ESPN Presents: The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary on 97-98 Chicago Bulls

[Junior Moe]

Quote: Originally Posted by King_B_Mack

Also, for those that like to pretend like athletes today are going through unheard of scrutiny I’m glad this episode showed what Michael was going through back then. It wasn’t just some free pass for him to do whatever he wanted. The talk gets to be louder because of social media because all the people that were sitting in bars, barbershops and street corners talking about this stuff get to have the whole world hear their opinions, but the media was ALL OVER Michael Jordan back then. And it wasn’t just local beat writers with national guys covering what beat reporters are saying making the rounds as is typical of NBA teams now and especially back then. Michael was always swarmed by national and international guys covering his every move. He was the precursor with all that Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

This was what surprised me the most. I thought the media scrutiny athletes face today was a recent phenomena to fill the 24 hour sport news cycle. I understand Jordan was one of the biggest stars in the world at the time, but some of the leaps to gambling on games or him having a problem reminds me a lot of today's "hot take" commentary. I didn't know it was a thing almost 30 years ago.

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[pietasterp]

https://www.esquire.com/entertainmen...dan-criticism/

Ken Burns said he’s not a fan of The Last Dance. Mostly, because Jordan’s production company, Jump 23, is involved with the project.

"I find it the opposite direction of where we need to be going,” Burns said. “If you are there influencing the very fact of it getting made, it means that certain aspects that you don’t necessarily want in aren’t going to be in, period."

Burns, who is no stranger to the sports-doc scene, having directed Ken Burns’ Baseball, added that he would "never, never, never, never” agree to those terms if he was in charge. “And that’s not the way you do good journalism,...and it’s certainly not the way you do good history, [which is] my business," he said.

[jeebs9]

Quote: Originally Posted by DamnYanks2

Who wants to throw some quarters. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I was floating around on Twitter. And found out he had passed in January. This man is a legend .

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[jeebs9]

Quote: Originally Posted by Junior Moe

This was what surprised me the most. I thought the media scrutiny athletes face today was a recent phenomena to fill the 24 hour sport news cycle. I understand Jordan was one of the biggest stars in the world at the time, but some of the leaps to gambling on games or him having a problem reminds me a lot of today's "hot take" commentary. I didn't know it was a thing almost 30 years ago. Sent from my SM-G950U using Operation Sports mobile app

Quote: Originally Posted by King_B_Mack

Also, for those that like to pretend like athletes today are going through unheard of scrutiny I’m glad this episode showed what Michael was going through back then. It wasn’t just some free pass for him to do whatever he wanted. The talk gets to be louder because of social media because all the people that were sitting in bars, barbershops and street corners talking about this stuff get to have the whole world hear their opinions, but the media was ALL OVER Michael Jordan back then. And it wasn’t just local beat writers with national guys covering what beat reporters are saying making the rounds as is typical of NBA teams now and especially back then. Michael was always swarmed by national and international guys covering his every move. He was the precursor with all that Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

There are other wild one's next Sunday. Some you've heard before. I remember one I heard in the Caribbean culture a few times. **** is by far the wildest. Is that MJ sacrificed his father for his talent....... Even as a teenager I thought how ****ing stupid that sounds. But whatever lol.

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[VDusen04]

Quote: Originally Posted by pietasterp

https://www.esquire.com/entertainmen...dan-criticism/ Ken Burns said he’s not a fan of The Last Dance. Mostly, because Jordan’s production company, Jump 23, is involved with the project. "I find it the opposite direction of where we need to be going,” Burns said. “If you are there influencing the very fact of it getting made, it means that certain aspects that you don’t necessarily want in aren’t going to be in, period." Burns, who is no stranger to the sports-doc scene, having directed Ken Burns’ Baseball, added that he would "never, never, never, never” agree to those terms if he was in charge. “And that’s not the way you do good journalism,...and it’s certainly not the way you do good history, [which is] my business," he said.

I'm still going to enjoy the heck out of this series but he's right.

It's tough to find that middle line of perception and truth when one of the prime characters is directly involved with the production itself. You can still mention the good (championships) and the bad (gambling) as this series has done but as long as there's that third-party involvement from a central tenant of the story, there should be a degree of viewer caution (or at least critical consideration) to what they see.

Unfortunately, viewer caution and critical consideration are rare commodities.

[jeebs9]

Quote: Originally Posted by pietasterp

https://www.esquire.com/entertainmen...dan-criticism/ Ken Burns said he’s not a fan of The Last Dance. Mostly, because Jordan’s production company, Jump 23, is involved with the project. "I find it the opposite direction of where we need to be going,” Burns said. “If you are there influencing the very fact of it getting made, it means that certain aspects that you don’t necessarily want in aren’t going to be in, period." Burns, who is no stranger to the sports-doc scene, having directed Ken Burns’ Baseball, added that he would "never, never, never, never” agree to those terms if he was in charge. “And that’s not the way you do good journalism,...and it’s certainly not the way you do good history, [which is] my business," he said.

I wanted to post this article when I first saw it a few weeks ago. And I just thought it a tough situation. First Jordan is a control freak. I mean for God Sakes... We had to play with Player 98 for years lol. I feel any actually dirt on Jordan would be covered up and killed before it ever got there. This doc is by far the most open he's ever been about his career. I sure most watched Fly with Me (and others). In those MJ is painted as perfect. His only down fall being the pistols. If he controlled everything from the jump. Ain't no one in hell going to pass up the chance to tell a different and more open MJ story. No one. That's credit you will die with.

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[jeebs9]

Quote: Originally Posted by VDusen04

I'm still going to enjoy the heck out of this series but he's right. It's tough to find that middle line of perception and truth when one of the prime characters is directly involved with the production itself. You can still mention the good (championships) and the bad (gambling) as this series has done but as long as there's that third-party involvement from a central tenant of the story, there should be a degree of viewer caution (or at least critical consideration) to what they see. Unfortunately, viewer caution and critical consideration are rare commodities.

Haha Super Rare!

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[The 24th Letter]

Quote: Originally Posted by VDusen04

I'm still going to enjoy the heck out of this series but he's right. It's tough to find that middle line of perception and truth when one of the prime characters is directly involved with the production itself. You can still mention the good (championships) and the bad (gambling) as this series has done but as long as there's that third-party involvement from a central tenant of the story, there should be a degree of viewer caution (or at least critical consideration) to what they see. Unfortunately, viewer caution and critical consideration are rare commodities.

He's definitely right.

Even the gambling issue was framed as an extension of his competitiveness. I doubt we'll get too deep into any skeletons from MJ POV.

Someone said its like if Joe Exotic had to sign off on Tiger King an exaggeration of course but that made me chuckle.

That being said, I didn't go into this series with that in mind. I'm just soaking up all the basketball nostalgia and enjoying every bit of it.