"The Last Dance" series - The Legacy of Michael Jordan

I'm a guy from northern England in his mid-30's with no particular sporting ability. I've never been to an NBA game and I've been bored by the few English professional basketball games I have seen. But I've also been gripped by the recent Netflix/ESPN series "The Last Dance" and I now realise that somehow, in a very small way, I'm actually part of Michael Jordan's incredible legacy.

I was twelve years old when the Warner Bros. film "Space Jam" was released in the U.K (March 1997). I can't remember if I saw it at the cinema or if I needed to wait until it was out on VHS (technology before streaming, Blu-Ray and DVD), but I remember loving that film. Looney Tunes playing sport with real-life people; it was great! But who was this guy, Michael Jordan?

According to the film, a young boy encouraged by some wise words from his father, grows up to become the greatest basketball player of all time, wins everything, and then retires in his prime.

Even before he saves Bugs Bunny and co., this guy is a legend and I'm hooked.

After this, I tried to get my hands on everything I could about Jordan, but this was harder than you'd think. In England, we play Football (soccer for any US readers), Rugby, Cricket and then everything else follows in after that and in the late 90's, the internet was still very young. All I had was a weekly highlights show on Channel 4; but that was enough to fan the flame.

I loved everything to do with Jordan. I was captivated by his style on the court and the aura of greatness he and the Chicago Bulls had from being so dominant at the time. I hardly knew anything about the Bull's or basketball in general, but I did know that week after week, they kept winning.

"Glory Supporter" is a dirty phrase in U.K sports culture. You're supposed to support and suffer with your local team through thick and thin, no matter how good or bad they are. For me, my local football (soccer for any US readers) team was Scunthorpe United - a small team from a small town forever stuck in the fourth tier of the English football league.

But I was a "glory supporter"

So, I looked to the top of the Premier League at the time and found Manchester United. They had the best, most charismatic players and kept winning; so they became my team and to be honest, they still are.

Jordan and the '97-'98 Bulls were exactly the same. First, they kept winning; and on top of that, they were chasing their third consecutive title. And to add to the legend, this would be their sixth title in eight years. After Jordan, they also had some of the best and brightest stars of the NBA, including Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

I couldn't afford the Air Jordan shoes or the replica "23" jersey (it would have looked terrible on a skinny kid from Scunthorpe anyway), but I was able to get a VHS of an official NBA documentary about Jordan called "Michael Jordan: Above and Beyond", and I loved it.

Narrated by the epic tones of Eriq La Salle, this filled in all the gaps of the things that I didn't know about Jordan - a College star at North Carolina, how poor the Bull's were before Jordan appeared in the 80's, the original triple title wins, the sad death of his father, his move to baseball and his epic return eighteen months later. I also learned about all the crucial, last second shots Jordan made in his career as well as his heroics at the infamous "Flu Game" and that sealed it...

Jordan was forever a legend!

When he retired (the second time), I tried to keep watching the NBA in the U.K but the coverage moved to the paid Sky Sports satellite service that we didn't have, so it was really hard to catch any of the games after that. Even when I did find videos online, the Bull's weren't the same, they were losing.

Without Jordan and the success, I suddenly didn't care as much about the Bulls anymore and found my way to Kobe Bryant and the L.A Laker's. But as great as they were, it just wasn't the same and soon my interest in the game faded and my focus was back on football and Manchester United - just in-time for their own treble winning '98-'99 season.

I've stayed aware of who the big names are over the years - Alan Iverson, Shaquile O'Neil, Yoa Ming, LeBron James, Stephen Curry - but the game has never gripped me like it did for Jordan's second run. I've never known why and as a reserved Brit, I've always felt a little ashamed of not being a real fan and only being that "glory supporter". But thanks to "The Last Dance", I now know that I was just one of millions of people all over the world who had the exact same experience.

Okay, maybe not the exact experience with Channel 4 and all that, but still, millions of people were introduced to him just as I was, a living legend who transcended his sport and country to become a global icon.

Yes, there were big promotional deals and a worldwide movie release that helped, but these only came because of how he played the game in the first place.

Before social media, reality TV and the modern power of the internet, this man became world famous, because he was just that good. In the final episode of "The Last Dance", former NBA Commissioner, David Stern, says that in 1992 the NBA was shown in 80 countries and is now shown in 215 countries and that anyone who knows how significant that is "knows that Michael Jordan and his era played an incredibly important part in it" - and I personally think that's still an understatement.

"The Last Dance" isn't just a trip down memory lane though. It's an excellent documentary series with lots of candid interviews, including Jordan himself, and it does remarkably well to cover all elements of his time in the NBA; the glorious and the controversial. There's also a really interesting thread about the relationship between Jerry Krause (Chicago Bulls General Manager 1985-2003), Jordan and who should ultimately get the credit for all of the Bulls success in the 90's - the man who put the team together, or the players who played the games?

Netflix and ESPN do their best to add historic comments and interviews from Krause and offer some balanced opinion from the journalists featured too, but it is a real shame that he's no longer with us and wasn't able to tell his side of the story too.

Ultimately, this is a great series that obviously, anyone who loves Michael Jordan, the Bull's, basketball or sport in general would enjoy. However, if you're interested in a series about how one man can change an entire sport and achieve seismic fame by combining incredible natural talent, an unshakeable self-belief and a sheer will to win, then this one's for you too.

MJ, you really are the G.O.A.T!

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