It's Olympic time right now. And for some reason, I began to remember something that I remember well from back in 1992, during my last months as a high school senior.
Remember all of those "Dan and Dave" ads that we were bombarded with back in 1992? They were everywhere. You couldn't escape them. "Dan and Dave" were everywhere. It seemed like these two men might just give a relatively low-key sport a high profile, with these two as the star faces for the event, sure to bring glory to their country.
The two men were Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson, two American athletes who were elites in the decathlon. Reebok set up a huge advertisement campaign that billed these two guys up as the top athletes of the world at the time.
Indeed, you got the impression that these guys had both the gold and silver medals for the then upcoming Olympics in Barcelona locked up. That's how good they were, right? The only question was which of the two would get gold, and which one would have to settle for silver. It appeared that this was the only real mystery, at least according to the hype.
Of course, that was not quite how things ended up. In fact, neither one would win the gold. Or even the silver.
Dave Johnson did earn a bronze medal. Dan O'Brien, on the other hand, failed to even qualify for the Barcelona games.
Obviously, the Reebok campaign was (and still largely is) considered a bust. It was a clear case of the reality not living up to the hype.
Still, it is an interesting story. After recently running into this "30 For 30" Podcast, it seemed like something worth sharing here, more than thirty years after the fact.
Generally, "30 For 30" tend to be solid documentaries. So I would recommend this. Take a listen:
The Trials Of Dan And Dave | 30 For 30 Podcasts | ESPN Stories
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