“A couple days ago I said to myself if I ever I were to be addicted to something that thing would be nostalgia. If that is the case, then spending 10 of the greatest hours ever watching this documentary might be what it means to get high or have a fix. There was nothing to 8,9,10 year old me like “and now the starting line-up for your Chicago Bulls.” 20 odd years later you blend childhood enthusiasm with greater insight and boy o boy this was good…clearly this has to transition into a blogpost. #TheLastDance #MichaelJeffreyJordan #GOAT🐐”
The above quote is a caption from a post I made on Instagram exactly one week ago as I completed watching the final two episodes of the instantly, critically acclaimed docuseries: The Last Dance. As a man of my word I feel obligated to put some words together on this epic drama that has consumed a wide swath of sports fans for the past roughly month and a half.
The problem I face however is where to start as the Last Dance, which ebbed and flowed throughout time, culminating in the 1998 NBA Finals and the aftermath, has evoked so much discussion and has taken its viewers in so many directions that it is more difficult than I thought to marshal my thoughts coherently into my version of a think piece. As such here are my rambling thoughts on this documentary that truly has been something special for me.
Perhaps the most obvious place to start is the climate in which it was released. For those of us diehard sports/Michael Jordan/90s Chicago Bulls fans the release of the Last Dance was already set to be a pivotal point of a sporting summer which was going to include all the major global sports not least the fanfare of an Olympic year. The documentary which chronicled the 1998 season for the Chicago Bulls which would turn out to be the end of the Air Jordan era for that franchise, was actually slated to be released in June 2020. But in comes the ethereal COVID-19 global pandemic. For all intents and purposes the world is brought to its knees by this uber contagious enigma of a disease. On, I believe, March 11, 2020, the NBA announced it would be suspending its season in the wake of the global crisis and it seems, at least for sports fans, this was perhaps the first domino that led to the crumbling of the world of sport, perhaps all social activity in general as we knew it and ushering in the vogue nomenclature which is our “new normal.”
This world of limited social interaction and limited entertainment cried out for something to fill the void if even only minimally. Little by little the social media then conventional media overtures for Mr. Michael Jeffrey Jordan and his ESPN counterparts to expedite the release grew louder and louder until we could not be denied. The remainder of this discussion will delve into more substantive aspects of the Series, but with respect to the timing of the release, I can find no other word but perfect. The confluence of such riveting content and the lack of competition for attention meant that at least in sporting circles the documentary easily dominated the discourse, freeing our minds from COVID overload and generating debate on top of debate on top of debate. Without question the world, particularly the sports world got the early Christmas gift of a lifetime.
Having opened and enjoyed this Christmas gift what are the major takeways? Is it that without question MJJ is greatest player ever to grace the parquet of the NBA? Is it the inimitable ability of Phil Jackson to get the best out of his motley crew, epitomised by his handling of Dennis Rodman? Is it the fact that Scottie Pippen might be the most underrated and underpaid superstar ever? Is it that Jerry Krause’s napoleon complex cut the greatest sports run ever short prematurely?
All of these and many more rabbit holes not mentioned would be great to explore but none quite compare to the pandoras box that emerged with respect to Michael Jordan’s insatiable appetite for winning and success and the lengths to which he would go to achieve this success. Was he the greatest competitor ever and the epitome of successful leadership? Or was he a narcissistic and maniacal despot that went too far in the quest for greatness? Like most major sporting topics, this idea of Jordan the leader or Jordan the despicable completely divides opinion. In fact, the inner workings of these championship Bulls teams have always been the subject of speculation and urban legends. What the documentary served to do was pull the curtain back, and boy was the curtain pulled back. With the veil of ignorance fully removed we got very clear insights into the pros and cons of the Michael Jordan school of leadership.
In the documentary we get a front row seat to the thoughts of a man who believed in hard work. A man that exhibited determination. We are re-introduced to a young man who didn’t make his high school basketball team and began working on his craft immediately so that there would be no recurrence. We become re-acquainted with a young NBA superstar that had to endure ferocious beatings on the court but persevered until he was able to vanquish the foes that stood in his way. We revisited highlights that showed that when the moment was the biggest and the lights were the brightest Michael Jordan was the man for the moment. Game winning shots, game clinching defensive stands, you name it he had it. We encounter a man that had the will to overcome anything, from the tragic death of his father, to the flu which we now know was food poisoning (and not the rumoured hangover). We see a tough leader who understood what it takes to win and was willing to push his teammates out of their comfort zones and squeeze every ounce of effort, determination and performance out of them whether they liked it or not, whether they liked him or not.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the previously painted picture, for some, put a misleading gloss over the actions of a man who falls just short of a monster. We are reminded of his almost primal need for conflict to drive his competitive motor, even creating outright false spats in (mostly successful) attempts to psych himself up to perform. We get insights of how some teammates suffered greatly in terms of verbal sparring. Many people left the documentary feeling absolutely sorry for Mr. Scott Burrell who came out being painted as MJ’s number one verbal “victim.” We finally get an behind the scenes look into the infamous moment where MJ punches one Mr Steve Kerr in the face even forcing him to lament beating up the smallest guy on the team. Finally, beyond a particular scene, and in keeping with the very well curated character that is Michael Jordan, the entire documentary could be viewed as a the heavily one sided musings of the then most powerful man in basketball using the power of popularity and a monopoly on the narrative to make all detractors and even seemingly beloved teammates look small.
The complicated part becomes where do I stand on the hero versus villain debate? For me this is a tough one as Michael Jordan represents perhaps my first sporting “idol” and as an adolescent all the stories and issues interrogated in the documentary were viewed through heavily biased and youthfully naïve eyes. Two decades later and life experiences and nuance are more clear and as such I am very ambivalent on this subject matter. In fact, in his heart of hearts I think MJ is ambivalent too. This conflict between the hero and the villain perhaps gives us the most compelling moment of the 10 hours. Asked about his leadership style he went into a deep soliloquy that included two of the most memorable quotes “winning has a price” and “if you don’t wanna play that way, don’t play that way” followed by an emotional, teary eyed request for a break from the interview. My reading of this is I think with the passing of time MJ does have some misgivings about things he has done and what he has sacrificed on the altar of success so it makes him emotional, but ultimately he feels the end justified the means. Ultimately this is the conclusion I come to as well.
I think more than any point in my life I can comfortably say I loved MJ, but in some regards he was a truly horrible person. Simultaneously I am compelled to find favour with the sentiment of “winning has a price.” Sometimes it requires pushing limits, sometimes it requires ruffling feathers, being goal and task oriented versus being “friends.” Still a question for internal contemplation is what value do you or I put on “winning” or even how do we define “winning”? is this MJ approach applicable in our lives and in non-sports related spaces? The ambivalence still detains me as I am not sure I could or would be able to employ the MJ approach. Maybe I’m just not cut out to be the GOAT at anything? Maybe he went too far? Whichever way you lean in this discussion one thing is sure…Michael Jeffrey Jordan from Wilmington North Carolina who became the greatest ever basketball player as a Chicago Bull is arguably the most influential sports figure ever. His carefully crafted image that blossomed in parallel with brand Nike is perhaps something we will never ever see again and no matter what you think of him he is truly the stuff of legend. I am truly grateful for the time I was born where I have been blessed to experience some of the greatest figures and greatest moments in sporting history.
So, I start where I began. I think I have an unhealthy love and desire for nostalgia. Nostalgia may be my addiction and The Last Dance was truly a substance of the highest grade. We are now living in a crazy time and I am grateful that we had this oasis in the Corona dessert to satiate both our needs for sporting content and social discourse.
Selah.
Reasoning with The Cunning One 