May 19, 2020: The Last Shot

I always see these surveys asking “If the game was on the line, who would you want to have the ball to take the last shot?” As always, there are many opinions; there is only one right answer. We saw the ultimate last shot in the final episode of The Last Dance.

The way Michael Jordan’s career ended with the Bulls was how every kid plays out his or her fantasy; hitting the last shot to win a championship. You couldn’t have drawn it up any better. Of course, there was the steal before the shot, and the layup before the steal. It was a complete summary of MJ’s career in about a minute. The driving to the basket; there was no dunk, but he would take it to the hole with reckless abandon especially early in his career. There was the defense; he wasn’t just offense, like some idiots may claim. This man played defense, tenaciously. And then there was the clutch shot, which he was known for. I’ve said it multiple times: MJ was the ultimate ace in the hole. The follow through of that last shot was picture perfect; my son was doing that all day yesterday. Yes, there was the “push off”, but honestly, and I would say this even if it wasn’t true, but seriously, it was a hand on his hip… not a blatant push off, as Russell stumbled to the ground. We all knew how it ended; it never gets old.

The part that I didn’t know was how the team got back together after the season, and the ritual that Phil had them perform. Everybody wrote down the way they felt about this team. After each player read theirs, they placed it in a coffee can and burned it. This was the one part of the entire series that I had no idea about. Hearing this, hearing about the closure that this team had privately, made me feel better about the whole thing, and the way it ended. Although I would have much rather seen another team end us then all the internal BS, the way it ended, the perfection in the Finals, how much can we really complain? And would it really have been better to see someone beat MJ and our Bulls? Sure, do I think we could have won a 7th in 1999? Yes. One of the biggest reasons besides the obvious was the fact that the next season was a strike shortened season, which would have came in handy considering the age of the Bulls, and how banged up and out of gas they were at the end of the season. Still, there would be teams gunning for us, just like every year; bringing their best game trying to knock off the king and the champs. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened in 1999; then in 2000? Obviously the alternate story that has played out since then hasn’t been worth a damn…

The fact that MJ came back and played a couple years with the Wizards doesn’t bother me; nothing he could do, nothing I could hear about him, would change the fact that he and the Bulls were responsible for years and years of happiness in my life. Seeing this play out on the “big screen” for all to see was really special, with all the memories that came rushing back. Watching this entire series with my son was very special as well. Having him get a taste of what I lived through growing up, having him share in that happiness with me… I’m very thankful for that. I’ve seen my share of greatness in Chicago: the 85 Bears, the Blackhawks of the 2010s, the Cubs finally doing it. I’m not sure any of them, no matter how special each and every one of them was, will ever top what Jordan and the 90s Bulls did for the city; they made us feel like the kings of the world… for almost an entire decade. For a high school then college kid, it didn’t get any better. Always cherishing the six, still waiting for the 7th…