ESPN’s 10-Episode Documentary, “The Last Dance”, re-capping the Chicago Bulls 1997-1998 NBA Championship Season, provides a viewing experience that we haven’t witnessed in many years. People are gathering around the TV like an afternoon special to tune in. It’s obvious that sports fans are craving content, we haven’t seen a live sports game broadcasted on TV for many weeks now due to COVID shutting down almost all live sports gatherings, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that many people tuned in to watch last night.
This type of viewing, hasn’t really been seen in the last few years. With streaming services and recordings, most television shows are consumed at the viewer’s convenience, it’s been a while since people have tuned in to watch at the same time a special airing on cable.
“The Last Dance” was originally slated to be released during the NBA Playoffs in June 2020. However, with the COVID shut downs and cancellations, ESPN decided to release the special early. Now, for the next 5-Weeks, we can expect two 50-minute episodes to air on Sunday evenings on ESPN 8/9PM EST. While the Program is slated to cover the entire Championship Team, it is obviously calling out its main players for special features including Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and of course, Michael Jordan.
The first two-episodes were released last night, re-capping the then on-going struggle between the Chicago Bulls Management and Staff. As the Bulls won their fifth NBA Championship, General Manager of the Chicago Bulls at the time, Jerry Krause, was already in-talks to re-build the Team for the 97-98 Season.
Side note, it’s pretty clear to see where the Space Jam inspiration comes from.
Ahead of their debut in October, it had already been announced that the Chicago Bulls Coach, Phil Jackson, would be leaving after the season, regardless of the outcome. Told from many different perspectives, “The Last Dance” flashes back and forth between players, coaches and managers perspectives on their final season together as Champions.
Throughout the episodes last night, the popular debate has again re-surfaced: Who is the GOAT? Jordan or LeBron. I’ll settle this right now, they really can’t be pitted against each other because the two athletes played different versions of the game. While watching the documentary, you can visibly see how the game has changed just in the last twenty years. Basketball in the 90's wasn't as rushed and didn't rely as heavily on the 3-pointers, most points were scored from pull-up jump shots. And there was a notion back then called, defense.
Also, the answer is Jordan.
“The Last Dance” viewing numbers have not yet been released, but we can expect that they will continue to climb in the coming weeks as more episodes are released. In a time where there are no sports to view and the content that we digest from the news is mostly negative, people are going to get nostalgic. They are looking for positive, up-lifting stories and what better way to capture their attention than re-living the magic that we experienced during the Chicago Bulls 1997-1998 Championship run.
Right now, the series is being released on ESPN on Sunday Nights, but will probably be released to streaming after the series has ended on May 17th.
And that's the sitch.
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