Shohei Ohtani: Baseball's Most, Most Valuable Player

Shohei Ohtani.

Baseball’s first two-way player in a century.

In a sport landscape filled with players who are apparently “different,” Ohtani is caps lock DIFFERENT. The HIM of “Hims.”

Call him G.O.A.T.-ani.

Call him two goats.

Split him in two and he’d be worth two individual MVPs.

Break down his atoms and particles and they’d all be worth their weight in gold.

Condense his elite aura into fumes and he’d solve the global energy crisis.

That he even exists is provocative and downright offensive. What are all these other ballplayers even doing out there? Why can’t anyone else be more like him?

Who else is using half of the game to throw shutouts, and the other half to hit two homeruns?

Exactly no body. Count ‘em up.

Of course he’s the unanimous choice for MVP, for a second time. What the hell happened those non-MVP seasons? Sports writers were doing crazy non-paying attention, absent minded, feel sorry for everyone else voting. Of course he’s the MVP.

His yearly MVP coronation isn’t just an end-season award. It’s a state of being.

If Ohtani is breathing air in the vicinity of a ballpark, he’s the guy.

Create a fancy jewel-encrusted award for the runners up, because it’s not a fair comparison. There are other great, cool and elite baseball players in the game. But Ohtani is something more.

He makes your hyperbole sound like humility.

No matter what flowery, new age sports metaphors and clever wordplay you can come up with, you can’t encapsulate truthfully what Ohtani is doing.

We can’t even crack a proper metaphor on what he’s doing. It’s like if Pat Mahomes was leading the NFL in touchdowns and sacks? Maybe it’s similar to Michael Jordan when he was scoring champ AND defensive player of the year? Something like that, except Jordan was just doing his job. Ohtani is doing TWO JOBS at all-time levels, all of the time. You dig?

In video games and little league, Ohtani’s are aplenty. It’s backyard whiffle ball fun to do it all.

But that’s not how the gatekeepers, legion of lawyers, doctors and gods of baseball work.

The institution of baseball forces you to make a choice: Hit or pitch.

You are given permission to play in only one half of the game.

The scouts and coaches eventually make the choice for you. They pay you a stack to do one or the other. There is no multiple choice option. They whisper about “protecting their investment” and “reality.”

Until Ohtani. He’s the all of the above trick question of sports.

When he first announced his major league intentions after playing in Japan, he flexed and fronted that he’d only play for a team that let him do both.

Cute, they’d say. Let’s humor him, they’d say.

Maybe we’ll let him pitch out of the bullpen in the spring training, and then use him as a hitter only once the games start.

Or maybe we’ll make him our starting pitcher, and then use him to pinch hit once every ten games so he feels validated. He’ll grow out of this phase, they’d say.

Ohtani didn’t accept such shenanigans.

He demanded to be a proper two-way player in a traditional sport that only knew one way for 150 years.

Except a dude named Babe Ruth. He did both. A sepia toned, crusty century ago.

Then teams had to debate. Wait, is Shohei a better pitcher or hitter? What should we sign him as? What should we prioritize him as? How does he fit into our system?

His prodigious double talent forced the game of baseball to bend brains and inflexible “it’s always been that way” Hawaiian shirt wearing “baseball people” to learn all sorts of mental yoga positions. (sorry, not a pretty image)

Ohtani forced America’s longest running, most traditional sport to CHANGE.

When he touched down, he did it all. And people didn’t buy in. It won’t last—they said. What a lucky start—they said.

That was 2018. But the thing is, that lucky start has been going on for five years. A couple of MVPs later, we’re living in an alternate reality, where we’re being treated to regular shows of no one who is alive has ever seen incidents on the baseball field.

None of this was supposed to happen. The powers that be should have never allowed this. Players don’t get a choice. For a century, baseball ran the show. They told you how it was.

Now it flipped and Sho is The Show.

Baseball is a team game, but unique in that it puts individuals squarely in the spotlight. Ohtani is twisting all those spotlights to look at him, and casting a shadow over everyone else. And he’s doing it with no disrespect. In an era where players are running around and screaming about their personal narratives and how they are the greatest ever, Shohei Ohtani has a legit claim to all of that and he’s just sitting on his sofa high-fiving his dog.

Hashtag Wholesome.

Hashtag Whole Game.

Now we’ve all had some time to absorb what’s going on, but we still don’t know how to talk about. We don’t know how to properly hype what Ohtani is doing. His dramatic feats empty our heads and steal the words from our mouths.

It’s okay. Maybe we’ll be able to contextualize what’s going on later.

For now, just keep your eyes open and enjoy the show.

It’s historic goat level things that make sports real time historic drama like no others.

So let’s all mint nicknames, get hyped and enjoy the nightly goosebumps courtesy of Ohtani-san. Enjoy the ride as he smashes multiple balls into the cheap seats and dons his samurai helmet.

Baseball has never dreamed wilder or crazier than it’s doing with the career display the slugger slash hurler from the Rising Sun is putting on. These are competitive hallucinations made tangible. We’re living within the borders of a rare baseball card, surrounded by living, breathing golden baseball monuments.

And so we ride on, accelerating to an uncharted region on the sports map. It’s like learning that the world is round. And spinning like a baseball erupting from the hand or bat of Mr. Shohei Ohtani.

How the Nike Brand "Just Does It"

This article originally appeared on my SubStack.

I’ve worked with a lot of brands.

I’ve worked with brands in tech, sports, ice cream, travel, fashion, finance, automobiles, airplanes, food, pets, furniture, entertainment, music, crypto and NFTs. Those are the broad strokes.

And there is one brand I’ve worked with more than any other: Nike.

I grew up in Portland, Oregon and fell hard for the mystique of the Swoosh. I was an athlete (varsity basketball in high school, and baseball all the way through a pro tryout after college) and I loved creativity. Nike delivered creativity to athletes in spades. When my baseball career came to an end, I walked right into the shadow of the Swoosh and set out to figure out what the hell was going on there.

How come I had to buy Air Jordans? Why did Nike commercials rival Hollywood productions? Why did everyone I know have posters of Nike athletes on their bedroom walls? How did this company down the road in Beaverton go from selling shoes out of a van into becoming the coolest brand in the world?

My unbalanced curiosity led me to the halls of Nike’s ad agency Wieden+Kennedy. Since then, I’ve spent nearly two decades working on Nike campaigns. First in Portland, then in Tokyo, and now, as I type from Arizona.

Working with so many talented, passionate and experienced people at both Nike and Wieden+Kennedy over the years has been a particular education. All throughout that time I also worked on other clients, which has shown me Nike’s similarities and differences with other brands.

Almost all clients I’ve worked with have asked me what it’s like to work on Nike. Some clients even set the specific bar of hoping to make the kind of work that Nike does. You can even find clips on YouTube of Steve Jobs praising Nike’s advertising and brand strength. (Jobs used to actively hire former W+K employees with Nike experience to work on Apple’s advertising. A hiring principle that continues to this day.)

So, what is it that makes Nike able to function as such a potent brand? Even as it has expanded into becoming such a multinational corporate juggernaut? How has it retained its brand power? What has Nike and its agency partnerships done to keep its advertising and branding as the bar other brands aspire to?

There is no easy answer. But I can give my observations from my career of working with Nike and comparing it to other brands.

The standard is clear and extremely high. It’s not easy selling an idea to Nike. They’ve been going for decades and have executed a wide diversity of work in that time. When you are trying to come up with ideas for Nike Football or Nike Basketball, nothing you present can resemble anything they have done in the past. Each assignment demands a fresh and specific insight. On some campaigns, I’ve written nearly a hundred scripts, just to sell one. Other brands I’ve worked with have high standards, but clients are rarely deeply versed in the work that came before their time.

Nike is a belief system. Working on Nike can veer into cultish territory. There are beliefs and quotes that come from co-founders Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. “If you have a body, you’re an athlete.” There are also north stars that have been established in previous ad campaigns. Mantras like “You don’t win silver, you lose gold,” and “There is no finish line.” These beliefs become proof points that you can filter work through. Clients will look to these truths to judge your ideas. You need to understand what Nike believes, not just what you think will be cool. If you can ground your ideas in the brand beliefs and you’ll give your ideas a better chance. Many other brands I work with speak of core beliefs, but it feels more like an intellectual exercise. Some brands are always trying to reinvent what they stand for. Nike knows who they are.

The voice of the athlete is queen. At most brands, the buck stops with some senior client. At Nike, the athletes themselves wield incredible power. I’ve seen situations where a client was tepid on an idea, but once it got the thumbs up from an athlete, it was game over. Once an athlete likes something, it’s sold and you go make it. On other brands, sometimes it’s hard to actually pinpoint the final decision maker. At Nike, there is always the “threat” that an athlete will come in and make the call. This adds tension and focus to the whole development and approval process. Brands who do identify a single decision maker usually make the most singular and impactful work in my experience.

They take it personally. (aka everyone cares) Phil Knight famously doesn’t believe in “testing.” This has created a culture that empowers decision makers. For better and worse, clients at Nike are encouraged to develop their own taste and stand by their decisions. This can lead to very subjective debates. But the end result is that all of the work that gets made has real human spark and emotion behind it. Someone made the decision because they personally liked it. No putting it to a committee vote or anonymous room of people off the street. You can feel the human touch and quirk in the finished product. Some brands I’ve worked with operate as a democracy. They give the power to testers or take a vote and listen to the opinions of even the most disengaged participant. This is the opposite of taking it personally, and leads to watered down, please the masses type of work.

They’re competitive as hell. Nike’s operating system and business engine is competition. Being founded by athletes and coaches, everything is a win or lose proposition. Nike clients want to outshine each other. One hit project can make a career. This creates active excitement and immense pressure. There is a constant push to make the work better and finesse the details. It’s not a matter of making comments just to say something (something I have experienced on other brands that actively makes the work worse.) Nike clients are smart and driven, because they are in the game to win not just build a resume.

Everything comes back to sports. Everyone at Nike can talk sports. Even if a client isn’t an athlete themselves, they find a way to respect and honor sports. I’ve worked with tech brands whose clients didn’t really understand or appreciate the tech. I’ve worked with travel brands whose clients just saw the job as a marketing role. At Nike, everything ties back to a love of sports. Being nimble with references, historical performances, play styles and the latest rising stars will serve you extremely well. This passion permeates all levels of the work. This intensity of passion is hard for other brands to manufacture. At Nike, love of sport runs to its core.

They have a tight strategic playbook. Before a project comes up, the brief and strategy are super clear. Sometimes, as a creative, the strategy portion of the process takes too much time. But the end result is a clear target and set parameters to operate in. From there, judging and debating work becomes almost a legal exercise. Every detail of an idea must be justified back to the core strategy. This can be infuriating when you are in the weeds trying to get a project green lit. But the intention and purpose behind this is to make sure the work stays on target. Of course human opinion does enter the process, but with a defined strategy, arguments on both side need to have logic to them. I’ve never seen anything close to the level of rigor that working on Nike demands at another brand. In my experience, this comes from a lack of strategic clarity. Both strategic business thinking as well as creative strategy.

No one is just taking up space. I once presented a campaign to a blue chip tech company. The presentation was in a classroom setting. I was up front in the “teacher” position. Looking out, were THIRTY CLIENTS sitting in school desks. None of them looked at me. All of them were typing on their laptops. We somehow sold the campaign, but given the odd circumstances, it didn’t “feel like a win.” Contrast that to Nike, where I have routinely presented to one or two clients. Sometimes there are more stakeholders from other functions, but I’ve rarely presented to more than ten clients. This results in intimate presentations that feel more like conversations. Now, when these things go wrong, it can get really uncomfortable. But mostly, it just feels like a partnership. You know the other side is invested and leaning into the work. Reactions are natural and immediate. You know where you stand. And it’s not at the head of a class with rows of disengaged “students.” How that will ever lead to great work, I’ll never know.

Small talk matters. We’ve all been in those awkward pre-meeting moments. We talk about our weekends or what we ate for dinner. No one really cares, but it’s better than sitting in silence. With Nike, it’s all about “did you see the game last night?” and “Do you think LeBron’s gonna break the record?” Even in the idle chit chat, it’s a chance to show your love of sport and credibility knowing what’s going on. The end result: those head nods and approvals later in the meeting are a little easier to come by. I have seen fruitful small talk on other brands. Like the creative director I worked with who seemed to know IKEA’s entire catalogue and store layout even better than the clients. This also led to smooth relations and approvals.

Everything is marketing. (aka your product is marketing) This is a big one. Nearly every other brand I’ve worked on has treated marketing as a kind of add on. The marketing department is called in after a product has been developed and is tasked with selling it to the masses. At Nike, marketing is baked in to the genesis of every product. Even working at an agency, I was sometimes invited to meetings with product developers to brainstorm how the story of that product could come to life. I’ve also seen products at Nike that didn’t crack their' “story” get shelved. Nike demands that each product “says” something. That’s not something that’s added on later. It’s a part of the big bang of each product’s creation. One brand I’ve worked on stands out as coming close, and that is Airbnb. When I worked with them, they were very advanced in also seeing the benefit of a product feature coming with an innate story. Involve your storytellers early, folks. Your business results will thank you.

Everyone wants to be Nike. They’ve cracked the code and have been executing for decades. But it’s not as easy as setting the brief to “Make a Nike style commercial for (Brand X)” Nike is the result of all sorts of beliefs, elements and working styles that come together. It’s not a switch to be flipped. If you want to achieve what Nike has, you have to dig deeper. And maybe you need to ask your brand uncomfortable questions. What do you believe in? Do you care about the work or are you just here for your resume? Does your brand have a north star? Or are you just doing whatever worked at your last job?

Nike is a unique (and actually pretty funky and chaotic “in a good way”) organization. Not every brand will have the intrinsic elements that Nike does. But every brand can aspire to be better. Every brand can commit to being more personal and human. And everyone that works on other brands can apply what works at Nike to what they are doing on a daily basis. The main thing comes down to care and responsibility. If you are willing to let go or roll over when you feel a project going off track, resist. The more you can find a way to do things that you believe in and connect with, the more your brand will benefit. The best brands outside of Nike I have worked with, have had their own versions of what makes Nike successful. The good news is, every brand can get better. Even Nike. Make it your mission to figure out how.

Giannis' TED Talk on Failure

Giannis Antetokounmpo sent shockwaves through the media with his post game comments the other day.

After his Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, a reporter asked him bluntly, “Is this season a failure?”

Visibly shaken, Giannis sighed, rubbed his head before composing himself and going off on a response for the ages. In his impassioned reaction, he argued that there is no failure in sports, and that it’s all a part of the journey to achieve excellence.

I think by showing his frustration, it’s clear the season was a failure. He is after all, arguably the best player in the NBA and his Bucks are recent champions who marched through the season and claimed a number one seed. The expectations were clearly to win a championship, and they failed to do that.

However, it’s not a failure, full stop.

The interesting bit in sports is how athletes respond to seasons where they come up short. Some hide and disappear. They duck the smoke. They make excuses.

Then there are those who turn failures into pure motivation. Those who hate to lose with every fiber in their being. And it doesn’t just stop there. The most elite competitors internalize their failures and come up with an action plan to come back stronger.

Take rookie Kobe Bryant, who famously shot multiple airballs down the stretch of the Lakers playoff game against the Utah Jazz. What was Kobe’s response? He literally called up a high school gym and asked to have it open when his plane arrived, at 2 in the morning. He took no down time to process his failure. He immediately continued his journey. He was compelled to figure out how to make sure that what just happened would never happen again. Kobe failed on that one night, but he also set signposts in the ground that pointed him towards his next success.

Or take Michael Jordan, who was bullied and bodied by the Detroit Pistons in the late 80s. His response? To hit the weight room, try new training tactics and build his body and mind to conquer the beast next time. As history shows, he achieved success in that mission.

Failure is not the end of the story. Unless you let it be. Failure makes some competitors get smaller. Others let failure turn them into a monster.

We know Giannis has a strong work ethic and a strong mentality. He looks up to the fierce competitors who came before him. He’s a student of the game. While he is dismissing the idea that this season was a failure, the story doesn’t end here. My money is on Giannis turning into even more of a problem when we see him next season. He’s committed to the journey and the process of trying to achieve excellence. He won’t disappear on us after this disappointing end to the season. You can already see the wheels turning. He’s not satisfied. And we know based on how crazy his career has developed, he’s about to do something about it.

This is not a full stop failure. This is dot dot dot, to be continued energy.

Giannis’ post game press conference will go down with similar moments from Kobe and others. It’s possible that we’ll see this as a turning point in his career. He was already a legend, but moments like this can spark new trajectories. At one point, after winning three titles alongside Shaq, Kobe was already a myth. After he experienced some down seasons going solo, and even a tough Finals loss, a new Kobe started to forge himself.

Giannis is on a similar path to immortality. This is a temporary setback on the path to something greater.

Giannis has a lot of basketball left to give. And with additional fire, we may end up seeing a player with more depth, more passion and able to will his team to even greater heights. As a fan of the game, it’s a bummer to see Giannis exit the playoffs early. But I’m excited to follow what his response will be. Giannis’ narrative just got even more intriguing.

A DAO is Trying to Buy the Denver Broncos

As we rocket through 2022, the web3 and NFT space continues to evolve at warp speed.

Grabbing headlines today, is the latest DAO with an ambitious moon shot set out before it. The aptly titled, BuyTheBroncosDAO is attempting to do exactly what its name pitches, become the first DAO to buy a major sports franchise, in this case the NFL's Denver Broncos. The latest estimate on the value of the franchise is sitting at around 4 billion dollars.

BuyTheBroncosDAO is the latest in pithily titled and boundlessly ambitious DAOs set out to do something extraordinary and culture changing. Sports teams have famously been publicly owned before, like the Green Bay Packers, but this would mark the first time that a professional sports team went fully web3 native, should the DAO succeed in their mission.

Part of the DAO's team include former blue chip tech lawyers and entrepreneurs with solid looking track records. The team is doxxed and their reputations seem legit and built for a project along these lines. The team has also smartly wrangled some political players into the early PR for the project, with Colorado governor Jared Polis being quoted heavily by business blogs and coverage. Polis comes out entirely in favor of the DAO succeeding, which looks to serve his state's political agenda of becoming a crypto first state. This is PR where everyone can win.

While web3 famously generates insane amounts of capital, a funding aim of 4 billion dollars is still a highly ambitious target. This is acknowledged by the founders of the DAO, unlike previous DAOs which have set an all or nothing approach to their financial goals. The founders of BuyTheBroncosDAO have lower tiered contingency plans that include raising only a portion of the 4 billion dollar franchise valuation, and then partnering with traditional investors to round out the purchase. It appears they are willing to stick with the project while having a firm grounding in reality.

The founders have also undertook a bit of financial engineering, which has caused previous DAO attempts to stumble when it comes to regulation. Instead of creating a separate LLC business entity for the DAO, which would be subject to high taxation and regulation, the founders are looking to establish a co-operative, much like how the outdoor brand REI is structured. This would give governance to the members of the DAO, while avoiding the scrutiny of higher taxation and regulation. Again, it seems the project has their financial and legal ducks in a row as they head into their opening sales.

The project has a launch target set for early March, and are currently hitting the PR trail hard and trying to drum up support for the ambitious cause.

We are still so early in the history of web3 and DAOs specifically. We haven't even really stepped onto the ambitious roadmaps they have set out. Only time will tell if this is a feasible and revolutionary way to organize group efforts and funding. On paper, it is all very sexy and exciting. Of course, once the first DAO succeeds, and changes history, it will only accelerate the momentum of the movement to push the boundaries further.

I can't help but think this whole group financial thinking was triggered by the success of reddit's Wall Street Bets and their single minding mooning of the Game Stop stock. This episode proved that even the most money loaded institutions are actually vulnerable to collective passion and pooled resources. This is the promise of web3, NFTs and DAOs. Right now we are seeing a million archers pulling back their bows with hopes of revolution. With hopes of re-writing the tired stories of a world that has forever been dominated by the 1 percenters. If these bands of rebel archers can band together and focus their passion and resources, they have a chance to chip away at the control of the old world and old money.

This is an exciting promise.

This is what deciding to invest in something like BuyTheBroncosDAO represents. Before this time, there was never a chance for someone off the street, with no connections and no qualifications to be a part of bidding on a major sports franchise. If they succeed in achieving the impossible, what else previously considered untouchable will fall next?

Nike commercial about gender inequality in Japan receives backlash online

Article re-posted from Japan Today. By Oona McGee, SoraNews24

TOKYO—In recent years, Nike has shown that it likes to move people, both physically with their range of sporting goods and apparel, and emotionally, with their tug-at-the heartstrings advertising.

In Japan, the sporting giant is moving people once again, this time with a new commercial called “New Girl/Play New“, which shines a light on the plight of women across the country. The ad comes with the following thought-provoking statement:

“Growing up a girl in Japan used to mean one thing. Now it can mean everything. So, what do you want to do?”

This is the main theme of the ad, which reminds viewers of some of the traditional expectations and restrictions placed on women in Japan from a young age, while also showcasing some of the nation’s sportswomen and activists who are smashing traditional stereotypes, paving the way for the new girls of the future.

The commercial has English subtitles available, so click the white gear button next to the CC in the bottom right corner to turn them on, and take a look at the ad below.

The clip shows a pregnant mother and her family learning that they’ll soon be welcoming a new girl into their lives. While their instant reaction is joy, they’re suddenly reminded of the downsides of being a girl in Japan, with cut scenes to their future grown-up daughter looking over her shoulder in fear while walking alone at night, and attending a business meeting, where she’s allowed in the room but not allowed to talk. That last scenario is one that recently played out in real-life, when Japan’s ruling party decided to allow five female lawmakers to attend their all-male board meetings…on the proviso that they didn’t talk.

Japan ranked 121 out of of 153 countries on the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, and the Nike ad reminds us that a report by the World Economic Forum in 2021 showed the average Japanese woman’s income was 43.7 percent lower than the average Japanese man’s income.

However, there is hope that girls really will be able to achieve anything in future, and there are some young sportswomen doing just that right now. Professional football player and female empowerment activist Ami Otaki appears in the ad, showing that women can carve a successful career for themselves by playing a traditionally male sport at a national level.

▼ High-school sumo wrestler Rizumu Kasai is a member of the men’s competitive high school sumo team.

▼ And 16-year-old baseball player Ayuri Shimano has played on all-male teams.

The ad also includes appearances by wrestler Miyu Nakamura and figure skater Marin Honda, along with a scene showing Momoko Nojo, an activist working to eliminate gender discrimination, playing the role of a future Prime Minister.

While the ad ends with a positive sense of hope for the future of women in Japan, it doesn’t shy away from presenting the problems that exist in the country. In fact, a quick look at the comments section under the video shows why ads like this are sorely needed in Japan, as many of the commenters appear to care less about the message of empowering women and more about the fact that Nike has aired Japan’s dirty laundry on a public stage.

“Currently Nike is hot on making hate speech against Japan.”

“This is a commercial that appeals for the elimination of discrimination against women, but it is a commercial that severely discriminates against Japanese people.”

“You should be aware that the real enemies are not men or women, but capitalists who incite discrimination.”

“Is this really made by Japanese people?”

“Sumo is a culture, and putting a woman in it is just a denial of culture, isn’t it?”

Like Nike’s last commercial, which looked at the problem of bullying and racism in Japan, this new commercial has also received more dislikes than likes, with 2,800 dislikes and 1,300 likes as of this writing.

Nike doesn’t seem bothered by the backlash, though, leaving the comments section open for the world to see, as if to further solidify their point that it’s tough to be a woman in Japan. And with female players continuing to be banned on the baseball field during the major high school baseball tournament at Koshien Stadium, and female sumo players banned from stepping into the sacred sumo ring at the majority of sumo stadiums, it’s fair to say Japan still has a long way to go in terms of gender equality. However, the more it’s brought to light, the more will be done about it, and ads like these are a step in the right direction towards improving the future for the new girls of tomorrow.

NAOMI OSAKA NIKE COMMERCIAL

With Naomi Osaka heating up during the Australian Open, I noticed the YouTube algorithm has started to suggest our Nike spot from last year. With her victory over Serena Williams yesterday, I saw a big influx in viewers from a video that was just sitting there. Nice to see it become relevant for a minute again.

PURSUIT OF AIR

ECHOES AND RINGS

HIS AIRNESS

MAMBA FOREVER

MUHAMMAD ALI

Nike Korea: You Can't Stop Us - Shim Sukhee

From Creative Boom:

Crowns & Owls is behind this inspiring short for Nike, featuring the incredible story of Shim Suk-hee – the South Korean female gold medalist speed skater and national icon.

"She is someone whose bravery in confronting her experience with systematic physical, sexual and mental abuse within 2019 South Korean sport triggered a widespread movement, forever changing legislation and discourse around the subject," says the London-based directors.

Nike and Wielden&Kennedy gave Crowns & Owls complete artistic freedom during the project. So it developed an idea of setting the piece inside an ominous concrete tunnel, where Shim starts her journey alone, before being joined by the next generation of South Korean speed skaters who follow her out of the darkness and into the light.

It was a challenge to bring to life, as it required Crowns & Owls to build a huge tunnel at one of South Korea's largest indoor ice rinks. Working with set designer and long-time collaborator James Hamilton as well as Director of Photography, Pat Aldinger, they were able to make the dream a reality. "Technocranes, snow cams, ice rickshaws, probe lenses and two amazing local ice hockey players who learned to be camera operators within two days were just some of the elements we relied on to tell this story," Crowns & Owls adds.

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 10

Michael jamming out

For some reason, this is one of the indelible images of the documentary for me. Michael, wearing his funky hat and sunglasses, spinning his head around randomly and listening to music. Someone says something and he peels them off. Then he goes on to brag about how he got the album before it was released because he knew the artist. He looks loose, he looks stressed out, he looks in it. How does a guy like that blow off steam? At the time, they are sizing him up for his outside of the stadium statue, but he still has games to win. The future seems certain, but he still has to put in the work. The expectations and mystique couldn’t be thicker. Rock out Michael. Headbang away.

“I ain’t Shaq” lol

I just love how he just keeps repeating that he’s not Shaq. He’s better obviously. That a team slowed down Shaq, is irrelevant when you are talking to Michael Jordan. He ain’t Shaq.

Exhausted

Yes, there was talk of Michael and the whole crew coming back to go for their 7th championship. But I don’t know how realistic that was. Jordan especially looked completely wiped after hitting that last shot over Bryon Russell. Plus, there is the symmetry of 3+3. Perhaps a three-peat is the threshold of Jordan’s godlike basketball abilities. It seems like the lonely leadership role he assumed was especially taxing. He even gets emotional talking about it 20 years later.

I wonder what would have happened if Jordan would have shared the weight of his burden a bit more. I mean, Scottie was an all-world talent along side him, and had proven in Jordan’s absence that he could lead a team in his own way to the brink. Maybe if Jordan had stepped off the gas when it came to thrashing his teammates, there would have been legitimate reserve fuel to go for 7. Honestly, this feels like a fish story with Mike saying he’d come back for one more run. And there was the incident where he snipped the end of his finger on a cigar cutter. Another downside to that nasty habit. I remember at the time people were reporting that Jordan could no longer palm the ball after the cigar cutter thing. Cradling the ball with one hand and taunting defenders was such a big part of Jordan’s game, especially late era Jordan. Maybe the fingertip thing was the last straw for the last dance.

Crazy piano Mike

I like this image of Mike in his hotel room playing the piano as the paparazzi snapped photos. It isn’t really an interview. It’s just the cameras being there when Jordan is finally getting to take a breath. He’s crazy at the piano and saying all sorts of stuff. Unfiltered. I can’t help but see his behind the scenes personality as some kind of a late 1990s Denzel Washington character. Maybe it’s Training Day merged with He Got Game. Mike is just constantly running his mouth with supreme confidence. It forced his game to back up his enormous mouth. I guess that’s a decent motivating engine. Talk yourself into a corner so much that you have no choice but to come out and be the undisputed greatest of all time. King Kong ain’t got nothing on Michael Jordan.

I’d like to see some kind of fever dream film capturing this version of Jordan. Crazy piano, cigar Mike. I imagine a multi-perspective film like Todd Hayne’s near Dylan biopic “I’m Not There.” There could be half a dozen Jordan’s cast. Denzel Washington, Michael B. Jordan, and anyone else who can channel something about Crazy piano Mike. We’d follow these versions of Jordan around, betting on what color car was about to pass by, dancing extemporaneously to his own piano music and challenging everyone and anyone within earshot. Set it all to a late 80s, early 90s soundtrack and you might get something with visual poem aspirations like the Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience crossed with the Todd Haynes art house vibe.

Last thoughts on the Last Dance

Wow, I can’t believe that’s over. What a perfect time capsule of an era. I felt dropped right back into those NBA seasons in the late 90s. I remember how all the twists and turns and drama felt at the time. While there wasn’t much new for Jordan fanatics, the way it was stitched together and filled with all the main personalities was well crafted. It was an enjoyable experience. I can’t help but feel the heavy hand of Jordan’s perspective on the series, but as they say, winners write history. Maybe one day we will get a fair, balanced and contentious version of what happened with Michael and the Bulls. But as a Michael Jordan fan, I’ve always been here for Jordan propaganda. Especially when the footage is so ample and gorgeous. 

The lingering questions from The Last Dance remain unanswered and will resonate forward. What did the greatness of Michael Jordan mean? Did it have wider, inspirational substance that mattered outside of the game of basketball? Or is Jordan’s story a hyper competitive distillation of what happens when the American Dream crosses paths with Corporate America. The result of the non-stop competitive drive accelerated change in sport, media, business and beyond. One man was able to use the system to his advantage, paying some sort of untold price in the process. What happens to Michael Jordan the man? The man who traded his mortality on the promise of becoming a myth and a logo for excellence. After the transaction, what is left of the man? The brand and empire marches on, meaning different things to millions of people. But what does the legacy mean to Michael? Would he change anything about what happened on his journey? It all feels so carved in stone, now that the statues have been erected and armies of feet are clad in signature Air Jordans of every possible configuration. But what lies behind the myth? What is left of the young, bleeding heart of a skinny kid from North Carolina? What remains of the man after the music of the last dance has stopped? The simple, yet complex question remains: Was it worth it?

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 9

“It became personal with me...”

When Jordan was playing, he was a living legend. Especially on his second three-peat. He was the pop culture equivalent of The Beatles. Sure players competed against him, but they were also clearly in awe of him. After the game Jordan would get approached by his opponents asking for an autograph, or if they were really brave, a pair of Air Jordans.

Reggie Miller was not like this.

Reggie Miller was a vaudeville villain on the NBA stage. He was an anarchist whose game was fueled by entire arenas booing him. He didn’t care about being likable. He was scrappy and deadly. A last second competitor who you’d want to take the last shot. Kind of like Jordan. While Reggie’s game wasn’t the mesmerizing air show of Jordan’s, Miller was a killer competitor. One of the few guys who would take it right at Jordan. He, like Jordan was also one of the legendary trash talkers of the 1990s. When these two guys clashed, there was no love lost. There were no sneaker exchanges. It’s a marvel they actually got Reggie to appear in this documentary. Ah, brings back the memories. When Jordan was out of the game playing baseball, Miller was one of the league’s brightest stars. He wasn’t going to give up the spotlight just because MJ was back in the building.

“Michael lived a different life than the rest of us,” Steve Kerr

Although basketball is a team game, Michael Jordan stood out too much to just be one of the guys. And by the end of the Bulls prodigious run, it was very much Jordan and the Bulls. You get the feeling from this documentary that it was a pretty solitary situation for Michael. He was going to the same practice gym as everyone else, but his net worth and cultural impact was on a completely different level. How could anyone relate to him at this point? Judging by the interviews with his teammates, they were always kind of kept at arms length. The weight of responsibility fell almost solely on Jordan. Sure the losses stung everyone, but Jordan was a myth maker, and he couldn’t risk a high profile failure or embarrassment. Now was no time to appear human. That’s what his 1995 comeback was about. A chance to see Jordan, the mortal. There was now no need to repeat that story beat in this myth. This was all about getting to the top of three mountains once again. There was poetry to it. There was a certain rhythm to it.

“We’re going to win game 7”

I’m struck by how sheepish and nervous Jordan looks when he makes his guarantee. It’s not supreme confidence. It’s not swagger. He is forced into giving an answer, and he tip toes into it. It’s kind of funny now to see the doubt on his face. He and the Bulls would go take care of business, but this series was clearly no gimme.

That Indiana Pacer team was a juggernaut too. They had a deeper, tougher bench than Chicago. They could keep sending big bodies at Jordan and the Bulls, and over a seven game series, it wasn’t inconceivable that they would be able to wear them down. Also, with Larry Bird as their coach, he held a psychological key that could used against Jordan. The series ended up going seven games and was riveting playoff basketball. The Bulls would advance in the last seconds of game 7, but as Jordan admitted, this Pacer team was their greatest obstacle in this three-peat. An exhausted Bulls team would advance to the Finals, again.

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 8

“I’m back”

As baseball was put on indefinite hold, the NBA season moved forward. The Bulls, led by Scottie Pippen, were in striking distance of a return to their former glory. You know there was a part of Jordan that didn’t want Scottie to get all the shine of bringing the Bulls another title. Suddenly, you started getting Sportscenter nightly updates about how Jordan was seen at dinner with a former teammate, or how he’d crashed a Bulls practice session. The rumors started to grow, maybe MJ was going to un-retire and pick up where he left off.

Sure enough, he did return. And while he looked like the world’s best basketball player when he stepped back in the iconic red Bulls uniform, his game showed obvious rust. He’d been away for a year and a half concentrating on basketball after all. He looked human. And while it was fun to have him back, we were all left wondering if he would ever be the superhero we remembered him as.

Knocked out by Magic

Jordan was essentially returning to a post-Jordan version of the NBA. And the Orlando Magic were the rising team on everyone’s radar. They were powered by two of the leagues most dynamic personalities: Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway. It’s hard to remember now, but before injuries, Penny was a new kind of NBA beast. Long-armed and high flying. He was a point guard who could score on command. He and Shaq played the most entertaining brand of basketball in the league. Penny seemingly picked up right where Jordan left off. Even getting his own line of signature sneakers and iconic Nike commercials featuring a puppet version of him called Lil Penny. It was marketing gold. Penny kept winning and his sneakers became a cultural phenomenon. 

In a post-Jordan first NBA retirement, Penny Hardaway was king.

So it was only fitting that Jordan would return to take on his heir apparent. But Orlando was at the height of their powers when they met the Bulls. Chicago was still trying to figure out how to work Jordan back into their system, and he was still trying to turn himself back into an unstoppable force. It was simply too soon. And the Magic ended up knocking the Bulls out and taking the Eastern Conference crown.

There is a lasting image of a defeated Jordan, at the end of the Bulls’ bench, looking across the court at the celebrating Orlando team. He looks sickened. He looks furious. And you can tell there is something brewing inside of him. In defeat, his fires had been rekindled. His reaction and commitment to coming all the way back would lead to an era of dominance even more impressive than the Bulls’ first three-peat. But for now, the off-season beckoned.

But more specifically, Intergalactic basketball playing monsters beckoned…

Space Jam

Man, those pickup games during the Space Jam filming must have been legendary. I love how Mike extended the invite for everyone to come out and play. It was like his test drive to see where everyone’s game was really out. The ultimate scouting mission. He wanted to get comfortable with everyone before he had to face them in battle again. And he was establishing himself as the king by calling everyone out to come and kiss the ring before his comeback fully kicked in. 

And from an advertising and branding perspective, Space Jam was about 25 years ahead of its time. Talk about branded content. That’s the power of Michael Jordan and Nike to pull off a two hour shoe commercial disguised as a feature film. All based on an actual shoe spot from the year before. Talk about unstoppable branding power. I believe I can fly indeed!

Watching the best team of all time, live

I saw MJ and the Bulls play live during their mythic 72-10 season. They were in town to play the Portland Trailblazers and my Dad and I got tickets. Now I’d been to lots of games before and since then, but having MJ in the building was different. Even in a large space, even from the nosebleeds, you could feel his presence taking up the entire Rose Garden arena with its 22,000 person capacity. No one else had that kind of force with them. 

We showed up early to the game, because hey, Jordan was in town and maybe we could catch an extra glimpse of him. Sure enough we did. Hours before the actual game, MJ was out there on the court by himself. Before there was any sort of crowd assembled. When there was just media and team staff milling about. But MJ was out there on the court, putting in work. This wasn’t the playoffs. Portland wasn’t even good at the time. This was a “meaningless” game in February. But Michael Jordan was the only player on the court, hours before tipoff, working on his game. This stuck with me.

This was his first year after his baseball exodus, and watching him warm up, you could feel that he wasn’t satisfied with his level. Specifically, he was working on his post up and signature fadeaway. The weapon that would come to define his second three-peat. I watched as he repeated the same moves, over and over and over again. He would flip the ball up in the air, and let it backspin into him, like he was simulating a pass from someone else. Then he’d catch it in a crouched position, and take a series of dribbles. One or two shoulder fakes later, he would rise up, floating backwards and release the shot with a perfect arch and backspin. At one point, someone on the Bulls’ staff came out and fed him some passes in the post. But mostly, it was just MJ on his own, in an empty stadium. I kept wondering, if Michael’s the best, how come the guys who aren’t as good weren’t out there putting in work? Oh, this is the difference I remembered thinking. It would inspire me to love practicing on my own before and after games, and learning to feel those extra repetitions paying off.

I was literally at this game. And now it’s a GIF. Maybe I’m one of the specks in the background.

Hours later the game started, and Jordan was electric. Even on a meaningless February game. The Bulls’ offense was perfectly spaced as they had become masters of Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. The ball constantly kept moving. Around the perimeter. In and out. Guys finding the open man. The Bulls moved like the ultimate well-oiled machine. And every two or three times down the court, Michael would end up in the post, in the exact spot he had been practicing before the game. The results were the same too. Picture perfect fadeaways over JR Rider, or whatever Trailblazer defender was trying to stop him that night. Jordan cruised to about 30 in the Bulls’ win. Every time he touched the ball, the arena charged up again. This is what we were paying for. Even in the 300-level, you could feel Jordan’s signature competitive spirit. As he chomped through his gum and the Portland defense. This was basketball on another plane. And we were all witnesses to one of the greatest seasons every put together in team sports.

Giving The Glove a slap in the face

Wow, this segment about the Bulls versus Sonics series in 1996 has already turned into a meme. When Jordan was wiggling his head and cackling at Gary Payton claiming he “slowed Mike down,” is already plastered over the internet. I mean, the Bulls did win the series, but Payton was defensive player of the year. And it’s also true that the Sonics won two games as soon as Payton started guarding Jordan. The stats actually show that Jordan’s numbers and shooting percentages went down. That was the narrative at the time soon. With the media criticizing Sonics’ coach George Karl for not having Payton guard Jordan earlier in the series. I don’t know what Jordan attributes his dip in production too. But hey, champions get to write their own history and end up on the winning side of all the memes. 

Nevertheless, respect to Gary Payton and an additional shoutout to Shawn Kemp. Again, look at the YouTube highlights and Google Kemp’s stats. The guy actually made a case for being series MVP in a losing cause. He gave a gritty, iconic Finals performance.

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 7

Pain of three

The game doesn’t look fun anymore at this point. At this point, after the Bull’s second title and Jordan serving as the international face of the Dream Team, we have reached peak Jordan-mania. He had conquered the basketball world and exploded the importance and profile of the game worldwide. In many ways, Michael Jordan was the NBA. He was existing on another plane. Playing a game beyond the game. On and off the court he had an untouchable aura. And you can see here, it was taking a toll on Michael Jordan the human at the center of the global phenomenon.

However the task at hand was to pick up the ball and keep on winning. With the entire league gunning against him, Jordan grew even more hardcore with his training and weights routine. The media smear campaign around his gambling and bullying of teammates would intensify. Michael prickled and recoiled from all the heat. Shutting himself off from the media and focusing on winning basketball games. As usual, he began taking all of these media slights personally, and churning them into his legendary fuel.

The biggest basketball slight of the season would be Charles Barkley winning the MVP award. Yes, Charles had an incredible season with the Phoenix Suns and was a legendary Hall-of-Fame player in his own right. But when the award was announced, it felt more like he was winning the “best player in the NBA whose name isn’t Michael Jordan” award. Predictably, Jordan took offense and powered his game in the NBA Finals to another level, which yielded the Bulls third straight NBA championship. Only at the celebration, Jordan didn’t seem overcome with emotion as he had after his first title and he didn’t seem overjoyed as he did in 1992. He seemed flat out exhausted. There was even talk of him retiring. He probably just needed a summer off. The dude looked flat our spent from being a living god slash superhero for the past three years.

Father’s death

The tragic news of his father’s murder came in the offseason. It was the final blow in a long run of tough times for Jordan. It also had the effect of turning him back into a sympathetic character. It was a reminder for the hype-crazed media that this global icon was indeed human. A son who had lost his father. It cast a further shadow over what had been an already subdued championship off-season. There would be no celebrations. Just reflection and meditation as Michael looked toward the future.

“I have nothing left to prove”

After the dour championship anti-celebration and his father’s death, it came as a shock, but not a huge surprise that Jordan would step away from the game. At the time, as a fan, it felt inevitable that the Bulls would keep on winning and had a legitimate chance to win four titles in a row. But we would never get the chance to find out when Jordan called it quits. While the sports world was robbed of the most iconic figure since Muhammad Ali, Jordan had already created a legendary career. From his perspective, he’d done it all. Proved himself as an individual dynamo, and then, three times over, proved that he had the ability to elevate his teammates and franchise into the stratosphere. He would leave a gaping hole in the sport landscape, but his legend was already assured of living on.

Why baseball?

As a young athlete in the middle of both a basketball and baseball career, Jordan’s devotion to baseball was a validating force in my own choice to play the game. I even opted for a “like Mike” semi retirement of my own from basketball as I went all in on baseball. (I would miss the game too much and rejoin the basketball team mid-season.) While the casual fan and media would criticize Michael’s “Detour” into baseball, I understood what it was doing for him as a competitor. For one, it lowered the stakes and profile of what he was doing. There were no expectations of the world’s best basketball player trying to give it a go on the baseball diamond. Secondly, it allowed Jordan to start at the beginning of an athletic challenge. The whole journey of building fundamentals, learning the mental game and challenging himself to move up the rankings on his team lay in front of him.

At first, it seemed like a media stunt. Or maybe even some far-flung marketing move by Jordan and super brand Nike. Eventually Nike leaned into these conspiracy rumors with a Steve Martin helmed Super Bowl commercial. But as Jordan stayed at baseball, the results and his game improved. His body even slowly started to morph into that of a baseball player as his training regime fully shifted to meet the demands of the game. He built more long term stamina and trained himself to adjust to the repetition of baseball. Eventually he got into a groove. He started stealing bases. His speed was still elite at this point. Baseball people speculated that he could possibly become a base-stealing specialist if he kept at it. He knocked a few balls out of the park. He moved up the minor leagues. His batting average rose as he entered the fall leagues.

As baseball entered the winter, it also entered into intense labor negotiations. The major leagues were headed for a strike and stoppage of play. The commissioner talked about starting the season with “replacement players.” Basically offering open tryouts to amateurs for the chance to officially play for big league clubs while the real major leaguers were holding out. For a fleeting moment it seemed like Michael Jordan could be the world’s most iconic replacement player. But he quickly came out and said he wouldn’t break the picket line, and that he stood with the major league players in their protest. 

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 6

The price of Immortality

I remember watching along at the time, that Jordan seemed different after the 1992 championship. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was lacking in motivation. But he seemed meaner, angrier and with a much stronger physique. In 1992, it almost felt like he still had some child-like innocence about him. Like the game was a joy for him to play. He reminded me of the legendary baseball player Ken Griffey Jr. who was known for smiling and blowing bubbles the whole game. But in 1993, Jordan had some kind of shadow hanging over him. Even as a kid, I remember thinking that the game didn’t look fun for Jordan anymore. He was scowling, yelling more, getting more technical fouls. Something had changed.

Here we get to see the dark side of being Michael Jordan, the man everyone wants to be like. The doc shows take after take of Jordan delivering the same line over and over again in a high production interview session. Just imagine sitting in all those interviews, commercial shoots, media junkets, after practice talks, etc. Imagine having to be fully on and in character as super human Michael Jordan at all times. Think about how even celebrities and politicians were affected by Michael. This was never really about basketball. This was a grand business experiment in crafting an image. It was corporate politics. In an era before transparency and social media, with enough time and money, someone could create a sexy, mysterious, globally beloved image—and offer the public no real view into the human at the center of it. Michael Jordan’s life turned into a real life Truman Show level reality show. Only the cameras weren’t all access. We were flooded with the most premium images and videos in a high spending media era. The result was that we were sold an idea. The idea of the people’s champion. The idea that if you pursue greatness you have a fighting chance of achieving immortality. A 360 dunk here. A Big Mac there. Spike Lee holding up some Air Jordans over there. And Michael Jordan holding up another NBA championship trophy. Turning into the singular narrative arc in a team sport. He was marketed more as an individual athlete, like a tennis player or a golfer.

And then, at the end of the day, Michael Jordan would go back to his hotel room, alone. A human behind closed doors, taking a deep breath, puffing on a cigar and pondering the media monster he was complicit in creating. Was he driving the businesses surrounding him? Or were the business sucking him dry and driving him? As he deliberated, the mountains of cash piled up for everyone involved. And the trophies piled up for Michael. The Michael Jordan Project had reached peak saturation levels. Perhaps foreshadowing that the “first” end was near…

The Jordan Rules

I read the Jordan Rules book as soon as it came out. I was hungry to learn more about what made Jordan and the Bulls tick. All we got back then were nightly highlights and high production glimpses like Nike commercials and team highlight videos. On VHS. The Jordan Rules represented a fly on the wall view into the mystique of the budding dynasty. The press hype for the book was vicious, looking to take down Jordan as a bully. As a certified (certifiable?) MJ fan, I braced for the worst.

The accounts I found in the book were just a collection of anecdotes that just sounded like team sports. Players talking trash, fights breaking out in practice, alpha personalities exerting their dominance. All the episodes sounded like what I had already experienced on my teams. I breathed a sigh of relief. The Jordan Rules was shocking to non-competitive minds who believed that everyone deserved a participation ribbon. But to anyone who had ever dreamed of winning anything, there was nothing out of line. The only difference between what was going on between MJ and his teammates, and what happens in every high school locker room was that it was happening with famous millionaires. However, if the Jordan Rules were an attempted smear campaign, they seemed to have the opposite effect. They merely became another gospel account of Jordan’s legendary competitive nature. He was emerging as a kind of Steve Jobs of competitive sports. Stressing every detail. Demanding the best out of the weakest links. And as they say, you can’t argue with the results.

Going for 3 / The Knicks

The Knicks presented a more made-for-TV version of the Bad Boy Pistons. Pat Riley had stacked the Knicks with hard-nosed defenders who had crafted an identity out of slowing the game down to a wrestling match. The Knicks could control the pace and score of the game. They would be perfectly happy with a final score of 62-57. They weren’t going for highlights. They were playing the long game. They wanted to mentally and emotionally drain their high flying opponents.

There would be flare ups in the match up, but not to the Pistons versus Bulls levels. I think Jordan and Patrick Ewing were too good of friends for true hatred to spill into the series. Still, the series was a spectacle and felt vital with the key matches being played at Madison Square Garden. It was truly must see TV. The Bulls got down in the series, but Jordan willed them back after spending some late nights, soul searching, in Atlantic City. A foreshadowing of darker headlines looming on the horizon.

“I have a competition problem”

This episode fully slides into Michael’s well-publicized gambling hobby. He seems in full denial of having a problem—but as he says, he is well-funded and still more than able to provide for his family. Everyone has to blow off steam somehow. When your bank account has that many funds in it, even the side bets become shocking headlines. But taken in context, maybe it’s overblown. Of course, we don’t like our heroes to have vices, so it’s a reality we all must reconcile. To me, it seems huge and noteworthy that no one has ever accused Jordan of betting on his own performance on the basketball court. Maybe he has a gambling addiction, but it appears there are boundaries.

After months of not talking to the media, this is how Jordan dressed when he went on national TV to deny he had a gambling problem.

And yet again, we see how Jordan takes headlines and barbs thrown at him in the press and eats them for breakfast, as his fuel to power himself and his team to another victory. It’s almost like he needed to power up the Knicks to Bad Boy Piston levels, so he spent a late night gambling, created a media scandal around that, and then had a basketball team and negative press to overcome. As though he needed to get the last laugh. “Who cares if I’m up till 1am in the playoffs playing cards, my performance didn’t suffer. Maybe it was enhanced.”

Michael gets the last laugh. Again.

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 5

“That Laker Boy”

Man, this is emotional seeing Kobe Bryant talking about his idol so soon after his death. Kobe is back to life, full of life, tickled to be talking about his hero and literal role and game model. I find this relationship fascinating. For such a vengeful person as Jordan, it seems surprising that he would have embraced Kobe and put him under his wing. And really, this relationship was a clandestine one. Until the memorial for Kobe, when Jordan detailed some of their connection and signed out by saying “Rest well little brother,” the world never really had an eye into what was going on between the two all-time greats. There could be a whole documentary examining what that mentorship was like.

It was also revealing to see the throwback footage of a veteran Jordan talking trash about “that Laker boy” in the lockeroom of the All-Star Game. Surrounded by the game’s elite, Jordan almost seems defensive in obsessively talking about Kobe. It’s like he realized the young Bryant was a formidable threat, even at age 18. It speaks volumes that the young gun Kobe could get in Jordan’s dish like that. If only we had that time machine that could let peak Jordan and Kobe go at it. You know they would both relish in the chance to prove themselves. And we would all benefit from the spectacle of seeing fierce competitors locked in a battle for securing their all time legacies.

It really seems like Kobe “got” Jordan, and vice versa. Kobe faced the ridicule of “copying” Jordan’s game. I’ve never really understood that criticism. Why wouldn’t you copy the greatest to ever play the game? And so what that Kobe had the physical gifts, and mental approach to emulate MJ better than anyone else. Kobe was a pure disciple of Jordan, and for everyone wishing for the second coming, I hope they enjoyed Kobe while he was here. There was a fluidity to the fire that both players played with. I won’t get sucked into the GOAT argument here. For me, Jordan is the unshakeable king. But I also hold Kobe and LeBron in high regard. It’s like appreciating the work of different artists. Just because I love Picasso doesn’t mean I must disrespect Van Gogh. Generational sport talent is no different. I will say that Jordan touched the psyche in a more mythic way than Kobe or LeBron ever did. Jordan was almost like living, flying pop art. He was a Warhol can of soup. He was a Darth Vader wielding a lightsaber. He wasn’t just a basketball player, he was an icon. A personification of greatness. Maybe Mohammed Ali was the only other persona from sport to ascend to this kind of rarified position. Jordan was the perfect storm of basketball talent and a sustained and genius image making experiment. He transcended the sports pages and became an indelible meme on our psyches.

Signing with Nike

It’s funny to see the whole Nike singing reduced to a simple “My parents made me do it.” It’s one of those great time machine moments, where you go back in time, have Mike sign with Adidas and see if the story and cultural storm reaches the same zeitgeist. I’m a longtime Nike and Jordan fanboy to believe that it was the particular fusing of the man and the brand’s DNA that created the cultural impact they did. Nike was taking big swings and risks to get their athletes into popular culture, before that was a given pipeline. Other brands celebrated sports stars. There is a key distinction there for those paying attention.

Being “bigger than basketball” is now a common mantra. Now every season a handful of athletes are tagged “game changers.” Top athletes are now expected to be singer brands—taking to social media with the eloquence and ambition of CEOs and global business moguls. But before Jordan, bigger than basketball wasn’t a thing. Yes, you could be very good at the game, and become a superstar on the court. But there was no pathway to connect sport stars with a global business platform. Jordan created that template. Jordan excelled at the game on and off the court. He showed up to the arena in a fine suit, in an era where everyone else was wearing baggy sweatpants and hoodies. He defined a whole other type of game. And that separation built an unshakeable image and eventually moved untold billions of dollars in products.

1992 NBA Finals 

This series was a watershed moment for me personally. It pitted my favorite player, Jordan, against my favorite team, my hometown Portland Trailblazers. All year long there had been growing hype that the dream Finals matchup would be Michael Jordan versus Portland’s Clyde Drexler. Time has faded Drexler’s star from popular memory, but at the time, it was a vital debate. Jordan and Drexler finished first and second in MVP voting. Their games were similar—both predicated on owning the airspace high above the rim and delighting fans with insanely creative dunks.

The Last Dance doesn’t delve very deep into this series, other than to highlight Jordan taking offense at being compared to Drexler. And as Mike says, “that’s all I needed.” However, the series, wasn’t a sweep. It was tied 2-2 after four games. The Blazers had a chance to send the Bulls to their first ever Finals game 7, when they took a commanding 15-point lead into the fourth quarter of game 6, at Chicago Stadium. Phil Jackson and the Bulls even seemed to concede the game, resting Jordan for the fourth quarter, as a bunch of Bulls scrubs and Scottie Pippin mounted a comeback that would result in Chicago’s second title.

Clyde Drexler was a great player—he was even certified as one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all time. He was a member of the legendary Dream Team alongside Jordan. However, in this one-on-one duel with Jordan on the highest stage, he couldn’t pull off the upset. Clyde the Glide was a soft-spoken assassin. He didn’t talk trash. He didn’t give memorable quotes. His value lay entirely on his other worldly athleticism and all-star abilities on the court. He seemed mild mannered. He was knocked for not having a killer instinct. In the end, Jordan’s force of personality and unwavering obsession to dominate won the day. I just history would remember how hard the Blazers pushed Jordan’s Bulls. It wasn’t a cakewalk, even though the series has turned into a footnote in the narrative of Michael Jordan’s transcendence.

The Dream Team

This was absolutely the moment Michael Jordan became the clear face of the NBA. And maybe the brightest that an American athlete could possibly stand on the world’s stage. Magic and Bird were alongside him, as the icons of the 1980s, to pass the baton and sit back and watch as MJ took the pedestal they built and elevated it by an order of magnitude. The Dream Team would captivate Europe and plant the basketball seed in the hearts of a next generation of talent that would turn the continent into a hotbed of talent. 

Here we get another tale of vengeance as Jordan and Pippen vilified poor Tony Kukoc who had been drafted by the Bulls. These kind of stories feel frivolous and childish taken one at a time—but seeing these beats of imagined revenge pile up, you really see how the motivational engine of Jordan’s psyche worked. It all seems like a ripple affect of Jordan being bullied by the Pistons. Once he conquered his demon, that bullying instinct worked itself into his DNA until he in turn felt the lust of “administering pain.”

All this Dream Team footage has been poured over and used in other docs before, and it’s also interesting to see how even at the time, all of the other stars clearly looked up to Jordan. Just how he wanted it. He had a magnetic aura that set him apart, even when he was on a team of the 12 greatest basketball players ever assembled. Jordan was something else then, and the legend has only solidified his differences since then.

GAME 1: YOYOGI CROWS VS. BURNSIDE FREERANGERS

Sport returned last Friday night with an emphatic shot to the soul.

Out at Yoyogi Grounds, the polarizing baseball folk hero, Rockabilly, blasted a three-run home run against the visiting Burnside Freerangers, deep into the forests surrounding Meiji Shrine. Local baseball otaku are still scattered trying to track down the ball.

The soaring homerun was the highlight of the day, that saw sport returning to the world since nations around the globe have moved into lockdown. When asked if his play meant anything special during this moment of global uncertainty, Rockabilly simply said, “I’m not on Twitter.”

Rockabilly is a part of the legendary lineup of baseball’s known as the Yoyogi Crows. A baseball outfit with colossal ability. In this moment, their talent is only outstepped by the significance of existing as the only sport left on earth.

Against the dramatic premise, between the chalk lines, baseball remained the same. Steadily unfolding to the same rhythm it always has. Marking the times by not being changed by the passage of time. Mixing talent with luck. Elevating heroes and fitting others with goat horns.

THE CROWS BEAT THE BURNSIDE FREERANGERS 16-8