The Last Dance recap

I can't get enough of The Last Dance. I needed this in my life right now with basically no live sports on TV.

The NFL Draft kept my attention last weekend and The Last Dance has held it for the past three Sundays.

I don't care what they talk about. I don't care what I knew already. It's all great. And I will be starving for more two weeks from now when the final two episodes are given to us.

The latest two episodes focus on the 1992 Dream Team, Michael Jordan's gambling addition and how easy it was for MJ to gain an edge. And it took me back to when I truly hated the New York Knicks.

The Knicks, for me, were worse than the Bad Boy Pistons. I was still a little young during the Bad Boy Piston days. Of course, I knew about them. But the Knicks were right when I was hitting my teenage years.

Patrick Ewing. John Starks. Anthony Mason. Charles Oakley. I hated them all.

I remember Oakley more as a Knick than an MJ teammate.

I do remember the Dream Team. That was the greatest team ever assembled and you can't convince me otherwise. Some of the greatest players to ever play the game were on that team. And MJ kept one-third of from ever winning a title.

The thing I enjoyed the most about the two episodes was the grudges MJ held. And it was usually by no fault of the person he was grudging against.

Toni Kukoc did nothing to MJ or Scottie Pippen. But because Jerry Krause loved him and was negotiating a deal with Kukoc behind closed doors that was all the motivation those two needed.

And Clyde Drexler. One journalist compared Drexler to MJ and put them on the same level and MJ used that as motivation. He felt disrespected and used any disrespect to his advantage.

Charles Barkley won the MVP the year the Bulls were going for their first three-peat. And MJ was mad because he finished second. Barkley did nothing wrong, but Jordan made sure to use that as motivation to win his third championship.

He was even motivated or disrespected during a Dream Team practice. Magic Johnson and Barkley were on the side that was up eight at one point in the practice and Magic told MJ he better start playing or they were about to get blown out.

Well, they paid the price for making MJ mad and then acknowledged it on the bus afterward.

MJ didn't need an edge most nights. But when he was given an edge he never failed to take advantage of it. That's why he was the greatest. He used the littlest comments to build a chip on his shoulder.

It was clear Jordan didn't care for Jerry Krause. Scottie Pippen didn't either. If Jerry Krause said blue was his favorite color, MJ would probably avoid looking up at the sky. Whatever Krause's opinion was, you could bet MJ felt the opposite.

As I watched highlights from that Knicks series in the Eastern Conference Finals the year they won their third championship, I was reminded how physical the NBA was back then.

If that kind of contact happened in today's NBA, there would be suspensions and players might get kicked out the league. Today's NBA is much softer and the players are nowhere near as mentally tough as those players in the 1980s ad 1990s were.

It's hard to compare eras, but I will always think the 1980s and 1990s NBA were the best two decades in league history. And MJ owned the the latter decade.

But I get it. I never saw the era of Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. I barely remember watching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar play. Those players were all great but I can't relate to their greatness.

That is what we are seeing with anyone under 30 right now. To them, the greatest players are Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. And I understand that. They didn't live through any of the other eras.

I hope those watching The Last Dance tonight paid extra attention to the opening scene of Episode 5. They dedicated that episode to Kobe Bryant, who was interviewed briefly.

Kobe said he hated when folks talked about who would win a 1-on-1 matchup, he or MJ. Kobe idolized MJ and admitted that everything he did was because of him.

It's OK to love who you love. If Kobe is your MJ, that's understandable. But at least recognize and understand what Kobe was saying. Without MJ, there wouldn't have been five titles for Kobe.

I admit, I was the guy who cheered against Kobe because I hated that he was compared so much to Jordan. I have a lot more love for him today than ever though. And it sucks that he's no longer with us.

I have never hated LBJ. I am usually the one defending him at all costs. But in today's NBA of load management and everyone complaining about a touch foul, it would be hard for a guy like James to adjust to the physical nature of the the 1990s NBA. He's a big guy. But he doesn't necessarily like the physicality that Jordan had to play through.

We need to appreciate all the greats who have played the game. MJ, to me, is the GOAT, but now is not the time to compare apples to oranges. I'm just glad I got to see most of these guys play.