Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
You heard it last night...
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The Last Dance
The director of The Last Dance had a picture of me plastered on his bathroom mirror that he looked at every morning as he worked on this project. I’m sure of it, though I’m not sure how he got ahold of it, nor how he was introduced to me, but I know he did. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s cameras planted in my house so that he could specifically watch my reactions to each and every episode, but particularly these last two.
I’m sure a lot of people feel this way, that this hit different for them personally.
But in these last two episodes, all my life’s work — which isn’t much, including this newsletter — was somehow thrown into a ball, then thrown atop the highest peak of a mountain with me holding on.
And despite the whirlwind of emotions that I was put through, the overriding one that persisted afterwards was jealousy.
What it would be like to be in Chicago, a conscious member of society, as Michael Jordan went on that run. I hope all of you who were along for the ride wake up every morning thankful for that. For those of us that were born in, say, 1992 or later, our relationship with the Bulls started in the final slide of the documentary.
“After Michael Jordan retired…”
The purpose of the documentary was for us to relive these moments. But for those of us who never lived them in the first place, we’ve been scrambling to pick up the pieces of Jordan’s time here for years, like a kid trying to find a picture of his parent that passed away when he or she was young.
Tonight, watching these episodes with all of you, felt like I found the final piece to the picture.
All of us wanting another episode to this documentary is the same energy as Michael Jordan wanting another run at his seventh championship. It’s probably best we left off where we did, because even if we got another one, all we’d want after that one was another one.
There’s something about Michael Jordan that you can’t put your finger on. It’s why there’s been hundreds of thousands of movies, documentaries, articles, and books written about him but somehow we still want more. Because we can’t figure out what that something about him is, even if we claim we can.
I’ve loved many athletes in my lifetime, much more than I’d care to admit. But Jordan is like a fictional character to me. He’s like a favorite character in a television show you just finished. You’ve had that feeling, right? You think — ‘How cool would it be if this person was real?’ That’s the same feeling I get with MJ, but he is real. Perhaps he’s so extraordinary that I can’t wrap my head around that.
That’s why the idea that anyone would ever be taken aback by Jordan’s arrogance confuses me. Now that you know his life story, think, think hard, about what it would be like to be him. Imagine waking up everyday as Michael Jordan. I don’t know about you, but that’s too tall of a task for me.
I was texting with a friend after the doc, and he said that the doc humanized someone that was inhuman.
It made me wish that aging wasn’t a thing, that basketball was like singing or writing, something that you could still be great at long after you started.
But there’s also something about the doc that makes you glad it ended when it did. MJ’s career with the Bulls — all we care about for this exercise — ended damn near perfectly. Of course he wanted another shot at 7. And if he got 7 he would’ve wanted a shot at 8. Sometimes, it’s best to get in the way of people like that.
If Jerry Krause did one thing right (to be clear, he did many things right), it was that. Because we’re now able to look back and think ‘What if?’ That What If is better than the run at 7 could’ve been.
So, I am officially changing my stance on the ‘98-’99 season. Could the Bulls have ran it back and won that year in a lock out-shortened season? Absolutely. Am I glad they didn’t? I am.
My kid is going to find out one day how big of a fraud I am. I just hope it’s not before he turns 18. I’m going to talk about Mike like I was around for the whole thing, and make him watch The Last Dance with me every Sunday. One day he’ll have to fill out some shit for school and realize I was born halfway through the championships.
Then I’ll tell him he can do the same with his kid.
I started this newsletter on April 8, 2019. Before I knew what I wanted to do with it, I knew what the title was going to be. Here’s what I wrote in that first newsletter, sent out on a Monday morning to two dozen emails of people who had no idea they’d be receiving it.
First, the reason for the name, “Still Gotta Come Through Chicago,” inspired by the greatest athlete in the history of Chicago.
The Bulls were facing a rare game 7 in 1998, which was already considered “The Last Dance” because the Bulls front office is incomprehensibly stupid. Tied 3-3 with the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, Jordan said this:
[The clip you saw tonight was inserted here]
We will win game 7! They don't make 'em like that no more, folks.
I originally found this clip through “Michael Jordan to the Max,” a documentary chronicling the last playoff run of the Jordan Bulls, one that I’m not ashamed to say I purchased on iTunes for like 14 dollars and watch three times a year.
But without further ado, your first newsletter…
Over 13 months later, and my SGCTC tribe has been upgraded — the mantra, the readership, and my documentary choices.
I knew the clip was coming, and I still wasn’t ready for it.
“Still Gotta Come Through Chicago.”
The feeling I got when the title of this newsletter dropped in a documentary that everyone I knew watching was a funny one. It was validating in a way, which is of course silly. I didn’t say it, and I’m not the only one that heard it.
But my phone semi-blowing up made me feel like I was at least a tadpole swimming in the everlasting ocean of the Jordan story. It made me glad I started this newsletter in the first place, so I could ramble about what the Jordan doc meant to me afterward, like anyone cared.
Speaking of that, I’ll get off my soap box after this.
The whole purpose of this newsletter is bringing Chicago sports fans together to try to make them feel like their sports fandom is worth something, to make it tangible.
When Jordan said that his heart and soul will forever be in Chicago, while standing in Grant Park in Bulls gear, something intangible shot through my body. And something tangible, blood, began flowing down towards my…
You get the point.
Still Gotta Come Through Chicago, man. Thanks for all of you for coming along for the ride. Now lets’ get to the nuts and bolts of the episodes, which will — cruelly — no longer be available to us on Sundays moving forward.
Six Takeaways from the Final Episodes:
“SIX! YEAH! SIX!”
Steve Kerr is an indispensable sports figure. His role is outsized in the storytelling of those teams because of his charisma. But he does justify it. The telling of his father’s passing was tear-provoking. His journey to that game winner was worth every second it received in the documentary.
What they didn’t include is that the scumbag students of Arizona rival Arizona State later chanted “PLO” at him later that season, in reference to the Palestine Liberation Organization, who they had thought were responsible for killing Kerr’s father.
The fact that he dealt with all of that and is now a 5x NBA champion (won two with the Spurs) and the best three point shooter of all time (by percentage) is a testament to his character.
Plus, Jordan slyly telling Kerr he’d be looking for him and Kerr screaming back at him that he’d be ready was another genuinely funny moment that I had never noticed before, despite having seen that footage.
I wrote two or three weeks ago about MJ being drawn to the everyday people in his life. He liked hanging out with former Chicago PD officers more than he did the stars. What they didn’t tell you is that he paid for all of Gus Lett’s medical expenses, and also gave him championship rings on top of that game ball.
“Michael snatched the game ball for me… that’s alright. That’s alright.”
He also paid John Wozniak (the other featured security guard) until the day he died, earlier this year.
The reason why I find these details important is because Jordan has done a lot of good in his life outside of basketball — both on a micro (see above) and macro level. He just doesn’t find the need to publicize it, and that’s a characteristic worth publicizing here.
Utah in the ‘90s had to have been the whitest place in the history of this planet. I’m white myself and I was uncomfortable with how many dorky white people were screaming in the Delta Center.
The two most relatable things of the entire documentary came last night. There’s not much you can find in Michael Jordan’s life that you can relate to. But trying to find a pizza place that will serve you late at night is something Chicagoans know all too well. Sarpinos, for all its warts, always comes in clutch when the rest of the world is sleeping and you need a pizza.
There was also a clip where Jordan, in a casual practice, jumps into Scottie Pippen for an “And 1” while they’re just shooting around. Now that, folks, is relatable. My brother has been on the wrong side of so many And 1s over the last twenty years.
Jordan was unbelievable in Game 6, but Bob Costas didn’t miss. The fact that he chronicled that moment to such perfection in real time deserves more credit.
“Here comes Chicago… 17 seconds… 17 seconds from a Game 7 or from championship number 6. Jordan, open… Chicago with the lead!
“Timeout Utah… 5.2 seconds left, Michael Jordan running on fumes, with 45 points.”
“That may have been the last shot that Jordan will ever take in the NBA… if that’s the last imagine of Michael Jordan, how magnificent is it?”
Michael Jordan’s final minute with the Bulls is the greatest individual minute in NBA history. Drive, score. Steal on Malone. Game winner. How magnificent is it?
Other notes:
Scott Burrell seems like an absolute riot to hang out with, no joke. People feel bad for him, but that dude was clearly not phased by his banter with Jordan. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it.
I always operated under the assumption that Jordan pushed off on that last shot, but that it didn’t matter much. But I’ve since seen the slow motion of the shot, and the push really doesn’t do anything at all. That point is completely moot once you see it frame by frame.
Scottie Pippen made up for his migraine Game 7 against the Pistons in ‘90 with his Game 6 against Utah in ‘98. But his performance, like his overall talent level in this documentary, has been exaggerated. He had 8 points. But, yes, him being out there at all was immensely valuable.
The Last Dance was as clutch as the figure it focused on during these last five Sundays. That experience — all of us locked in our houses watching the same thing — will probably never happen again. Let’s hope it doesn’t, but I’ve got a feeling we’ll look fondly on our days watching it together.
Comment your thoughts on the doc as a whole and the last two episodes. Let’s go:
The Sports World Vs. COVID-19
The sports world is gearing up for a comeback. Make no mistake about it, COVID-19 is up 12 with 3:16 left in the 3rd quarter, but we just hit two threes and it called a timeout.
The NHL is gearing up for a 24-team return to the season, which would not immediately jump into the playoffs. They’re the sports world’s reserved power forward. We haven’t heard much from them but they’re slowly but surely working towards a start — blocking a few shots and getting a key rebound here and there.
The NBA’s stars have all asserted that they want to return to action. If I had to guess today, I’d err on the side of the NBA playing again this season. Things looked dire a few weeks ago, but now the NBA is heating up. They’re by far the most innovative and flexible league, and even though they’re a streaky shooter that sometimes looks incapable of making an impact, they’re responsible for the two threes that forced the COVID-19 timeout.
Most importantly, they have begun outlining to players what a return would look like, and how one positive COVID-19 test can not be grounds for a cancellation of the season once it resumes. The UFC had its hand in reducing the stigma surrounding a positive COVID-19 test last weekend, when an entire corner tested positive and they went on with the weekend’s events. That’s one assist for the UFC.
The MLB is still tripping over themselves like the clowns they’ve been for the last, I don’t know, 10 years. Now there’s a fight between the owners and players on who will be paid what and each argument is sort of nauseating. Yes, I side with the players, but the conversation is completely tone deaf all around. Did you guys read the last Department of Labor report on unemployment claims? Just figure it out. The MLB is supposed to be one of our top dogs, but they’ve been non-existent in our COVID-19 matchup.
The MLB, despite 1. having the advantage of their season not being interrupted 2. not being a contact sport and 3. being the only team sport that doesn’t really need fans, has been our Tony Snell. We all thought Snell could maybe be a contributor when the Bulls drafted him, like when the MLB had some interesting plans a month ago. Now every time they step on the court and suggest a new idea it just bothers me and is, at this point, not worth paying attention to. Just get it done.
As much as it pains me to say this, we may need to bench the MLB and move along if we’re going to regain the lead in the fourth.
The NFL is our Allen Iverson, the most talented entity we got, going to the hoop (proceeding with the season) no matter what the hell anyone says. The NFL is going to get buckets, throwing the optics of it all to the wayside. They’ve been great for our sports world comeback against COVID-19, playing with so much confidence that even I — dying for sports to return — have stepped back and thought, ‘Are we sure this is a good idea?’
They came out with their schedule and haven’t even suggested that fans won’t be in attendance. They had their draft. The NFL is still going to the bucket with reckless abandon. God bless America and God bless its favorite game.
The fourth quarter is in sight — COVID 100, the Sports World 88.
The NBA is expected to make significant decisions regarding the season in the next two weeks.
They sent out a text to all of their players just last week asking if they would be okay with proceeding with the season, though no data has been reported back from that yet. I imagine that the experiences of the many players that did contract COVID-19 and had zero symptoms has helped. I also imagine there’s some players who are chilling at home thinking, ‘Hey, I made $5 million this year and I’ve been eating pizza three nights a week. I’m good.’ But the pressure from the league’s best will go along way in getting the season back.
I wake up every goddamn day with a new idea for how sports could be kickstarted. I’m still unsure how the NBA could draw a meaningful close to this season without fans.
What if you played in home stadiums (or smaller ones in the city), and allowed only fans from that city to come that had tested positive for coronavirus anti-bodies? When purchasing a ticket, you’d have to prove that you had immunity. Only then would you be allowed to attend. If you could find, say, 5,000 NBA fans in each city that had already had the coronavirus, you could get a meaningful crowd out there with, potentially, no greater risk to the players or workers putting the broadcast on.
Down the line, you could even have an NBA team set up a COVID-19 testing sites for citizens in the area (making a meaningful contribution to society in the meantime), and anyone that tested negative would be allowed to attend the next game. A negative test wouldn’t get you into any game in the playoffs, just the next one, to keep newly budding cases of COVID-19 out of sight.
I know all of you have had similar thoughts on a night where you were watching cornhole on ESPN. I know you’ve got an idea too. Chances are that it is completely unfeasible, logistically impossible, and not rooted in science — like mine — but I know you’re passionate about it.
Suggest some ideas in the comments section, and let’s complete this fourth-quarter comeback against COVID-19.
What else is new Chicago?
The USA Today “experts” suggested that the Bears will go 3-13 this season in their recent preview. I’m not even going to link that article here because it’s patently ridiculous.
Having said that, can you imagine?
Can you imagine waiting out this pandemic bullshit and then the Bears losing 13 games? That would be the very Bears-like, very post-Jordan Chicago sports-like.
Seriously. I can do 9-7. But 3-13? My heart can’t take that.
Matt Nagy, believe it or not, admitted he was wrong this past week. On ESPN 1000’s Waddle and Silvy, Nagy said not playing the starters more in the preseason was a mistake last year. He just validated every single Dad’s take in the Chicagoland area. Congrats to all the Dads.
Thanks for reading, as always. To the new subscribers — welcome on board. The Last Dance is over but Still Gotta Come Through Chicago is forever. See you next week.
First off, that was the greatest tv series of all time. Every night of this event, I was SHOCKED at how fast those two hours went by. Not many documentaries can make you laugh, cry, fist pump and get your butt crack all sweaty like The Last Dance did. Watching that was an experience that I will never forget. Secondly, If you have been reading my thread comments these past 5 weeks, you know that I have beef with Scottie. Just when I was almost completely out on SP, he totally redeemed himself. For the first time in this documentary, he didn't look like a complete self-centered whiny bitch. And with your blessing, I would like to get SP SGCTC certified.
Just another reason 2020 White Sox will be better than 2020 Cubs (Apart from the better and "Dude best food").. Sox have been playing without fans for over a decade now..they are use to this. Guys like Rizzo who are just only playing to impress fans and not the love of the game..it will be totally different for the cubs. 41k Fans to 0... Or 400 fans to zero..which will have a greater effect?