America has a new team, even though it hasn’t played together in 21 years, one month and 12 days. In a time of no other sports, the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls have filled a void. “The Last Dance,” the multi-part ESPN series that chronicles their journey has us discussing Michael and Scottie and the Worm (i.e., Rodman) and the Zen Master (Phil Jackson) with a TV-driven fervor not felt since somebody shot J.R. Ewing.
Those Bulls claimed a sixth championship in eight years. Back in the day, I asked Jackson about riding the whirlwind. He likened it to being part of the Beatles – he’d just watched the Fab Four documentary that aired in 1995 – and also the Grateful Dead.