Perhaps the best way to tell the story of the Chicago Bulls the past few years is through the eyes of Alfonso Avila.
The Cicero, Ill., native, who works primarily as a mover, hustles as a specialty T-shirt vendor on game nights outside the United Center. But his side gig—which he’s done at multiple stadiums for two decades now—was once far more full of life than it is at the moment.
Scores of bucket boys, who’d use buckets as percussive instruments, used to perform along the sidewalks, mere feet from the famed Michael Jordan statue, in hopes of garnering donations.