & thought this is the brand for me.

I’ve just watched that episode. It was around the time there was a lot of infighting at Adidas and their organisation was a shambles at the time apparently.

Anyone know if that was around the time there was some split in the camp that lead to the creation of Adidas equipment? I may have got the story or the timelines wrong there but seem to remember hearing something about big fall outs internally at Adidas.

[hibsbollah]

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A young Jordan approached Adidas as he wanted to wear their merchandise. They passed on this one & the rest is history.

Maybe he seen the iconic Hibs strip back in the day & thought this is the brand for me.

I had family in the pacific north west growing up, my aunts cousin worked for Nike when they were just an athletic brand, the idea of Nike as fashion was laughable. I used to go around in Nike swoosh sweatshirts she gave me in about 83? when it was a bit of a geeky look Exactly the way it was described in the documentary.

[heidtheba]

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Closer to home, Jim Clark.

A sheep farmer from the Borders with supreme natural ability, humility and work ethic.

Even Fangio rated him the best.

Good shout. Clark wins it on sportsmanship. Senna wins it on impact. I know the Senna Foundation was in its embryonic stages when he was alive, but the direction came from him and the impact he’s had on the lives of children in Brazil is almost unbelievable.

[CMurdoch]

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Apparantly Peter Norman was blanked by Australian sports after that but wow, what a courageous man as were Tommie and John. Iconic statement, shame things haven't changed that much for African Americans

Both Tommie Smith & John Carlos have written books and there is a film "The Salute".

Both played American Football for a couple of seasons after 1968, at the conclusion of which Smith became a professional runner and in 1972 came to the UK and ran in Wakefield against ex Hibs player and World Class sprinter George McNeill fae Tranent. They ran 4 races and George won the series 3-1. Smith also took a trip to the Jedburgh Professional Sports but the fools wouldn't let him run because he hadn't entered 2 weeks before the event. Fools and rules comes to mind.

John Carlos came to Edinburgh in 2012 (was across for the Olympics) to give a talk about the civil rights movement and the podium incidents part in it.

Peter Norman's story is sadder. Appears to gone off the rails, marriage broke down and he became an alcoholic and died young. The blazers in the Australian Olympic movement would have disapproved of his part in the podium incident and there are stories about his non selection for the 1972 games in Munich. What is certainly true is that the Australian Olympic committee did not invite him to the Sydney games of 2000 unless he paid for his own tickets. The Americans eventually invited him.