Roland Lazenby (@lazenby) is the author of the biography “Michael Jordan: The Life” and guest for my first ever interview which I recorded in early 2016.

Roland is an American sportswriter and educator who has travelled with some of the NBA’s most famous and successful teams including Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, the Bad Boys of Detroit (The Pistons) and Kobe Bryant’s LA Lakers. He’s completed hundreds of interviews with stars of the NBA including over 400 hours for his Kobe Bryant biography alone.

Roland has also written biographies on the New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady, Dallas Cowboys superstar Emmit Smith, the NBA’s most winning coach (championships) Phil Jackson, Hall of Fame Laker Jerry West and many others.

In our chat, we covered a lot that is the character of Michael Jordan. Roland dove deep to put The Life together and it’s by far and away the most comprehensive piece I’ve ever found on the famous number 23.

We also discussed:

• the Jordan family, pre-Michael
• cultural change in America
• the Nike shoe deal and how the company marketed MJ
• why he wanted to leave them, but couldn’t
• winning, and
• becoming one of the most famous people on the planet.

You’ll hear (remember the episode was recorded in early 2016) Roland is unable to talk about his then upcoming biography on Kobe Bryant called “Showboat”. Showboat has since been released and Roland recently agreed to do a second interview for Trench Talk so you’ll get all the Kobe information next, in episode #024.

You can buy both books “Michael Jordan: The Life” and “Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant” basically anywhere including Amazon.

To connect with Roland, head to Twitter, his handle @lazenby.

Photo credit for the main episode image: Scott Cunningham.

To get every episode of Trench Talk on release please remember to hit the subscribe button in your chosen podcast player.

Enjoy Trench Talk Episode #023 with Roland Lazenby…

Connect:  Facebook  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  LinkedIn  |  Website

Get Trench Talk:  iTunes  |  SoundCloud  |  RSS   |  MP3  |  Notifications

Feel free to email us with any suggestions or feedback [email protected].