Craig Ehlo discusses “The Shot” and “The Last Dance” in an interview with Chris Fedor in The Wine and Gold Talk podcast. It’s an amazing story, as Michael Jordan explained in “The Last Dance” that he felt that Lenny Wilkins made a mistake putting Ehlo on him over Ron Harper. Harper claimed that he asked Wilkins to guard Jordan but claimed that Wilkins said no.
Ehlo took no offense by anything in the documentary but didn’t remember Harper saying anything like that, though Ehlo concedes that Harper may have said something directly to Jordan.
It’s a great interview, as Ehlo is a class act, and he tells some great Jordan stories that show a good side of Jordan.
“The Last Dance” was always going to be a significant TV event, given the topic of Michael Jordan and his last championship run in Chicago. But obviously, with all of us thirsting for sports during this pandemic, everyone is watching this documentary.
Having lived through this, the documentary brought back some great memories. I wasn’t a Bulls fan, but like everyone I respected the brilliance of Michael Jordan. I always rooted for him in The Finals.
“The Last Dance” covers the drama of this last title run while also telling the backstory of the key figures like Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson. And of course it covers all the drama surrounding Jerry Krause and the tension between the front office, Jackson, Jordan and Pippen.
So many things stand out from the first two episodes. Of course, the whole Michael Jordan backstory is always fun to watch. I had forgotten about Jordan’s offensive explosion against Larry Bird and the 1986 Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
Pippen’s backstory was also fascinating, seeing his challenging family situation and how he managed to work hard at a small college and get to the NBA.
I remember at the time how ridiculous the situation seemed when the Bulls made it clear that season would be Jackson’s last season. In some way it was a relief for the rest of the NBA. Now we get to see the behind the scenes look at how it all played out . . . the rest of this documentary series should be just as fun.
The video above contains the audio for Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A’s. Jack Buck is calling the game, and if you pick up the sound at the 2:44 mark, you’ll hear Buck’s legendary call of Kirk Gibson’s shocking home run.
One of the true boxing legends passed away yesterday. Joe Frazier was a great fighter and a class act.
– Every boxing fans should watch the documentary Thrilla in Manilla. You’ll see Frazier’s class along with how despicable Ali was in his racist taunts against Frazier. It’s no wonder Frazier hated Ali’s guts until he recently said he forgave him.
In the ESPN documentary “The Fab Five,” Jalen Rose and his teammates made a few comments about the Duke basketball program. The most inflammatory was that the black Duke players were “Uncle Toms.” Grant Hill’s name was brought up, and Hill has since responded via the New York Times’ college sports blog.
My teammates at Duke — all of them, black and white — were a band of brothers who came together to play at the highest level for the best coach in basketball. I know most of the black players who preceded and followed me at Duke. They all contribute to our tradition of excellence on the court.
It is insulting and ignorant to suggest that men like Johnny Dawkins (coach at Stanford), Tommy Amaker (coach at Harvard), Billy King (general manager of the Nets), Tony Lang (coach of the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins in Japan), Thomas Hill (small-business owner in Texas), Jeff Capel (former coach at Oklahoma and Virginia Commonwealth), Kenny Blakeney (assistant coach at Harvard), Jay Williams (ESPN analyst), Shane Battier (Memphis Grizzlies) and Chris Duhon (Orlando Magic) ever sold out their race.
To hint that those who grew up in a household with a mother and father are somehow less black than those who did not is beyond ridiculous. All of us are extremely proud of the current Duke team, especially Nolan Smith. He was raised by his mother, plays in memory of his late father and carries himself with the pride and confidence that they instilled in him.
Well said, Grant.
In a recent column, FoxSports columnist Jason Whitlock took the Fab Five to task for saying such things:
The Fab Five clearly believe Coach K and Duke didn’t and don’t recruit inner-city black kids, and they believe race/racism/elitism are the driving forces behind the philosophy.
Let’s go back to the Fab Five era and Duke’s philosophy then. Coach K recruited kids who had every intention of staying in school for four years. He recruited kids who had a good chance of competing academically at Duke and could meet the standardized test score qualifications for entrance.
The Fab Five stated it was their intention to win a national championship and turn pro as a group after their sophomore season. Webber, who was recruited by Duke, left Michigan after two years. Rose and Howard left as juniors. Impoverished inner-city kids have good reason to turn pro early. I’m not knocking Webber, Howard and Rose for their decisions. They didn’t fit the Duke profile at the time.
During the three-year run of the Fab Five (one season without Webber), Duke beat Michigan all four times the schools met while winning two ACC titles and one NCAA title. During the same span, Michigan won zero conference or national titles. In addition, Webber’s interactions with booster Ed Martin put the program on probation and caused Michigan to forfeit all its games.
I think Coach K recruited and recruits the right kids for Duke.
It turns out that Jalen Rose was the executive producer of the documentary, so it would be tough to argue that his words were taken out of context.
