ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary series is now over halfway finished after episodes 5 and 6 aired Sunday. Episode 5 carried a little more weight, as we got a quick glimpse into the older-younger brother relationship between Michael Jordan and the late Kobe Bryant. Episode 5 also brought details of the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team,” Jordan’s political dilemmas and the biggest “L” of all time, which goes to Adidas for not signing Jordan to a shoe deal.

Episode 6 showed viewers a different side of Jordan, with his alleged gambling addiction that media and people around the NBA believed destroyed parts of his reputation. It also continued to show us the ultra-competitiveness Jordan possessed on and off the court. We saw highlights of the Bulls-Knicks rivalry and Jordan’s Finals duel with Charles Barkley.

This week’s episodes were filled with more serious stories of Jordan and the Bulls and shed light on Jordan’s personality and actions on and off the court. We gave our reactions to some of those new details presented in episodes 5 and 6 of “The Last Dance.”

Nithin Reddy – Staff Writer 

We finally got to some of the negatives about Michael Jordan.  In this week’s installment of “The Last Dance,” we got a look into “The Dream Team,” the Bulls first three-peat and Jordan’s gambling problems in the ’90s.  

Through the first four episodes of “The Last Dance,” we’ve only seen the bright spots of Michael Jordan. Whether it’s Jordan setting a playoff scoring record against the Celtics or Jordan and the Bulls toughening up and beating the “Bad Boys” Pistons, Jordan has always been the protagonist that seems almost omnipotent and untouchable. We were finally taken inside the darkness that comes with being Michael Jordan. 

Not only the gambling, but the aura of Michael Jordan became too much to handle.  You can tell in clips from 1998 that Jordan was exhausted. Being followed everywhere you go and having criticism with every decision takes a toll on someone, and it’s clear why Jordan retired after ’98.

Favorite moment

Hearing about those Bulls-Knicks battles brought joy to my face. Rivalries are what we as sports fans live for. The mutual hatred between the Knicks and Bulls was the perfect rivalry for that Bulls team. The physical style of the Knicks brought out the best from Michael Jordan and the Bulls. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Justin Timberlake cameo. It was something only I cared about, and I have to say it may have been the most pointless use of a mega-celebrity. With that said, I still loved it.

Biggest surprise

This is probably more of an indictment on my knowledge of “The Dream Team” than anything else, but I was shocked to learn: 1. There was a second USA vs. Croatia game, and 2. Toni Kukoc was actually good in that game. The folklore of Michael and Scottie completely locking down Kukoc has lived on since the 1992 Olympics, but I had no clue Kukoc responded in the gold medal game.  Shame on me. 

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Brendyn Jones – Assistant On-Air Editor

These episodes stuck out so much because they tackled what might be the most difficult part of Jordan’s legacy: his personal struggles off the court. ESPN taking on Jordan’s “Republicans buy sneakers too” quote is both bold and necessary to understand the legacy of his impact on culture.

I think when black people reach higher levels of fame, there is always a push for them to speak publicly about black issues. Whether that is fair or not, it is usually expected from the black community. So, as a black person, it was interesting to see the response from people back in that day.

Then ESPN was able to show both sides of the gambling addiction story, with how the media was pretty eager to find flaws for Jordan and how Jordan was impacted by that emotionally. After every Sunday, I often think, “Could this happen today?” I have no idea if it’d be okay for LeBron James to take a two-week midseason hiatus from the media.

It was also crazy to see how much influence the media had in the 1990s. Could one book or one article completely shift the way we view an athlete today? If not, is it because things are so much harder to hide now and everything is usually already out in the public?

Yet again, I can’t wait to watch the next four episodes to see how ESPN continues to tell this story.

P.S. Michael Jordan can add “least convincing ‘I’m not a gambling addict’ interview” to his long list of accolades.

@brendyn_jones

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Josh Pietsch – Staff Writer

Luca Ripani – Staff Writer

Many people often associate Michael Jordan the basketball player with Michael Jordan the PR wizard. They assume that the “Be Like Mike” and “Is it the Shoes?” Michael Jordan was the version that would come up and shake your hand if you ever met him in person. Tonight’s episodes of “The Last Dance” once again show a reality that is not as pretty as Nike or Gatorade would lead you to believe. We saw tonight that Michael Jordan’s competitive nature did not simply shine on the basketball court, but in every endeavor he undertook, from golf to blackjack. This was especially highlighted in the episode’s segment on the 1992 Dream Team, where Jordan proved he was the best of the best on a team of 11 future Hall-of-Famers.

Despite the documentary, and most modern-day media regarding the G.O.A.T., showing Jordan as an unstoppable force of nature, tonight’s episode also showed a more humane side of His Airness that few do in today’s era of highlights: his exhaustion with the constant media attention. Although he was dominating on the court, the constant press of cameras and microphones began to wear on Jordan. Before the documentary aired, many talking heads on ESPN claimed that the series would expose “the real Michael Jordan.” I think that the “real” MJ was always out there, but people never took the time to investigate or they believed the headlines and never cared to explore more into the psyche of the man so many adore. Despite an unmatched dedication to total domination and success in all realms of his life, Michael Jordan eventually did grow tired of one of the things he was known best for: attention.

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Alec Busse – Assistant Video Editor

Episodes 5 and 6 of “The Last Dance” told different stories than any of the other episodes of series have. These two episodes largely focused on how big of an image Michael Jordan was in the early 1990s and also how small controversies in Jordan’s life caused him a lot of mental pain. Jordan’s gambling has become a big story since the Bulls dynasty run, but for a player to leave the team in the Eastern Conference Finals and go to one of the largest casinos in the U.S. is something that would never happen today, nor would it be tolerated. However, Jordan and the Bulls were able to use this “distraction” to fuel their competitiveness, which pushed them over a physical and talented New York Knicks team. As episode 6 developed, it becomes clear that the mental grind Jordan went through during the final season of the first three-peat was a killer for him. By the end, it was obvious that the mental grind destroyed the game’s best player. It is hard to imagine a player, who is the league’s best, retiring after winning three straight championships, but Jordan was different and things in his personal life eventually helped make that decision for him. Looking forward to next Sunday when the series documents the two years Jordan stepped away from the NBA and attempted something nobody thought he could achieve.

@Alec_busse

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Jonah Perez – Staff Writer

Takeaways from episode 5

Isiah Thomas should have made the “Dream Team.” That’s not an opinion, but a fact. As one of the greatest players in the history of basketball and the second greatest point guard (in Michael Jordan’s mind), he was left off the team for rubbing too many people the wrong way. While Jordan didn’t directly tell USA basketball to keep him off the team, it was insinuated that most players on that team didn’t want him on it, and it’s a travesty.

Takeaways from episode 6

This might be controversial, but the 1990s New York Knicks were Bad Boy Piston wannabes and MJ’s version of the Toronto Raptors teams that always fainted at the sight of LeBron James. The Knicks, like the Raptors, always came up short against the best player of their respective generations and only won anything when they were gone, whether it be because of a mid-career retirement or a free agent move to the other conference.

Celebrities are put on a pedestal above the rest of us, whether they want to be or not. Michael Jordan didn’t ask to be viewed this way, but his basketball greatness did it for him. Helped by “The Dream Team,” MJ was a global superstar like no American athlete before him. It was an awesome ride for Jordan until his gambling hobby and political indifference became a media distraction for the team. While never affecting his game, it was a lesson learned at the price of a reputation hit. Jordan had gambling debts (he paid them off) that shocked his fans who expected him to be perfect. He also, as someone bigger than basketball, was expected to publicly take political stances. Jordan didn’t want to take uninformed stances, and he also didn’t want to affect his endorsements, so he preferred to deal with it privately, by donating to causes he believed in. These situations gave me even more sympathy for current pro athletes who have to deal with role model and political expectations, which are only magnified by social media. They are just people, like you and me, and being good at a game shouldn’t take their humanity away.

@jonahap2

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