This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

This is the story of an ad campaign produced for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Perennial runner-up in the sports shoe category, ReBoc, was trying to make its mark and take down Nike.

They chose two athletes, they plucked them out of obscurity, gave them ReBocs to wear, and turned them into household names,

spending $25 million in the process.

That was more than ReBoc's entire marketing budget the previous year.

This ad campaign is pretty much remembered as a disaster for ReBoc, but it created from nothing,

an epic drama that pitted two world-class decathletes against each other, and it resulted in so many strange twists and turns.

All because someone thought it was a clever way to sell shoes.

I love this story. This is the first episode of 30 for 30 podcasts, which are original audio documentaries from ESPN.

These are stories about sports, but they're the sports stories that I like that delve into their impact on culture,

politics, and more. Here's host Jody Avrican to guide you through the trials of Dan and Dave.

5. The Metradome in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Super Bowl number 26.

So I had a party at my apartment, and I got the 6-foot subway sub.

That was the centerpiece, was the 6-foot sub.

And I had a little money, and it's like, man, I bought all the booze, all the beer,

and I quite a few people come over, and it got a little wild.

Super Bowl 26, January 26, 1992. Almost 80 million people watching on television.

Many of them from parties like the one at D'Anneau Bryant's house.

Everybody was drinking beer, and then we got into the heart alcohol, and it was really fun.

Dan is watching from Moscow, Idaho. Dave Johnson is watching from Los Angeles, California.

I probably had 30 or 40 people at my house with multiple TVs set up, and everybody's there,

...