(Photo by STEVE SCHAEFER/AFP via Getty Images)
The 1990s Chicago Bulls are a hot topic lately. Thanks to ESPN’s “The Last Dance”, we get new footage of one of the greatest teams ever. Sunday’s episode had a rare angle of “The Shot” that deserves credit.
In a time of unprecedented crisis, where there are no live sports to escape to, people are desperate for anything to watch and connect with as fans. Enter ESPN and their documentary series “The Last Dance” covering the final season of the Chicago Bulls dynasty.
Sunday’s episodes of the series highlighted the rise to the team’s first championship in 1991 and took a look at the complicated life and career of Hall of Fame forward Dennis Rodman. The Bulls truly had a tough road to finally earn the title.
Like the Bulls teams of that era, the series has a fixation on Michael Jordan even when discussing or highlighting other players. It’s no secret why, and Sunday’s episode showed how Jordan evolved to best his competition.
One of the first moments where Jordan’s greatness was on display to the world is simply known as “The Shot”. It’s a breathtaking moment from Jordan, and it instantly made him stand out even more than he already had in his young NBA career.
The third episode of “The Last Dance” features the broadcast version of the legendary shot over Cleveland Cavaliers guard Craig Ehlo. But it also features clips of a rarely-shown angle that was shot by a Chicago broadcast team.
A little over seven years ago, this video (also shown above) was posted to YouTube by the user “Sayhibob59”. It was posted on Jordan’s 50th birthday, and the user said he wanted to celebrate by sharing this rare, unseen footage with the world.
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The YouTube account belongs to Bob Vasilopoulos, a long-time television producer and reporter in Chicago who worked for CBS Chicago in 1989. Filming the video was cameraman Chuck Davidson, who was alongside reporter Rich King.
Vasilopoulos is the one you hear losing it at the end of the game and shouting, “Michael! Michael! You stuck it, baby!” His emotional, frenetic reaction showed just how fast everything happened at that moment.
One clip the ESPN documentary features is of Jordan saying he was keeping tabs on Chicago media’s predictions for the playoff series. Vasilopoulos recounted his pregame chat with Jordan that led to that postgame answer:
I went to the Bulls locker room, to find him sitting by himself. He asked me to see the Sunday papers I had with me, and asked what the buzz was back home. I told him most media folks gave the Bulls credit for a well played series, but it would be tough to win game 5 on the road, against a good Cavs team. He said, “we’re not going to lose, come see me after the game”.
And when they did see each other after the game, it was clear that Jordan didn’t forget their conversation. It epitomizes Jordan’s ethos; if you doubt him, he’ll hold it against you while it fuels him to be great.
