May 11, 2020: The Hiatus

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Episode 7 was an emotional roller coaster. It started with the murder of Jordan’s father, followed by MJs retirement from basketball, his brief baseball career, the Bulls without Jordan, the return to basketball, the double nickel, the playoff loss, the 72-10 season, and the 4th title on Father’s Day which brought things full circle. Whew…

The way this documentary has been laid out, the way it shows Jordan getting overwhelmed with it all, the relief of completing the three peat… it’s not that far fetched that he would walk away. Yet, if his father were still around, I don’t think he would have went through with it. But once his father, his close friend was gone… MJs decision was easy. Still, when he officially announced it, it was a shock. I didn’t want to believe it; it was like one of those moments that goes in slow motion, like a movie, that felt surreal… Jordan was gone. Talk about a gut punch. Looking back at it all, it’s really easy to understand why it happened.

The way Jordan was built, does anybody really doubt that if he stuck with it, he would have played in the majors? I think he would of; I’m glad he didn’t. Although the Bulls played great without him the first year, which by the way, is another sign of a good leader; leaving your team and it doesn’t fall to shambles… getting your team to a point where it can survive by itself, they came up short in the biggest moment. Sure, the 1.8 Scottie pout didn’t hurt us, but Hue Hollins did; the Knicks would finally get their shot in the Finals… and blow it. The 2nd year without Jordan was brutal… yet, there was some excitement in the air.

When there were those stories of Jordan showing up to practice, our imaginations ran wild. He just had to come back. We want MJ. I remember watching that game where Pippen pointed at the bottom of his shoe, telling MJ to come on back… I remember feeling like this is going to happen… this is really going to happen. And it did, finally, with the famous words “I’m back”, Jordan was; the hiatus was over and boy was it great. I didn’t call in sick to work that first game back against Indiana like I said I was going to; even at the age of 18 I was dedicated… damn. But I remember the game winner against the Hawks, and of course, the double nickel, one of my favorite games of all time. He was officially back; I wasn’t that crazy about the new number, but who cares. We were going back to the Finals!

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Well, hold on just second… we flipped it back to automatic mode with our expectations, but even superman couldn’t come back that late in the season and lead us to the promised land. That loss to the Magic hurt… it was an unfamiliar feeling with MJ on the floor; it would be the last time we would feel this hurt. It’s like all those tough losses that lead Chicago teams to greatness… the 49ers loss in 1984, the Pistons losses before the first 3 peat, the Red Wings loss in 2009, the Kings loss in 2014, the Mets loss in 2015… yeah, this Magic loss in 1995 would propel MJ and this Bulls team to another run of greatness; the dynasty was jump started…. to the tune of a 72-10 regular season record; best team of all time? Duh, yeah.

The Bulls dominated that entire year, and the playoffs too. That Game 3 win in Seattle in the Finals was one of my favorite games of all time too; took their damn heart out. Losing the next 2 games didn’t matter; I felt like we were throwing NBC a bone… getting them some extra cash, while we awaited coronation at the UC for the first time… on Father’s Day of all days. Yeah, things just work out like that some times,and with MJ, you would almost expect it. Seeing him holding the ball crying in the locker room was pretty strong stuff; I remember it clearly.

Yes, MJ was back, and so were the Bulls. With the 4th title in the bank, what’s next? Did I just combine episodes 7 & 8? It’s all running together for me in this cobblestoned memory lane. I can’t get enough of this stuff. Right place right time living in Chicago during the 90s, let me tell you. Born and raised here, seeing MJ raise this franchise up, reaching the pinnacle again and again… Yeah, pretty damn special. OK, what else happened in these episodes…

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