The burden of being Michael Jordan was a lot for one man to handle
Michael Jordans success quickly made him a cultural phenomenon in the 90’s.
With the success of his NBA career coupled with the rise of Nike and Air Jordan, Michaels fame exploded.
People wanted to be “Like Mike” in the 90’s but it was not always what it cracked up to be.
Episodes five and six of the ‘Last Dance’ take you through the tough times in Michaels career.
The beginning of episode five starts with a loving tribute to the late Kobe Bryant, and details the relationship between Jordan and Kobe.
In 1993 when the Bulls were on the cusp of their first three peat, rumours begin to swirl about Michaels “gambling problems.”
A book published in 1992 by Bulls writer Sam Smith called “The Jordan Rules” chronicled stories from the Bulls locker room among a number of quotes about Jordan himself.
The book caused a number of issues.
Smiths book detailed quotes from players saying how difficult Jordan was to play with.
The book also went into detail about how Jordan used to gamble large amounts of money on games of golf and cards.
The Chink in the armour
Michael Jordan had become a cultural icon.
People would line up for hours to buy his shoes, get tickets to Bulls games or to get to see him coming out of a hotel.
Jordan was the face of the NBA, he and the Bulls were at the top of the NBA.
Everybody knows that when someone is at the top it takes just a chink in the armour for people including the media to jump all over it.
When the news gets out about Jordans potential gambling problem it becomes a media frenzy.
For the first time in his career Jordan’s personal life is on display and questions about his character arise.
Episode 5 and 6 of the last dance take you through that turbulent time in Michaels life and build up the circumstances to Jordan’s first retirement from basketball in 1993.
