Rodman's Flamboyant Personality and Elite Basketball Abilities Discussed in "The Last Dance"
While sports fans have had to make do with no live sports during the coronavirus pandemic, they have been able to take solace in “The Last Dance.” The 10-part miniseries which covers the final season of the Chicago Bulls dynasty was not scheduled to premiere until June, but ESPN moved up its release to give fans something to look forward to. The first two episodes aired on April 19, and they will continue to be released in pairs each Sunday.
The documentary features never-before-seen footage taken by a crew that had all-access permission to film the team during the 1997-98 season, as well as interviews with former players, executives, journalists and celebrities; everyone from Barack Obama to Carmen Electra have made appearances thus far. Each episode blends examining the events of the season in chronological order and the background of a specific member of the team. This emphasizes the numerous differing personalities on the Bulls; the win-at-all-cost aggression of Michael Jordan, the quiet, underpaid and under appreciated Scottie Pippen and the calm, Zen Buddhist philosophy of head coach Phil Jackson who was the subject of one of the episodes released on April 26.
The other episode focused on Dennis Rodman, one of the most bizarre and fascinating athletes of all-time. While he’s best known these days for his controversial befriending of Kim Jong-un, Rodman, who grew up in poverty in Dallas, was a key member of the Bulls dynasty and is considered one of the best rebounding forwards in history. One of the coolest moments of the documentary so far is a montage in which Rodman explained how the ball would bounce differently off the rim depending on who shot the ball. For example, Larry Bird’s shots would spin, and the ball would land in a specific place whenever Jordan shot it.
But the most memorable moment from Rodman’s episode came at the very end when he recounted a story from that 1997-98 season. Rodman had been struggling on the court and he asked Jackson for a vacation in the middle of the season. Jordan relented, but Jackson eventually granted his future Hall of Famer a 48-hour trip to Las Vegas before he had to rejoin the team. Unsurprisingly, Rodman did not return in time and Jordan had to fly out to Vegas to retrieve him. Rodman showed up to his first practice after his Las Vegas bender in pajamas and sandals, but he began to play well again following his vacation.
The fifth and sixth episodes of “The Last Dance” will air on May 3 at 9 p.m. EDT on ESPN, with a censored version airing at the same time on ESPN2. The episodes are available to stream on ESPN after they air and they are also available the following Monday on Netflix for those living outside the United States.
Photos courtesy of Wikipedia and WikiMedia Commons.
Report: Michael Rosen
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