I was sitting in a bar in Los Angeles last year, watching the NBA finals, and the bartender said to me: “So you’re a Bulls fan, eh?”<\/p>\n
“How did you know?” I asked.<\/p>\n
I mean, I hadn’t said one word about the Bulls.<\/p>\n
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it’s your Bulls hat. Or your Jimmy Butler T-shirt. Or the Bulls case you got on your phone.”<\/p>\n
That’s when it hit me\u2014I’ve turned myself into a walking billboard for the franchise.<\/p>\n
It’s Michael Jordan<\/a>‘s fault. He was so unbelievably great, it made me feel damn near invincible just to know I was rooting for him.<\/p>\n So when I wear my Bulls stuff it’s like I’m saying: I wanna be invincible again!<\/p>\n Occasionally I scrape together enough money to actually attend a Bulls game. And I have this irrational feeling when I enter the United Center that I’m walking through a portal that takes me back in time. Suddenly it’s 1974 and I’m sitting on the rocks at the lake, smoking a joint and listening to Tower of Power on my boom box.<\/p>\n Wait! Wrong portal.<\/p>\n No, it’s more like 1991 and I’m in the second balcony at Chicago Stadium, screaming my lungs out as Jordan blows by Joe Dumars for a dunk and the Bulls finally get past the Pistons. You know, that portal.<\/p>\n I realize it’s crazy to think this current team of dysfunctional misfits has anything in common with Jordan’s Bulls other than the jersey.<\/p>\n But give me one regular-season win over Cleveland and the Jordan memories return.<\/p>\n If all else fails, I’ve got tapes of almost every playoff victory from the championship run, as well as the ensuing Grant Park celebrations.<\/p>\n Three of my favorite moments are . . .<\/p>\n Game six at Phoenix, 1993. Down two, a handful of seconds left. Jordan passes to Pippen, who passes to Grant, who passes to Paxson, who shoots for three. Bulls win!<\/p>\n Game five at New York, 1993. Up one, seconds left, Charles Smith under the basket. As he went up for the easy layup, the Doberman defenders swarmed.<\/p>\n Horace blocked a shot. Michael blocked a shot. Pippen blocked two shots. Horace scooped up the loose ball and tossed it to Michael, who threw it to BJ, who went in for a layup as the game ended and Marv Albert proclaimed: “And the Bulls have defeated the Knicks!”<\/p>\n Finally, the last Grant Park celebration. Six championship trophies onstage. The crowd pleading with Jerry Reinsdorf to bring the team back for another run.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Reinsdorf let Phil Jackson go and hired Tim Floyd\u2014one of the worst personnel moves in the history of sports. Jordan left, and the whole thing fell apart.<\/p>\n Just thinking about it’s got me so bummed out I think I’ll watch the closing seconds of that 1993 Knicks game for like the 500th time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was sitting in a bar in Los Angeles last year, watching the NBA finals, and the bartender said to me: “So you’re a Bulls fan, eh?” “How did you know?” I asked. I mean, I hadn’t said one word about the Bulls. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it’s your Bulls hat. Or … Continue reading Long live the 1990s Bulls<\/span>