Let's Dance!

The pandemic has given the World a timeout.  The daily news cycle feeds us like a mother bird feeds her young by throwing up in their mouth.  The grim details of the virulent assault on our physical health nationally have been less than forecast but painful for many.  The anxiety surrounding financial health has ruptured our emotional backbone. But hey, what are you going to do?  President Trump turned to hydroxychloroquine.  In a contrast of science, the Yard household has been on a strict Pinot Noir regiment.  Both the President and the Yards are showing no signs of the disease.  We are not sure if the President’s science is sound, but it was impressive that he correctly pronounced hydroxychloroquine repeatedly on national television.  It does not slip off the tongue as easily as morbidly obese, but such is our partisan politics.

The Yard deviates on principle but most of our principal motivations are deviations of sports.  The dearth of any sports either live or in print media has shaken our beliefs to their core.  It is fair to argue that those beliefs have their core closer to the surface.  The Yard never professed depth, but we have tried to widen our scope.  The Last Dance documentary covering the 1998 Championship run by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls was excellent.  It was not just for basketball fans; it covers the times. It is amazing to see the footage from the locker rooms and hotel rooms with the characters on the team.  Jordan had a cigar in every scene in a postgame hotel or locker room.  Dennis Rodman was making his transition from eccentric to bizarre.  Scottie Pippen was his phlegmatic best. It is unvarnished and coarse at all levels.  The NBA film team was given unprecedented access to the Bull’s forecasted last dance.  The mania for Jordan was bigger than anyone today.  There was no Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.  Jordan transcended everything during his era.  He grabbed the baton from Magic, Isiah and Bird and rammed it down everyone else’s piehole including teammates. MJ was ruthless with his will and the imposition of it on others.  This Jordan Imposition did lead to six championships in eight years with the culmination documented in The Last Dance.

It was great to see that Kobe was interviewed for the documentary.  Jordan was a huge influence on the youthful Bryant.  Kobe played against Jordan for a few years when he was still a teenager, but the Lakers were still wandering in the post-Magic wasteland.  Kobe reached out to Jordan constantly for counsel on basketball.  He pestered him constantly a teary-eyed MJ shared at Bryant’s unexpected eulogy.  Kobe was often compared to Jordan and they were wired the same when they stepped on the hardwood.  Rabid competitors who can alienate teammates with their drive and myopia.  The eleven NBA titles between the two of is evidence of commitment bringing results. 

Kobe left it all on the floor that last night at staples when he scored 60.  Jeannie Bush tried repeatedly to get Bryant to take any position with the Lakers after his playing career ended.  Kobe would have none of it, he was on to the next chapter in life.  He was a girl dad, a movie auteur and entrepreneur.   He wanted no part of the NBA anymore.  He accomplished all he could in his 20-year career and then he vanished.  Jordan won a championship with a championship shot as time expired in Salt Lake City in front of 18,000 Mormons and with Jazz nemesis Byron Russell in his face.  It would have been one of the greatest endings of a career by anyone.  Jordan did retire but he couldn’t stay retired.  Three years later he would return to play for the Washington Wizards and average 20 points a game for a team going nowhere.  His competitive spirits could not carry the day or get Kwame Brown to play harder. 

Jordan’s snarky attitude towards those that he feels have slighted him is legendary.  He was still reliving battles 22 years later when interviewed for The Last Dance.  It makes it very compelling, but lays bare the competitive psychosis that enraged Jordan to legendary feats at the cost of those around him.  He had one of the most expensive divorces in US history after his playing days ended.  He unfavorably called out the High School coach who did not start a 15-year-old Jordan.  Who does that?  Interestingly, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and star guard John Stockton were in that 2009 HOF class with Jordan.  Jordan ripped their hearts out in 1998 when Sloan had the greatest Jazz team in their history. They would never win a championship and 1998 was their best chance.  And then when they get their moment in the sun at the induction ceremony, there is Jordan with his 23-minute diatribe full of tears, rants and rebukes of his “enemies”.   The HOF fame speech Kobe will never make would have been joyful and emotional, but he would only call out those he loves not the slights.  Jerry Sloan RIP.

The Yard has never been a huge Tom Brady fan.  We would agree it is probably jealously.  Why does one guy get to look that good, have a wife that hot, make huge cake and win six Super Bowl titles? Too much good stuff for one person and we don’t like it!  But then Tom played in the golf match with Tiger, Payton and Phil and he was human.  We are analyzing the footage, but we do not think he hit a fairway off the tee.  He chunked shots out of the rough and into a sand trap.  He looked absolutely horrible at times and he had Charles Barkley barking at him.  The Twitter feeds scrolling on the TV showed everyone was enjoying Tommy’s struggles. It was fun to watch, and Brady hung in there.  He silenced the critics with his miraculous 150-yard shot into the cup and split his pants.  He found his mojo and made it a match.  It was fun and made for good TV.

Bottom of the 9^th:  The entire World just hit the pause button for two months.  That has never happened in history.  Hopefully, never again. We are fortunate that if you are going to have a pandemic, we have the technology today to endure.  If this had happened 10-15 years ago, we would have had a far worse situation than we have today. There would be civil unrest and riots if we closed the country for two months.  People and students would not have been able to work or learn from home. In 2020, we can, and we did.

We are almost there.  Calibrate your credit card limits and get ready to engage.  Las Vegas will be back open for business on June 4.  There are ridiculous deals to be had on Southwest and every hotel.  The casinos are cleaner than they have ever been since they first opened.  It is time to reflect on where we were and where we are.  It is time to refract positive spectrum out into the world as we cope with toxic politics and national anxiety.  It is time to ignite your own trajectory for what comes next.  We got this.  Let's dance!