Remember That Game

NBA front office veteran Jeremias Engelmann (5x5, Silver Bulletin, xRAPM.com) and host Thomas Emerick trigger the alternate timeline. We head to Auburn Hills, Michigan on Friday November 19th, 2004, and ask what happens to the NBA’s balance of power if that diet coke lands a few feet short before staff immediately rush Ron Artest to the locker room.

Jeremias worked in the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns front offices, created ESPN's Real Plus-Minus (RPM) metric, and publishes great work on Substack for Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin and Royce Webb's 5x5. He also maintains xRAPM.com for current and historical data on his advanced player impact metric that is equivalent to what was formerly ESPN's Real Plus-Minus.

The Pacers enter at 6-2, Ron Artest is shooting a career-best from three and playing defense some thought was more valuable than reigning DPOY Ben Wallace. Reggie Miller's in a suit, nursing a broken hand, watching this young core that has rallied around his final championship window. Five months earlier, Tayshaun Prince's block on Miller ended Indiana's season in the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals. Now Artest drops 17 in the first quarter at the Palace of Auburn Hills and the Pacers go up 16 at the half. Jamaal Tinsley adds 8 steals and 8 assists. Then Ben Wallace gets fouled, Stephen Jackson and Rip Hamilton get chippy, and the cup lands. Ron Artest charges into the stands, and Reggie Miller never gets his ring.

But what if it doesn't happen? Jeremias pilots the Indiana Pacers franchise through its mulligan on the decade, from 2005 through 2010 — with Artest guarding Dwyane Wade and LeBron James deep into May and June, year after year. And does he end up guarding Kobe Bryant in the 2009 or 2010 NBA Finals?

More from Jeremias Engelmann:

More episode threads: 

Box Score: Indiana Pacers 97, Detroit Pistons 82 | November 19, 2004 (Pro Basketball Reference)

Remember That Game showrunner Thomas Emerick

NBA front office veteran Jeremias Engelmann (@jeremiasengelmann on Substack)

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Joseph George (Silver Bulletin) and host Thomas Emerick drop in on Harris County May 2018, for this Game 7 showdown between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets for a trip to the NBA Finals. If Houston advances, it would be their first escape from the Western Conference bracket since the days of Olajuwon and Drexler.

Joseph George is a sports analyst for Silver Bulletin and basketball analytics consultant for the NBA G League’s Mexico City Capitanes. This episode of Remember That Game made for a really fun chat about analytics in politics and basketball, particularly that revolution in the 2012-2020 period. What better game as a jumping off point than an interesting night for the three-point discourse, as two catalysts of this movement take the stage and one of them goes historically cold.

Also check out:

Box Score: Golden State Warriors 101, Houston Rockets 92 | GSW clinches 2018 Western Conference Finals 4-3 (Pro Basketball Reference)

Remember That Game creator Thomas Emerick

Silver Bulletin sports analyst Joseph George (Substack)

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Jeremiah Johnson (Infinite Scroll) and host Thomas Emerick time travel to an inflection point for both college football and terminally online posting. January 2022. They take an IndyGo bus from their La Quinta on the edge of downtown Indianapolis to guide the listener through the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship between the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide. Not much luck for millennial UGA fans like Jeremiah to this date, but we’ll see how it goes for these SEC teams battling in Big 10 country for the 2021-2022 season finale.

Jeremiah Johnson is creator of the Infinite Scroll Substack newsletter on the politics and dynamics of the social internet, along with the Center for New Liberalism and corresponding show The New Liberal Podcast. Folks may have come across his annual worst tweets bracket that comes out every December.

Thomas Emerick is the showrunner and host of Remember That Game.

These topics are weaved into the background and moments from the game, culminating with the Keelee Ringo pick six. Jeremiah’s reaction at home may have mirrored Kirby Smart’s on the sideline for that long run with the sudden escort by an elite Georgia defense.

Box Score: Georgia Bulldogs 33, Alabama Crimson Tide 18 (College Football Reference)

Remember That Game creator Thomas Emerick

Infinite Scroll creator Jeremiah Johnson (Substack)

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Mike Madrid (The Latino Vote Podcast) and host Thomas Emerick make their way north of downtown for Game 1 of the 1988 Fall Classic between the Los Angeles Dodgers and visiting Oakland Athletics. Kirk Gibson's hobbled HR. 

The Dodgers for close to a century have remained an incredibly interesting franchise for examining how sports are woven into the fabric of American society, and we trace the thread with the Latino community and relevant political implications. So let's go to 1980s Los Angeles for a ball game, one that also happens be among the most dramatic and compelling in the history of American sports. A true exclamation point on LA's transformative decade.

This is Remember That Game, the podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey. Check it out on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Also check out Mike Madrid's work:

• The Great Transformation on Substack
• The Latino Century: How America's Largest Minority Is Transforming Democracy from Simon & Schuster
• The Latino Vote Podcast with Mike Madrid & Chuck Rocha
• Mike Madrid on YouTube

Check out the broadcast call of Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series homer from Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola and then rewind to 1981 for Fernando Nation from ESPN 30 for 30.

And follow the Remember That Game show Instagram channel!

Chronological jumping-off points for discussion of the 5-4 Los Angeles Dodgers win over the Oakland Athletics in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series: 

1. Dodgers fandom origins and Fernando Valenzuela’s 1981 playoff run
2. Fast forward to LA vs. NY in 1988 NLCS
3. Kirk Gibson scratched from Game 1 lineup
4. Mickey Hatcher smacks 2-run homer off Dave Stewart
5. AL MVP José Canseco answers right back with grand slam in 2nd
6. Mike Scioscia RBI cuts deficit to 4-3 in 6th:
7. Alejandro Peña’s 2 shutout innings keep it a one-run game into 9th
8. Kirk Gibson pinch-hits against Dennis Eckersley and catches a backdoor slider
9. Civic fabric of LA sports in the ensuing decades
10. Legacy of the ‘88 World Series

Remember That Game creator Thomas Emerick

Leading Latino voting expert Mike Madrid

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Steven Ruiz (The Ringer) and host Thomas Emerick consider whether this Super Bowl is a more proper analog for LX than the previous Patriots-Seahawks title matchup. They also examine how this finale to the 2003-2004 NFL season not only showcases the early 2000s brand of winning football, but also in fits and starts manages to tear a portal into the post-2004 game. 

This is Remember That Game, the podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey. Check it out on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Also check out Steven Ruiz's work at The Ringer: https://www.theringer.com/creator/steven-ruiz

• Ranking all 50 Super Bowl QB performances of the 21st century https://www.theringer.com/2026/02/03/nfl/ranking-super-bowl-quarterback-performances-tom-brady-patrick-mahomes

And follow the Remember That Game show Insta! https://www.instagram.com/rememberthatgamepodcast/

More episode threads: 

• Super Bowl XXXVIII Box Score: New England Patriots 32, Carolina Panthers 29 (Pro Football Reference)
• Is this Super Bowl a more proper analog for LX than the previous Patriots-Seahawks SB?
• I’ll reference the Panthers-Rams ‘03 game we did and whether it was just house money for you at that point as a fan coming from 1-15
• Belichick-Milloy break-up on even of season and losing 31-0 to Buffalo Week 1
  • Then cap regular season 31-0. Weirdest Week 1 result for any SB team in recent memory?
• Is the 2003 NFL meta on the march, and is that part of why we’re getting a Super Bowl LX matchup of teams that went from missing playoffs to the Super Bowl for the first time in 22 years?
  • Is that also why it kept happening in that era (Rams-Titans, Giants-Ravens so 3 of the 6 to ever happen) or could the dramatic upward and downward mobility of teams in that era be attributed to other things?
  • Defenses striking back in a manner similar to 2000-2003 stretch? 3 of top 5 all-time units in ppg w/ 2000 BAL, 2000 TEN, and 2002 TB
• Was there a distinct moment in your memory where you remember feeling cooked, and conversely when you believed the Panthers could pull it off?
• Is there a little Delhomme in Darnold?
  • And what to make of the quarterbacks famous for melting down. How much is it just being high-variance or streaky, or having weaknesses that some teams are equipped to hammer. Opposed to purely the mental that they’re cooked for the day: Delhomme nears halftime 1/9 for 1 yd with sack fumble yet pulls out of the tail dive.
• John Fox and Dan Henning must establish the run and stop the run as a life philosophy….but little room for Stephen Davis early. They do keep with it and spring one on the last offensive play in the half to reach FG range. 14-10. Nowadays how much is the meta shifting back to size, defense, and run game…. in more of a 2003 fashion?
  • How much does this game in an almost bipolar fashion showcase both the early 2000s brand of SB-winning football and then in other fits also what we’ll see post-2004? How much is this owed to the way this game was officiated from the start (called much tighter in pass coverage than in the conference championships to the dismay of Colts and Eagles fans)
• Dan Henning said he doesn’t have an opening script for Delhomme and gives him a lot of freedom for Delhomme, Smith, and Muhammad to feel it out once they get to the line essentially. Could you imagine Kyle Shanahan. And of course Brady would only gain more control
  • It seems like the meta’s also shifted toward playcaller than the quarterback in recent years. Does it seem like it will continue that way, and how different was the era back then circa ‘03?
  • Is this part of why Delhomme kept starting the half cold before heating up?
  • Also do we see Brady staples post-Weiss that day? I was getting some 2018 playoff run vibes from how they countered a DL that can get upfield and seen to have advantage (vs Chargers, SB vs Rams come to mind)
• Investing high picks vs FA bargains / reclamations / general tire kicking
  • QB investment a very different calculation for franchises in the early aughts. Doubtful the first 10 picks will be that QB-light in the latter 2020s, but could we see teams grow more reticent to take or trade up for QBs early in the draft relative to the past 15 years. Move in the direction of the ‘03 meta here?
• Anatomy of a touchdown: Why it worked
  • Brady touchdowns off play-action to Branch, Givens, and Vrabel
  • DeShaun Foster TD
    • Side Q: Eugene Wilson looking like he whiffed with the Madden hit stick that would be introduced that calendar year 2004, good/bad feature? Your fav/least fav Madden feature adds for that era?
  • Delhomme bombs to Smith and Muhammad, beating the blitz to Proehl
    • Side Q: Does it get anymore post-Y2K NFL than Ricky Proehl and Jermaine Wiggins. Rod “He Hate Me” Smart carrying the XFL legacy in kick returns? (poorly, accurately?)
• Anatomy of a turnover:
  • Brady fooled, panicked? On hideous RZ INT.
  • Delhomme strip-sacked by Mike Vrabel
    • Mike Vrabel-style LBs. Did it seem like those peaked in 2000s, but are also kinda makin a comeback?
• Color commentator Phil Simms in the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame with some great pre-production nuggets on the Patriots and his old Giants colleague Bill Belichick, who I guess being taught some sort of first ballot lesson by voters for the other Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Remiss in a mention of the halftime show. Memories of the live broadcast there. Started with a get out the vote PSA! Choose to Vote. Then Jessica Simpson says Houston choose to party and some other stuff happens after that. We used to have programs to begin it or themes for every Super Bowl halftime. Maybe what aged well, not well. Also some guy got inspired to start YouTube.
• CBS Vision: They had like a 360 matrix bullet cam thing going on, and called it CBS Vision. Did we like it or nah, at the time and looking back. Also, are there any 2000s NFL broadcast flourishes we miss, or good riddance, or can’t get over in some way.
• Favorite Panthers from that year.
  • And did Dan Morgan seem like the straw that stirred the drink for Carolina defense when healthy in sort of a Bob Sanders way. As in not the HoFer with the unit but did it all just start to click with him in. And job you think he’s done as GM.
• Did the Brady GW drive and Vinatieri when it counts, how inevitable did that feel watching it so early in Brady’s career? Panthers the cardiac cats that year

Remember That Game creator and producer Thomas Emerick

The Ringer NFL Analyst Steven Ruiz (Author Page)

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Denny Carter (NBC Sports/Rotoworld, Bad Faith Times) and host Thomas Emerick trace the journey from young Dolphins fan tormented by Buffalo to team-agnostic adult empathizing with Bills Mafia. To do this, we travel through time to find Denny with decently high hopes in December 1995 for the AFC Wild Card in the Saturday early slot. What transpires is Miami and Dan Marino's third playoff exit at the hands of the Buffalo Bills just in the '90s. The decade is barely halfway through, and this one is the most emphatic. Bills rushed for about 350 yards. Has it ever been established so hard?

Remember That Game is a podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey and chart the path of the zeitgeist. Check out Denny's newsletter Bad Faith Times and his work at NBC Sports/Rotoworld. 

Episode threads:

• Box Score: Buffalo Bills 37, Miami Dolphins 22 (Pro Football Reference)
• Jeff Goldblum's intro to NFL Wild Card Weekend for ABC (YouTube)
• expectations entering the year, now that the Bills were no longer reigning (AFC) champ and Dolphins were favorite to win conference. whether it felt like Miami's year to at least get Marino back one final time.
• Elway helping Marino get into the dance in '95
• where this one ranks among the most spiritually crushing games as a former dolphins fan
• most tilting bills of that era, which will include Steve Tasker and Andre Reed
• beat Bills early, win out in December, except for the Bills game which came down to a FG
• the experience of watching not just Thurman Thomas but random RB/FBs parade for 20-plus yard runs
• Dan Marino throwing in the wind and his zip pre/post achilles
• tilting over Dan Marino vs. Jim Kelly as well
• experience for you week leading up and after, was there any crow eating, and where you watched the game, aftermath
• and your relationship with the Buffalo Bills now compared to then. Wonder younger you be perplexed by your current posture toward these tormentors of your youth
• and whether a former Dolphins fan can get on board with a Josh Allen Super Bowl run some year

Remember That Game creator and producer Thomas Emerick

NBC Sports/Rotoworld NFL Analyst and Bad Faith Times creator Denny Carter (@dennycarter)

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Comedian Shelley Kim shares with host Thomas Emerick how that 2025 MLB postseason got her LOCKED IN for baseball and her hometown Dodgers. We go into Shelley's comfort with being a Dodgers heel in public as she first gets into the sport, and her reactions to the twists and turns of this postseason leading up to and then culminating with Game 7. She is now a DC-based comedian who you may've seen on the DC Improv socials, Washington Post pages, and recently a Sahib Singh standup bill. Check out Shelley's comedy clips and booking site. Catch her stand-up!

Remember That Game is a podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey and chart the path of the zeitgeist.

Episode threads:

• Getting into the Dodgers, rooting for them in public, and the lead-up to Game 7
• Starters Shohei Ohtani vs. DC sports legend Max Scherzer
• Bo Bichette homer to put Blue Jays up 3-0 early
• Whether there was a sinking feeling when the Dodgers were down entering the 9th
• Miguel Rojas HR to tie it
• Andy Pages trucking Kike Hernández to grab the flyball
• Will Smith's foot on the bag
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto's rubber arm
• Smith's go-ahead shot
• What it was like witnessing her first World Series final out.

We also go on a few larks into the nature of burgeoning fandom and the role of one special postseason.

Remember That Game creator Thomas Emerick

Comedian Shelley Kim (Clips | Booking)

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Steve Palazzolo (Check The Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson) and host Thomas Emerick are pondering a modern comp for Natrone Means. They revisit the 1996 AFC Wild Card matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills, a game that marks the Jags' arrival and a shifting NFL landscape in the mid-1990s. Also Steve is now in the Remember That Game four-timers club!

The ’96 Jaguars rebound from a 4–7 start, surge through December, and carry that confidence into Rich Stadium against a Bills (AFC) dynasty that just didn't lose at Rich Stadium and a nucleus still intact with Bruce Smith, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and the K-Gun. What follows is a collision of influential styles. Really fun convo!

Remember That Game is a podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey and chart the path of the zeitgeist. Check out Steve’s show Check The Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson at The 33rd Team.

Episode threads:

We weave these in with key moments from the game, along with lead-up and aftermath.

• ‘25 Jags bounce back midseason and red-hot thru December, get you nostalgic for ‘96? How did that roster get so good so quick, and what clicked for Brunell and Co. to rally from 4-7?
• How you became a Jaguars fan up in New England the dual rise of these teams in ‘96.
• Is the Week 17 Morten Andersen miss the most shocking way a team has ever clinched a playoff spot? And would that have seemed too unlikely and dramatic even for a 90s Disney sports flick?
• Best home playoff record all-time is the Bills at Rich Stadium entering ‘96. Nucleus is still intact and we see it early with Kelly-to-Thomas for the opening score. But an aging nucleus. How intimidating were the Bills to you at that point? How well did that Jacksonville roster stack up? Confident about Boselli vs. Bruce?
• What went right for the ‘95 expansion squads that didn’t for Browns in ‘99 or Texans in ‘02? How much the fast ascent of the Jags and Panthers is owed to better decisions, and how much is it owed to better environment. If the NFL adds two expansion teams someday, should the league find ways to make more quality veterans available to expansion teams, and also afford more cap flexibility to help them lift off? What would be your approach?
• Is it over without that Clyde Simmons pick-six stabilizing things early? Your “it’s so over/we’re so back” journey during the game and where you watched.
• Teal having a moment in 95 with the expansion Jags and Charlotte Hornets. GOAT jerseys? And is the mid-90s NFL aesthetic broadly superior to the ensuing decades?
• Is there a modern Natrone Means comp? Is that kind of big bruising RB critical to playoff success? Not that these guys comp to Means specifically, but is there wisdom to feeding like a Pacheco or a Shonn Greene that suddenly becomes super valuable in January. Is there something real to that, in the ‘90s and or 2020s?
• Players on the ‘96 Jags that need more Hall of Fame love. And how much of Coughlin’s case should come from his Jacksonville years. Kevin Gilbride, the K-Gun, and this game as a collision of styles that influenced the modern game.
• The level of control at the line that Brunell and especially Kelly have in adjusting to defenses (along with WRs Smith/McCardell/Reed/Early on sight adjustments and option routes), it seems in recent years that playcallers have taken more control back. Would it help offenses in 2026 to put more pre- and post-snap control back on the QB’s plate?
• Is what the Bills did with 4 consecutive SB appearances less likely to happen again than a first Super Bowl threepeat? Is that an underrated accomplishment?
• Jags knock off Bills and Broncos back-to-back. Patriots eject the Steelers. And there’s no Cowboys or Niners on the other side of the bracket in CC. We get fresh faces in the Super Bowl. Did that make the ‘96 postseason more exhilarating and how did it change the way you thought about the NFL?

Remember That Game creator and producer Thomas Emerick

Check the Mic co-host Steve Palazzolo (Check The Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson)

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Author Marshall Garvey and host Thomas Emerick revisit an overshadowed but fascinating Fall Classic between the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals. This series peaks with Game 6 and captures a turning point in 1980s baseball, while featuring some angles unique to Missouri and the Midwest.

It’s October 1985. Cardinals vs. Royals. World Series, Game 6. Remember That Game is the podcast about sporting events that take you on a journey—and sometimes chart the path of the zeitgeist along the way. I’m your host, Thomas Emerick, joined by Marshall Garvey, author of Interstate 85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series.

Show threads:

• Why the 1985 Cardinals-Royals matchup felt unlikely and why pundits missed the signs
• Missouri vs. Missouri: geography, rail lines, I-70, and growing the pie for a state
• How two very different baseball styles defined the 1980s and collided in this series
• The stacked contenders who didn’t make the playoffs in 1985
• Old rules determining homefield and DH in MLB playoffs
• John Tudor’s dominance, Brett Saberhagen’s youth, and a Game 7 collision course
• Dan Quisenberry, George Brett, Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, and the razor-thin margins of elite October baseball
• Don Denkinger’s call, Whitey Herzog’s reaction, and pre- vs. post-instant replay
• Pinch hitters, unlikely heroes, David Letterman, and why Buddy Biancalana keeps showing up at the biggest moments
• What the 1985 World Series tells us about 1980s baseball, Midwest culture, and why no team repeated as champs that decade

Remember That Game creator and producer Thomas Emerick

Author Marshall Garvey (Interstate 85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series)

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Rep. Adam Smith joins host Thomas Emerick to talk Mariners fandom as representative for Washington’s 9th Congressional district, and revisit the unforgettable 1995 ALDS between the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees, while drawing parallels to this year’s Game 5 thriller.

They talk about watching both games 30 years apart, how the ‘95 rally helped save baseball in Seattle, and what it was like living through the city’s first true baseball fever. Smith reflects on Griffey’s brilliance, Edgar’s clutch double, and the electricity of the Kingdome, plus how that run set the stage for a new stadium, a new era, and the experience in emergent Seattle in the 1990s when he became the country's youngest state senator and then a new member of Congress after the '96 cycle.

The conversation also touches on his time in the Congressional baseball game, the education package he’s recently introduced, and how Seattle’s sports and civic energy from 1995 still echoes through the city today.

More moments from the 1995 run that led to the American League Divisional Series Game 5 victory: Seattle Mariners 6, New York Yankees 5 (11 innings)

• 11-inning ALDS Game 5 in 1995 parallels to 15-inning ALDS Game 5 in 2025
• Edgar Martinez — “The Double” in ‘95; clutch RBI double and AL batting champ
• Ken Griffey Jr. — walk-off moment scoring from first
• Randy Johnson — came out of bullpen in ‘95 Game 5; ceremonial presence and first-pitch energy in 2015 ALDS; symbol of Mariners grit
• Jay Buhner and Tino Martinez — key bats in '95
• Joey Cora — drag bunt to get tying baserunner on in the 11th
• Alex Rodriguez — young pinch-runner in ‘95 scoring tying run
• Lou Piniella — decision to ride Randy and rallying squad when down 13 games to Angels in August
• Paul O’Neill & Don Mattingly — ‘95 Yankee threats who defined tension in Game 5;
• David Cone — overextended start in Game 5 leading to Seattle rally
• Dan Wilson — future Mariners manager and steady catcher behind the plate with key plate appearance in Game 4
• Tie-breaker vs. Angels in ‘95 — Randy Johnson the stopper comes up huge on short rest

Show creator and producer Thomas Emerick

Rep. Adam Smith of Washington's 9th Congressional district (WA-09)

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