In retrospect, “The Last Dance” was both the best and the worst thing to happen to the sports documentary genre.
On one hand, the behind-the-scenes account of the 1997-98 champion Chicago Bulls was a revelation, a shot of nostalgia for a long-gone era and an appreciation of one of the greatest teams of all time. On the other, it was a highly curated behemoth that convinced every athlete who’d ever made an All-Star team, every team that broke .500, that they deserved their own loving multi-hour documentary.
Few teams warrant that level of scrutiny or worship. But one that does recently came to the end of its iconic run: the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.